On September 1, the new Embassy of Azerbaijan in Rome hosted the signing ceremony of an academic cooperation agreement creating the Italy-Azerbaijan University. The new university will be headquartered at the campus of ADA University in Baku.
The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, who was in Italy on an official visit, opened the ceremony.
The Rector of ADA University, Hafiz Pashayev, and the heads of the five Italian universities that are part of the agreement also attended the event. They include Vice President of Luiss Guido Carli University Paola Severino, the Rector of Sapienza University of Rome Antonella Polimeni, the Rector of the Polytechnic University of Turin Guido Saracco, the Deputy Vice Rector of Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna Simona Tondelli, and the Director of the Department of Design of the Polytechnic University of Milan, Alessandro Deserti.
The Italy-Azerbaijan University, drawing on Italian expertise and know-how, will contribute to the growth of Azerbaijan, which aims to innovate while maintaining its cultural identity and traditions.
The education program aims to build management capacity and teach the skills necessary in strategic sectors with high labor demand. ADA will benefit from the outstanding expertise of leading Italian universities: Luiss University for brand-conscious management, the University of Bologna for food and agriculture, the Polytechnic University of Milan and the Sapienza University of Rome for architecture, design, and urban planning, and the Polytechnic University of Turin for engineering, including sustainable energy.
The education program will include technology laboratories, and students will have access to a design center, a business incubator, and a “bazaar.” The Italy-Azerbaijan University will allow the transfer of knowledge, technology, skills, and innovation between the two countries.
In his inauguration speech, President Ilham Aliyev said: “Today, we write a new page in our relations,” recalling the evolution of the Italy-Azerbaijan University project.
“In Azerbaijan, we direct the revenues obtained from natural resources extraction to human capital, and today’s event is clear proof of that,” stressed the President, who was also confident that “the Italy-Azerbaijan University will become a center of friendship” between the two countries.
Italy’s Undersecretary for Ecological Transition Vannia Gava, speaking on behalf of Italian institutions, stressed the importance of the project and its strategic role in bilateral relations as a starting point “for a promising future to be written together.”
Representing Italian universities, Vice President of Luiss University Paola Severino then took the floor, underlining how a “cultural bridge” between two countries and two cultures had been laid.
In his closing remarks, ADA University Rector Hafiz Pashayev expressed his excitement for a historic day, which will bring “the friendship” between Baku and Rome “to a new level” that will allow the “training of excellent specialists for the economy of the future.”
