The first meeting of the Scientific Council is held at UNEC in the new academic year
The first meeting of the Scientific Council of the 2020/2021 academic year was held at UNEC on September 14.
Rector of UNEC, Professor Adalat Muradov congratulated the members of the council on the beginning of the new academic year and wished them success.
The new scientific secretary of the Scientific Council, Arabiya Mustafayeva, was introduced to the members of the council during the online meeting.
The Council voted on and approved the work plan of the UNEC Scientific Council for the 2020/2021 academic year. Then the issues on the agenda were discussed. Head of Quality Control Department, Assoc. Prof. Sevda Sardarova made a speech on the results of distance learning in the spring semester of the 2019/2020 academic year. It was noted that in the spring semester, quality ambassadors and faculties participated in 3,806 lessons and archived videos of 23,000 lessons. In order to improve the quality of distance learning, the academic staff has been trained for 5 days by Azerbaijani scientists working in leading US universities, as well as Turkish professors. After the report, proposals were made to improve distance learning.
Then the deputy director of the Center for Evaluation and management of teaching quality, Assoc. Professor Sohrab Isayev reported on the results of the summer exam session of the 2019/2020 academic year. It was noted that for the first time in the country, the proctor system, which is considered the most advanced system in the world, was applied in the assessment of students’ knowledge during the exam session. S.Isayev noted that 11,248 students were certified during the session, of which 9,089 were bachelors and 2,159 were masters. An increase in the quality and mastery of education has been noted on the report. Then, suggestions were made to improve the assessment of student knowledge.
Vice-Rector for Teaching and Training Technologies, Associate Professor Anar Rzayev spoke about the organization of education in the current semester. It was noted that the semesters will be divided into modules. After the first module, the final attestation will be organized. It was noted that distance lessons are planned for 60 minutes, and after the lesson, teachers will hold 30 minutes of consultation hours for each lesson. The bachelor’s knowledge will be assessed on a 20 + 30 + 50 model based on 100 points. Here, 20 points will be allocated to student activity, 30 points to the group project and 50 points to the exam grade. The assessment will be applied to all faculties, except for master’s and TWBA . Students’ attendance will be free.
It was noted that 4 terms of English language teaching will be organized in the new academic year on the basis of international standards. Subjects will be divided into A1, A2, B1 and B2 levels according to international standards. Students will take a placement test and be divided into groups according to their level of knowledge.
Innovations will also be introduced in the placement of freshmen in groups. Thus, students newly admitted to the same specialty will be placed in groups in other majors according to their exam scores in the SEC exams.
Then, Vice-Rector for Administrative and Organizational Affairs Shaig Asgerov acquainted the council members with the rules for conducting online events at UNEC. The rules were adopted by the council members after being said.
Proposals on the establishment of new departments and laboratories were voiced in the Scientific Council, and the proposals were accepted by the members of the council.
Thus, the department of “Engineering and Applied Sciences” will be established at the Faculty of Engineering. The specialties of “Industrial Engineering”, “Material Engineering”, “Mechanical Engineering”, “Environmental Engineering”, “Electrical and Electronics Engineering” and “Food Engineering” will be included in the department. The Department of “Digital Technologies and Applied Informatics” will be established under the Faculty of Digital Economics, and the Department of Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Security, and Communication System will be included in the department.
Center for organizing the work of laboratories will be established at the faculties of Engineering, as well as Digital economy.
“Food Chemistry and Biochemistry”, “Food Technology”, “Ecology”, “Physics 1” and “Physics 2”, “Chemistry 1” and “Chemistry 2”, “Electronics”, “Electrical Engineering”, “Materials Science”, “Communication Systems Engineering”, “Mechanical and Industrial Engineering” laboratories , as well as 2 Computer Laboratories have been decided to be established at UNEC.
UNEC School of Design will be established on the basis of the “Design” department. “Hard skills” and “Soft skills” majors to be taught this year will be taught at the “Career Planning and Development” department, which was established to help students plan their careers properly.
It was stated at the council that in order to further improve the quality of research and scientific articles published in international databases, indicators on the quality of articles should be paid attention taking into consideration relevant shares in DSS which determines the ranking of the academic staff.
It was also decided at the council to establish the position of “Researcher”.
According to the approved innovations, the salaries of foreign language teachers with English language proficiency levels C1 and C2 will be increased by 15% and 30%, respectively.
A decision has been made to pay the difference in tuition fees paid by the state to students belonging to vulnerable groups studying at UNEC at the expense of the university.
UNEC Inclusive Education Foundation has been established to support young people with disabilities to receive a high level of education at UNEC, which also aims to become a center for inclusive education. The fund will support the payment of tuition fees for students with disabilities, their participation in exchange and dual degree programs.