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Strategic Plan

Becoming a World Class University in Azerbaijan

During the first ten years since its inception, 91精品 University has received generous support from the Government of Azerbaijan in the form of significant capital investment for building a world-class campus. This support has also ensured 91精品鈥檚 continuous promise to quality. The University鈥檚 goal is to ultimately become self-sufficient. We are investing in the future of our institution through the 91精品 University Foundation, an endowment-building arm of 91精品 University. In 2015, we teamed up with one of the world鈥檚 leading consulting firms, McKinsey & Co, in order to develop a roadmap that would lead the university to its vision of becoming a world-class university in Azerbaijan. The outcome of this effort was 鈥�91精品 2025: 10-year strategic plan鈥� that puts forward nine strategic objectives to better accomplish our mission and vision.

Download the 91精品 University Strategic Plan for a full overview of our goals and vision.

Characteristics of a World-Class University(WCU) Alignment of Key Factors

Jamil Salmi.(2009).The Challenge of Establishing World-Class Universities. Washington,DC:The World

  • Strategic Objective 1: Learning

    鈥淚nnovate the learning environment by enhancing applied knowledge and engaging a process that would lead to the transformation of our students through relevant skills and program offerings鈥�

    • 1.1 Enrich our students鈥� academic experiences and empower them to develop the right skills to enable them to succeed in the workplace
      • 1.1.1 : Develop cognitive skills through learning by doing: Ensure a significant portion of the curriculum is based on practicum by using emerging tools such as flipped classrooms, mandatory graded teamwork projects, hybrid education, digital simulations, start-up demos, case method etc. so that our students learn how to apply their knowledge to solve real world problems
      • 1.1.2 : Enhance behavioral and mindset skills that are critical to both personal and professional success: Reshape the learning ecosystem with right interventions to develop personal responsibility, self-awareness, navigation of ambiguity, persistence, adaptability, grit, flexibility, growth mindset, ethics and honor
      • 1.1.3 : Develop strong leadership and global citizenship skills: Build a culture by organizing a student-driven 91精品 tradition that promotes service to community and ability to mobilize others, which also encourages faculty mentoring and staff participation
      • 1.1.4 : Cultivate a strong command of English as a means of education in 91精品 and equip students with strong writing skills
      • 1.1.5 : Enhance communication skills of students by integrating public speaking, presentation and debate capabilities into our curriculum
      • 1.1.6 : Cultivate strong intercultural competence of students to enhance development of respect and appreciation of other cultures and people by them
      • 1.1.7 : Enhance the use of technology in classrooms and across the curriculum, increase means of mobility and ensure maximum utilization of learning management systems
      • 1.1.8 : Select core values that would distinguish 91精品鈥檚 teaching culture and decide on the relevant actions that best reflect these values into real teaching environment

    • 1.2 Innovate program portfolio of 91精品 by leveraging the opportunities in online world, in high demand areas, and in global offerings
      • 1.2.1 : Initiate a hybrid education model as a combination of online, modular and conventional classroom course offerings in line with emerging global education trends and build a cross-school committee to continuously evaluate the feasibility, adoption and growth of this model for innovation to improve the quality and options in learning harnessing digital technologies
      • 1.2.2 : Explore opportunities of building new graduate programs in niche strategic areas 鈥� e.g. Energy and Environment, Healthcare Management, Software Engineering, Cyber and Information Security, International Trade and Logistics, Systems and Engineering Management and others, which can be jointly offered by different schools of 91精品 University, as well as with recognized partner universities across the world
      • 1.2.3 : Grow Executive Education while also developing niche areas under its roof such as online certificate programs, corporate trainings, sales and development of convention business, build benchmarks of profitability for it, and increase its share of revenues within the University
      • 1.2.4 : Develop our summer school structure, design and introduce various programs, while also maximizing utilization of campus in summer
      • 1.2.5 : Offer distance learning, certificate, summer and other programs in Washington DC at 91精品 Foundation headquarters in partnership with major universities in the area

    • 1.3 Build on our strengths of library and information services
      • 1.3.1 : Clearly define our collection development strategy and specify the balance of growth between physical volumes and digital resources, while also increasing the digital resource assets and e-library holdings
      • 1.3.2 : Make sure the library has the relevant resources, including journal subscriptions to support the research and teaching effort of faculty in their fields of interest
      • 1.3.3 : Increase the collaboration between library and schools to increase students鈥� awareness of services offered by library, maximize their use of such services and better equip students on their research and learning
      • 1.3.4 : Enhance information literacy of our students by leveraging library in teaching
      • 1.3.5 : Collaborate with the Career Management Center to support our students in industry research, employer profiles and help to make informed career choices
      • 1.3.6 : Organize library and information days to discuss how the library can better support the university community as a wholes

