It is getting smaller! The word we live in today.  Advancement in information, communication and transportation technologies have connected people from different cultures and countries at an unprecedented speed. In the scientific world, these favor the opportunities to establish collaboration among scientists from different parts of the world.  In the spirit of enhancing international cooperation, and promoting Universitas Al Azhar Indonesia (UAI), Dean Faculty of  Science and Technology (FST), Dr. Hidayat Yorianta Sasaerila visited Khazar University of Azerbaijan. He was warmly greeted by the Vice-Rector for Research, Dr. Irada Khalilova and Dr. Javid Ojaghi, a geneticist and member of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, and a Ph.D. student Ms. Moozhan Serpoush.  Dean Hidayat also met with the Director of International Office of Khazar University, Ms. Turan Jafarova, where a draft of MoU was discussed.

Several potential collaborations between UAI and Khazar University were discussed at the meeting, includes: Student exchange programs, faculty/staff exchange programs, visiting scholars/tutors,  cultural exchange programs, cooperative/collaborative research projects, cooperative (joint and double) degree programs, cooperative and exchange lecturing plans and lecture contents, conferences and seminars; and academic supervision of graduate/post-graduate students.

Khazar University is the first private university not only in Azerbaijan, but also in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and the first university in Azerbaijan to use English as the language of instruction.  Khazar University is the first university in Azerbaijan to adopt Western-style, research-oriented university, with four schools, i.e., School of Science and Engineering, School of Economics and Management; School of Humanities and Social Sciences; and School of Education.

Departments under the School of Science and Engineering include Life Science, Computer Sciences, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electrical and Telecommunications, Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Design, Functional Analysis, etc.

Located at the beautiful city of Baku, the city where Europe and Asia merged into one, Khazar University has about 2300 students, with more than 150 international students, including some Indonesian students.  For more information on Khazar University, please see www. Khazar.org, and make sure to check out a video clip about this university.  Also, does anyone know that there is a university course of Bahasa Indonesia offered in Azerbaijan?

Note: This trip did not use funding from UAI or the government.

Source: Berita UAI