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Workshop held at Baku Higher Oil School within ITACA project  

The opening ceremony of the workshop on "Environmental restoration in Azerbaijan" has been held at Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) as part of ITACA project “ERASMUS + KA2 - Capacity Building in Higher Education”, implemented at BHOS with financial support from the European Union.

Within the framework of the event, BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov met with a delegation led by Project Coordinator, Prof. Luca Di Palma.

Welcoming the guests, Elmar Gasimov noted that the ITACA project is one of the most important educational projects implemented by Azerbaijan with the European Union. The rector said that as part of the ITACA project, a center equipped with the most advanced technologies was created to clean the soil and water adversely affected by oil and gas production in Azerbaijan and to manage waste. He emphasized that two projects of Baku Higher Oil School of SOCAR earned the Jean Monnet grant funded by the European Commission. Thus, Baku Higher Oil School became the first university in Azerbaijan to win two Jean Monnet projects at the same time.

Professor Luca Di Palma, in turn, highly appreciated the cooperation with Baku Higher Oil School. He said that ITACA intends to resume the implementation of this project with BHOS.

The project, coordinated by the Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), is being realized by Europe (Aalborg University in Denmark, University of Granada in Spain, University of Patras in Greece), ARGUS and Azerbaijan (Baku Higher Oil School, Baku State University, Baku Engineering University, “Sukanal” Scientific-Research and Design Institute, Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction). The main goal of the project is to provide assistance in solving existing environmental problems caused by the activity of the oil and gas industry in Azerbaijan. For this purpose, within the framework of the ITACA project, a training and research center worth 300,000 euros was established on the campus of Baku Higher Oil School.

Along with research activities, the center conducts the 3rd cycle advanced education course on "Environmental restoration and sustainable oil and gas production", which has been of great interest in the European educational system for many years, but is a new direction for the Azerbaijani educational system.

Thus, the ITACA project showed the possibilities and perspectives for taking new approaches in the educational system of Azerbaijan, in addition to conducting scientific-research activities aimed at solving environmental challenges.

The aim of the workshop was to inform the general public about the research activities conducted in Azerbaijan within the framework of the project, as well as by other scientific and research institutes, in the area of environmental restoration.