TEMPUS IV QATMI: (Quality Assurance Tools for Management of Internationalisation) Internationalization within the internal context of Baku Slavic University and Implementation of QATMI Project 1

BAKU SLAVIC UNIVERSITY is a state higher educational establishment of humanitarian profile founded according to the edict of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic of June 13, 2000 on the basis of the M.F. Akhundov Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute of Russian Language and Literature. For the last 10 years the university has preserved the positive dynamics in its development, including numbers of students, staff and international partnership. Baku Slavic University is a multi-profile educational institution, a unique educational and cultural center. 2

Agreements Since its establishment Baku Slavic University has signed 55 cooperation agreements. YearAmount of agreements per year Total amount of agreements

I full-time students at BSU I nternational full-time students at BSU Academic year Amount of students

Since 2008 Baku Slavic University participates in the European Commission TEMPUS IV project within the consortia of the EU universities and the Universities of CIS. Proposal: TEMPUS IV for a three-years Joint Project (JP) in the area of Quality Assurance in Internationalization Goal: Assist universities to strengthen their strategy of internationalization policy in compliance with the Bologna Process 5

QATMI SCORING 2009 TopicsubjectScoring by TempusScoring by University International contactsStaff22 Students22 University33 Projects22 EnglishWebsite32 Staff22 Students33 Curriculum11 InfrastructureInternational Office45 Recruitment, Admission54 Incoming Student mobility54 Outgoing student mobility54 Incoming staff mobility55 Outgoing staff mobility54 Budget Internationalization33 Internationalization policyPolicy notes44 Advice33 6

Weak points  Low level of language proficiency among staff and students;  Student housing is currently occupied by refugees from Nagorno Karabach;  Lack of experience of practical interaction with European universities;  Small amount of outgoing and incoming students;  Unclear management system of cooperation agreements. 7

Strong points  Strong support from top management, initiatives in strategic planning, consulting services;  Well-developed infrastructure of international office;  Experience in international students recruitment and admission;  Willingness to improve language proficiency among staff;  Good infrastructure in general;  Language and cultural centers: much external funding;  Students are actively involved in internationalization: they volunteer in several fields (as organizers/volunteers/guides/interpreters/hosts of incoming guests);  Internationalization policy is well integrated in education policy;  Distinct goals of strategy of internationalization;  Large International Cooperation Office, that demonstrated a strong will and energy;  to enforce internationalization process;  Cultural Centers as a driving force of internationalization process. 8

Weak pointImplemented activities Lack of experience of practical interaction with European universities; Small amount of outgoing and incoming students; 1. Organizing Extraordinary meeting of the Coordination Council on Internationalization targeted at identifying internationalization process priorities with regard to the needs of educational process of the University; identifying the opportunities provided by the University International agreements in order to make the maximum use out of the practical interaction with the European Universities; 2. Concluding new cooperation agreements: - Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary), - Shumen University “Episkop Konstantin Preslavsky” (Bulgaria); - Capodistrian University of Athens (Greece); - Jan Evangelista Purkyně University (Czech Republic); - Ordu University (Turkey); - Russia State Humanitarian University (Russia); - Zaporozhye National University (Ukraine); - Belarus State Linguistic University (Belorussia). Cooperation on Faculty level: - The Faculty of International Relations and Region Studies of Baku Slavic University and the Faculty of History of Sofia University «St. Kliment Ohridski» (Bulgaria); - Memorandum on students exchange between the Philological Faculty of Baku Slavic University and the Department of Social and cultural Anthropology of the Asia Orient Institute at the University of Tubingen (Germany). 3. Making presentation for the students of BSU “Summer schools ” in order to rise their awareness about opportunities in this field. 9

Weak point Implemented activities Lack of experience of practical interaction with European universities; Small amount of outgoing and incoming students; 4. Organizing Summer School courses for the students at partner Universities:  information meetings with the students;  group and individual consultation. as a result 60 students participated in Summer School courses abroad (Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, Russia, Bulgaria). 5. Organizing information meetings with the representatives of IRO of partner universities with the students of BSU wishing to participate in students mobility Nottingham University (UK) and Leeds Metropolitan University (UK) 6. Organizing training courses for the academic staff at Partner Universities (on the basis of plan elaborated during the Extraordinary meeting of the Coordination Council on Internationalization) - Central European University (Hungary); - Sofia University «St. Kliment Ohridski» (Bulgaria); - INALCO (France); - Saint-Petersburg State University (Russia); - Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University (Russia); - Moscow State Linguistic University (Russia); - University of California, Berkeley (USA) 10

Weak point Implemented activities Low level of language proficiency among the staff and students, publishing materials translated in English 1. General updating of the Information on the University web-site; 2. Creating a working group within the IRO responsible for the regular updating of the information on the University web-site. Coordination of the activity of the group; 3. Updating of the information introduced in the University booklet; 4. Preparing and publishing of the folders of each Cultural and Educational Center, ISO and the booklet of the IRO. Prepare an information package including all the above mentioned materials; 5. Organizing English language courses for the stuff of IRO, ISO and Cultural-Educational Centers; 6. Introduction of an obligatory English proficiency test for the academic and administrative staff required to be taken in order to get promotion; 7. Organizing conversation clubs with the native speakers; 8. Introduction of an obligatory English proficiency test for the last year students to be done before the graduation exam session; 9. Preparing modules for Journalism Faculty within the joint project BBC-European Council-BSU. 11

Strong point Categorization topic Implemented activities Infrastructure1. Stimulating international activities on the faculty level:  Assigning internationalization responsibilities to the administrative staff members of the faculties (1 responsible at each faculty) – a new position Deputy Dean for International Relations at all faculties 2. Coordination of the activity of the tutors working with the international students; 3. Regular monitoring and analysis of the international students’ education process. 4. Create a special working group responsible for the organization both individual visits (both students and stuff) and international conferences; 5. Organizing a presentation on the opportunities for the students out-going mobility in order to rise their awareness in this field Internationalizat ion policy 12

Thank you for your attention! 13