EU educational programme suspended in Azerbaijan

The termination of the Erasmus+ programme projects will negatively affect the country's educational sector, Parviz Bagirov, the head of the programme's office in Baku, believes.

The implementation of all the projects of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union (EU) to support education has been "tacitly suspended," Mr Bagirov has stated.

"There’s no progress on hundreds of student and teacher exchanges within the ICM (International Credit Mobility – one of Erasmus+ programmes, – note from the "Caucasian Knot") and the CBHE (Capacity Building in Higher Education, another Erasmus+ programme) projects ... That is, new projects are not being registered, and the implementation of active ones has been stopped," he wrote on the Facebook*, adding that the national Erasmus+ office is also on the eve of closure.

"Over the years of work within the framework of Erasmus+, hundreds of projects have been implemented, thousands of students and teachers have been trained and gained experience in prestigious European universities," Mr Bagirov has noted.

According to his story, the suspension of 27 projects with a total budget of 20 million manats (about USD 12,000) will negatively affect the sphere of higher education in Azerbaijan and the international cooperation.

A total of 32 Azeri universities were involved in the Erasmus+ programme. According to Bagirov, thanks to it, the integration of Azerbaijan's higher education into the European educational space has accelerated; and new knowledge and skills have come to Azerbaijan.

Emin Guseinov, an Azerbaijani activist, the director of the Geneva-based Human Rights Institute, believes that the suspension of the Erasmus+ programme "is aimed at protecting Azerbaijani youth from the "negative influence" of the West." "Erasmus+ programmes involve sending students to Europe to study for one or two semesters ... When they return, many young people begin perceiving Azerbaijani reality negatively," he has explained.

*On March 21, 2022, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow banned the activities in Russia of the Meta Company, owning the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in connection with extremist activities.