With the internationalization of education and the growing need for specialists who meet the requirements of the new digital and innovative economy, the role of universities is becoming a key. In this regard, new forms of interaction between higher education organizations at the international level of university networks emerging and developing. “Although Azerbaijan signed Bologna agreement already in 2005, there is weak awareness of benefits of EHEA related issues among wider audience in the country. The knowledge on the recent developments of higher education system in Azerbaijan remains vague. The communication and networking concerning EHEA issues is rather fragmented among different departments in the MoE and various stakeholders. There is a need of national universities networks in Azerbaijan to promote and facilitate cooperation, support universities in their primary work, that is – high quality education, as well as to actively lobby for better legislation and wise spending its finance aimed at the advancement of higher education and research. The consortium believes that Rectors conference can be a great getaway for all of the universities presenting a single voice in key initiatives and challenges. The ultimate goal of this project is to endorse strong networking and cooperation among national universities and decision makers through the establishment of Rectors Conference. The approach chosen for implementation, however, includes a collaborative framework with respective stakeholders, mainly focusing on educational needs.The overall aim of the project is fostering national networking and cooperation among universities and all other stakeholders by establishing the rectors conference in accordance with national development strategies.

Over the course of three years, the “Developing Research Capacity through Institutional Repositories Network in Azerbaijan” project (hereafter DIRNA) aims at building capacity in the context of research output management, focusing on seven leading AZ HEIs, via establishing Open Access Institutional Repositories Network. The process of intense as well as comprehensive training, which is required to establish and then interlink the aforementioned repositories at each site, arrange the framework’s implementation, data entry and smooth management will represent the core of the DINRA.Learning outcomes from the project-bound activities will be shared and disseminated in a variety of ways, including the initiation and then establishment of facilities and mechanisms to proactively assist other institutions in the country in setting up and managing their own repositories. In a significant addition, the DINRA’s lenses will be on improving not only the visibility and the management of quality scholarly research, but also on supporting open access to research outputs, advocating, and fostering scholarly communication and coordination between the AZ HEIs across the country.

The project “Green and sustainable global economic improvement at Azerbaijani Universities: renewable energy and climate change mitigation” (REFRESH) has been created by analyzing international and national country reports of Azerbaijan, where transition into green economy is inevitable. Thus, various international organizations have reported the huge potential of wind and solar energy in Azerbaijan, which are under utilization. In addition, national policy documents of Azerbaijani government also urges for transition into green economy where green skillsets are critical. The pleminary needs assessment with the main industry players revealed the lack of technical experts in renewable energies field and the pressing demand to stimulate local human capital in the market. These analysis took the project team to universities, where the education on renewable energies is behind the industry needs. Therefore, the REFRESH project aims to increase capacity at the universities by enrolling the teaching staff at Training of Trainers (ToT) programme to improve the teaching methodologies, course syllabi and launching pilot courses at each partner HEI. Simultaneously, Virtual Learning Simulation (VLS) labs also will be part of new curriculum. These changes to curriculum will improve the quality of teaching at local HEIs. This in turn will stimulate green skillets in Azerbaijan, which ultimately contributes to successful green transition of economy. The consortium is set up from 5 regional universities, 1 university (the applicant) located in the capital city, a State Agency for Renewable Energy Sources and 4 EU universities. All EU universities are specialized in the field of renewable energies education. The national and EU universities have active participation at various phases of the project during the implementation certain activities. Furthermore, 4 associate partners will be actively participating either during the student internships enrollment or in the disseminati