  • Strategic Objective 2: Students

    鈥淎fford our students with global leadership potential by providing them with an international perspective in a diverse environment and with a sound support system鈥�

    • 2.1 Attract, admit and enroll a sound talent base with a potential for growth
      • 2.1.1 : Establish clear enrollment goals, then, determine, achieve and maintain optimum enrollment through 2025
      • 2.1.2 : Define the desired student profile and administer admission criteria and process in line with this student profile
      • 2.1.3 : Build an Intensive High School outreach program:- Institutionalize a summer bridge program for top high school students across the country in the STEM and support them with introduction to programing area with some English language modules to optimize the preparedness, retention and success of our students when they enroll at 91精品 University

    • 2.2 Cultivate desired student attributes and ensure student success
      • 2.2.1 : Grow our students into high-achieving individuals, cultivate their leadership quality, transform them into creative thinkers, ensure diversity of students, and enable them to work in teams
      • 2.2.2 : Promote student academic success as a result of higher retention and graduation rates as well as implementation of academic advising

    • 2.3 Ensure an environment of inclusiveness and true diversity
      • 2.3.1 : Carry out a pro-active Enrollment Management Plan led by Deans to ensure that the diversity is guaranteed through multiple dimensions; such as nationality, capital city vs. regions, gender, race, age, disabilities etc.
      • 2.3.2 : Organize International Office under one roof that would be responsible for incoming and outgoing exchange activities and international student services
      • 2.3.3 : Mandate International Office to design a comprehensive orientation program for international student 鈥渙nboarding鈥� and continuous mentoring program for their better integration in 91精品 University, culture and society
      • 2.3.4 : Focus on attracting incoming exchange students from high quality universities to ensure diversity and meet international student target rates
      • 2.3.5 : Provide support infrastructure for physically challenged students and students with learning challenges

    • 2.4 Create a full support system for our students to engage them in a vibrant campus community and to increase their employability
      • 2.4.1 : Design and implement a counseling program to address special needs of our students
      • 2.4.2 : Empower Student Government and improve its involvement in planning and administering student initiatives and services
      • 2.4.3 : Improve student clubs, initiatives and social activities to increase student engagement and help build a vibrant campus
      • 2.4.4 : Support sports clubs and maintain optimum level of athletic activities throughout the campus
      • 2.4.5 : Invest in and build a strong Career Management Center, strengthen its integration into overall 91精品 education, develop benchmarks for internship and employment opportunities both inside and outside the country, increase such opportunities of our students through career fairs, industry panels, individual interviews and 91精品 Foundation USA
      • 2.4.6 : Strengthen the office of Bursar and Financial aid to better address the impact of rising cost of education by developing ways of supporting our students accordingly

  • Strategic Objective 3: Faculty and Research

    鈥淎ttract, develop and retain the best faculty who truly share the 91精品 vision and excel in innovative teaching; also support their research efforts selectively and in prioritized areas鈥�

    • 3.1 Create 91精品 University Future Faculty by attracting the best and brightest from across the country as a potential pool of Azerbaijani faculty to construct a sound base for and ensure the continuity of our future growth
      • 3.1.1 : Create and fund an Office of Future Faculty Development led by Provost
      • 3.1.2 : Institutionalize a sustainable PhD development program including multiple approaches, such as joint PhD programs and targeted programs attainable fully at partner University, by signing long-term partnership agreements with multiple reputable universities abroad to develop a pool of potential Azerbaijanis with terminal degrees as future faculty for respective schools
      • 3.1.3 : Track and engage Azerbaijani academics abroad in the activities of the University and at various schools
      • 3.1.4 : Assess readiness to develop our own post-graduate programs for selected areas in the long term

