Baku, October 13, AZERTAC

British Council and ABŞERON Hotel Group launched new programme on Access to Hospitality and Apprenticeship at the Baku vocational lyceum number 5. The project is supported by the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic. The aim of the project is to provide capacity building opportunity for teachers, develop relevant curriculum in accordance with the national standards, and organize apprenticeship programme for the selected students.

British Council Azerbaijan in partnership with the ABSHERON Hotel Group and Ministry of Education launched a new pilot project in hospitality management taking into consideration the need for development both in tourism and vocational education within Azerbaijan. The aim of the project is to develop relevant curriculum in acordance with national standards, to provide capacity bulding opportunity for teachers and develop apprenticeship programme for students under Access on Hospitality and Apprenticeship (AHA) Programme at the Baku vocational lyceum number 5. Selected students will be offered employability opportunities within the project which will help them to gain job experience during their studies.

The Access to Hospitality and Apprenticeship Programme will be a unique pilot programme to be established at Baku vocational lyceum number 5 that will open doors for students interested in gaining theoretical and practical experience in the respective area. Teacher training sessions and curriculum development will be conducted by the UK expert from the respective field. This pilot project will be implemented in the academic year of 2015-2016.

Outcomes of the pilot will be monitored and evaluated with a view to disseminating such a model of employer engagement in other vocational schools in Azerbaijan. Since Hospitality Management is a new area in Azerbaijan in which tourism companies are very much interested, this project has strong potential to address a larger scale need for the reform in the area of industry-education relations. This project will benefit business and educational institutions and will be exemplary for the future similar work in the area of vocational education.

As a result of the pilot project, one year programme on Access to Hospitality and Apprenticeship will be offered at the Baku vocational lyceum number 5 in the academic year of 2016-2017.

The Opening Ceremony of the project was held on 13 October at 15.00 at Baku vocational lyceum number 5. The event was attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Education, ABSHERON Hotel Group and directors and teachers of vocational schools and lyceums from Baku and other regions. Elizabeth White, Director of the British Council in Azerbaijan; Firudin Gurbanov, Deputy Education Minister of Azerbaijan and Marc Ehler, Managing Director of the ABSHERON Hotel Group made welcoming and opening speeches.

Elizabeth White mentioned in her speech: 'The British Council is proud to be working in partnership with the Ministry of Education and with ABSHERON Hotel Group on this pilot project for young people training and working in hospitality. Helping young people at access the skills and knowledge and understanding of the world of work, at the very beginning of their careers, is crucial to their successful working life - and the development of the hospitality sector is a key element in the strategy diversification of Azerbaijan's economy. All sides of the partnership are committed to making this pilot a success, and to developing a model of apprenticeship which will work well'.

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