Starting from 2019/2020 academic year, 6 students of the French-Azerbaijani Students will be studying at the University of Strasbourg (France) as an exchange student within the Erasmus+ program.

UFAZ third-year Geophysical-Geoscience student Zhala Aliyeva, Murad Ildarov and second-year Geophysical-Geoscience student Elmira Hasanova will receive one-semester of the exchange student experience, while third-year Chemical Engineering student Maryam Sideif-zada, third-year Computer Science students Maryam Ismayilova and Ali Mammadov will be staying in Strasbourg for one academic year. 

It should be noted that they all will be receiving their education in the French language at the University of Strasbourg in the specialties followed at UFAZ.

Upon their selection, students have gone through the special application procedure, based on their academic results and motivation letter, and French language skills (DELF certificate – minimum level B1). 

With such an experience UFAZ and Strasbourg University provide its students with an opportunity to acquire new skills, strengthen their individual development and increase employment opportunities. 

Students also welcomed this opportunity with great enthusiasm and some of them shared their impressions and expectations with us:

Murad İldarov: “I expect that the experience I will gain through this program as an exchange student will increase my knowledge and broaden my horizons. I wish to learn everything related to my specialty (Geophysical-Geoscience Engineering) from the hands of experts in order to apply those methods here in Azerbaijan.”

Zhala Aliyeva: “I have been planning to pursue my Master’s degree in France. Therefore, this program is a great opportunity for me, since I will have an opportunity to study in French before starting my graduate education, and I am sure it will help me to prepare myself for my future endeavors by familiarizing me with the French studying environment. Moreover, my field, Geophysical engineering is an evolving profession which is based on discovering, though not limited to only geological discoveries. Throughout my whole career, I will be traveling to different regions of the World in order to explore, discover and research. I need to get used to living abroad and experiencing different cultures as my profession might require me to live in different environments. Taking this into consideration, studying abroad is an important milestone for my personal development.”

Maryam Sideif-zada: “I am very excited now, because in Strasbourg we will take all the courses in the French language, and it’s quite challenging. I think it is a good way to grow and spread borders of our knowledge and collaborate with our foreign colleagues.

I am very thankful to UFAZ for providing me with such an opportunity.”

Erasmus+ is the EU's program to support education, training, youth, and sport in Europe. Its budget of €14.7 billion will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, and gain experience abroad.

Set to last until 2020, Erasmus+ doesn't just have opportunities for students. Merging seven prior programs, it has opportunities for a wide variety of individuals and organizations.

The aim of Erasmus+ is to contribute to the Europe 2020 strategy for growth, jobs, social equity, and inclusion, as well as the aims of ET2020, the EU's strategic framework for education and training.

Erasmus+ also aims to promote the sustainable development of its partners in the field of higher education and contribute to achieving the objectives of the EU Youth Strategy. (source)