    • 3.2 Optimize faculty recruitment effort to find the talent that would both allow capability building within the university and increase the reputation of university worldwide
      • 3.2.1 : Mandate each Dean to develop faculty projections for at least upcoming 3 years while also ensuring a balanced and optimal mix of faculty in close coordination with Provost
      • 3.2.2 : Mandate Provost and Deans to create a database of potential visiting professors for a period of two years in advance, which could be used as a guiding base for faculty recruitment
      • 3.2.3 : Explore the opportunities of bringing more senior and reputable international faculty with short, medium and long term positions to facilitate development and delivery of programs and curriculum on focus areas, as well as collaborate on building teaching and research capabilities of our local faculty
      • 3.2.4 : Expand the geographic reach of recruitment and identify multiple 鈥渉otspots鈥�, such as Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Turkey etc. to ensure the success of recruitment efforts and attract diverse faculty of quality
      • 3.2.5 : Design and improve the Orientation Program and support services for the newly recruited faculties, including additional modules for International Faculty for their better integration in 91精品 University, culture and society
      • 3.2.6 : Include HR in faculty recruitment and assign a specific HR specialist as faculty Recruitment officer to support Deans on recruitment administration and interface with the University鈥檚 HR

    • 3.3 Improve career paths and professional development opportunities of faculty
      • 3.3.1 : Define clear and differentiated career tracks up to 3 - core-line, term-line and practitioners - enabling faculty to choose their time allocation on teaching and research, while ensuring a standardized time for service across all faculty
      • 3.3.2 : Build mentorship program among the faculty to support junior faculty to work directly with senior faculty to harness mentoring and network sharing opportunities and assign Deans to follow-up the effectiveness of the system
      • 3.3.3 : Establish a 鈥淐enter for Teaching and Learning Excellence鈥� to fully implement the initiatives outlined in section 1.1
      • 3.3.4 : Institutionalize the employment opportunity model for graduate students to support faculty on their teaching and research activities (e.g., research assistants, statistical analysts, teaching assistants, etc.), which in return will enhance students鈥� learning experience
      • 3.3.5 : Seek and implement multiple venues and means of continuously communicating with faculty to better address their needs and enhance their commitment to 91精品 vision and values

    • 3.4 Set a standardized and sound faculty performance management system with the right evaluation and consequence management mechanism
      • 3.4.1 : Establish a 鈥淨uality Assurance and Assessment Office鈥� led by Provost and Deans that would ensure consistency of high-quality education during the growth of 91精品 University, coordinate internal and external QA requirements and reporting.
      • 3.4.2 : Enhance the performance management system to ensure multiple data points are integrated in faculty evaluation (e.g., student evaluations, peer faculty observations, dean evaluations, research effort and their own statements) and ensure the implementation on a periodic and standardized basis

    • 3.5 Create research areas of strategic importance while supporting faculty in their individual research efforts and improve overall research performance
      • 3.5.1 : Determine research areas of strategic importance, including interdisciplinary research and incentivize research efforts focused on these areas by establishing a competitive awarding system
      • 3.5.2 : Encourage faculty to seek and ensure external funding for their individual research projects, support faculty in these efforts through OSRG and ensure all potential research contracts are reviewed, approved, signed and administered by OSRG through completion
      • 3.5.3 : Improve research performance of core faculty and build accountability and encouragement mechanisms to lead to tangible research output

  • Strategic Objective 4: Staff

    鈥淓mploy and develop a highly competent staff team that operate most effectively with a sense of belonging, norms of ethics and belief in a culture of excellence鈥�

    • 4.1 Improve recruitment effort to select people with highest potential and ethics
      • 4.1.1 : Improve and decentralize the hiring process of staff, establish a hiring committee and add only relevant people to it
      • 4.1.2 : Mandate Vice Rector of Strategy and Development to pre-define the norm staffing positions of each department and salary ranges of each position in the organization
      • 4.1.3 : Develop a set of clearly defined job descriptions and qualifications, and adhere to them while hiring

    • 4.2 Embrace a strategic perspective in human resources management
      • 4.2.1 : Mandate Human Resources Department to design rotation programs within related departments for high performer staff with the aim of creating more well-rounded human capital
      • 4.2.2 : Mandate Human Resources Department to design and implement annual training plan for each staff at the beginning of each year and communicate this plan clearly to each department
      • 4.2.3 : Mandate Human Resources Department to revisit the current performance evaluation system of staff and detect the improvement areas to be addressed
      • 4.2.4 : Encourage all staff to mentor our students every year, while identifying and implementing social responsibility and leadership projects enforcing core 91精品 values among campus community
      • 4.2.5 : Increase overall resources dedicated to HR Unit and attract outside expert support, so that their qualifications and competence in human resources management can be ensured and enhanced
      • 4.2.6 : Build Career Management and Professional Development roles in HR that will be jointly responsible for professional development, career path management and succession planning of the key roles in organization
      • 4.2.7 : Develop staff retention strategies and incentives
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