Agriculture plays a crucial role in the country’s non-oil sector development and in ensuring food security.
The key factor in the development of this field is the principle of sustainability in the agricultural sector. Today, the development of agriculture is a priority, and having qualified personnel in the agrarian field is of great importance.
The only state higher education institution in the country that trains highly qualified agricultural specialists for the agrarian sector is the Azerbaijan State Agricultural University (ADAU).
In recent years, the improvement of teaching quality and the creation of modern educational infrastructure at the Azerbaijan State Agricultural University have further increased the interest of young people in this institution. The Azerbaijan State Agricultural University (ADAU) has achieved significant success in modernizing its infrastructure, aligning with international standards, and forming a startup ecosystem.
In recent years, as a result of research conducted by the faculty, 25 patents have been obtained from the Intellectual Property Agency. New projects have been developed in the fields of alternative energy and “Smart Village” farming technologies.
Under the leadership of Zafar Gurbanov, Rector of the Azerbaijan State Agricultural University, the university achieved a number of significant academic and international milestones in 2026.
The university made a successful debut in the “QS Europe 2026” and “QS Western Asia 2026” rankings. Furthermore, it achieved high positions in the “Times Higher Education (THE) Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026,” strengthened its material and technical base, expanded its scientific research activities, and made fundamental progress in digitalization.
Today, ADAU has 7 faculties and 27 departments. More than 7,500 students are studying in full-time and correspondence forms across more than 30 specialties and over 70 specializations at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels.
Instruction is conducted in English for 6 specialties and in Russian for 10 specialties. Specialist training for 14 specialties is carried out exclusively through state orders. The university has cooperation agreements with nearly 100 universities in more than 20 countries around the world.
One of the most significant successes achieved by the university in recent years is that the Azerbaijan State Agricultural University, in partnership with Ege University of Turkey, conducts personnel training based on a dual degree program in “Agronomy,” “Plant Protection,” “Agroengineering,” and “Economics.”
As a result of high-quality and modern standard-compliant teaching in the university’s specialties such as agronomy, ecology, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, information technology, computer engineering, finance, marketing, management (German program), and others, many successes have been achieved.
Thus, by possessing global challenges, modern and innovative educational and teaching infrastructure, the university strives to train highly qualified specialists through education and research in the agrarian field, thereby increasing farmers’ incomes, raising productivity in agriculture, and contributing to food security.
In particular, special attention is paid to the unity of teaching and practice by utilizing the knowledge and skills of experienced personnel and scientific innovations. The successful teaching process aimed at creating new human capital based on the knowledge and experience of faculty members such as Qənbər Abdullayev, Zahir Ələsgərov, Həsənəli Aslanov, Arif Qazıyev, Nizami Seyidəliyev, Arif Tağıyev, Hasil Fətəliyev, Namiq Mustafayev, Eldar Zeynalov, Məhərrəm Hüseynov, and others is yielding results.
It should also be noted that last year, ADAU ranked first in the country in the “UI GreenMetric 2025” ranking, scoring 1,000 points for infrastructure and material-technical base.
Among 1,745 universities from 105 countries, ADAU scored 4,520 points, ranking 1,174th globally, and 13th among 19 higher education institutions in the country.
Furthermore, according to the 2025 results of the RUR international rating agency (“Round University Ranking”), which includes 15 higher education institutions, ADAU ranked 1,148th in the world university ranking (11th in the country), 752nd globally for internationalization (2nd in the country), 961st for teaching (7th in the country), and 1,207th for research (13th in the country).
It is no coincidence that during speeches at the meeting of the Scientific Council of the Azerbaijan State Agricultural University regarding the results of the 2025/2026 academic year, it was stated that the activities carried out, achievements made, and key goals for the 2025/2026 academic year, as well as successes in teaching, science, international cooperation, innovation, and digitalization, were achieved.
During the reporting period, significant work was done at the university to improve the quality of education, strengthen the material-technical base, expand scientific research activities, develop international relations, and form a student-centered environment.
It was noted that ADAU has further improved its position in international rankings, expanded cooperation with foreign higher education institutions, and achieved successful results in increasing the academic mobility of students and teachers.
The construction of new buildings for the university, the commissioning of student dormitories, the renewal of the university’s experimental-testing base, the formation of a modern library system, the expansion of the laboratory network and the creation of opportunities for these laboratories to earn additional funds through private sector orders, joining dual diploma programs, participation in international scientific exchange projects, updating the personnel base by employing young teachers at the university and ensuring the continuity of the process, stimulating students’ knowledge, preparing an electronic database of graduates, and especially the work done towards the employment of graduates as a result of cooperation with both state and non-state institutions are examples set by the Azerbaijan State Agricultural University today.
In recent years, a number of stimulating steps have also been taken at the university. Thus, a scholarship of 150 AZN has been established for those admitted to ADAU with a score between 400-600, 250 AZN for those with over 600 points, an additional 100 AZN for those who receive excellent grades in all subjects during the session, and an additional 70 AZN for students studying in English.
As one of the recent successes, the Azerbaijan State Agricultural University successfully completed the accreditation assessment conducted by the Education Quality Assurance Agency (TKTA) and was accredited for a period of 5 years.
This is the result of the sustainable development strategy implemented at ADAU, the quality assurance policy, and the work done towards forming a higher education environment in line with international standards.
Thus, ADAU has currently become a place where, alongside the measures taken for the development of the agrarian sector in the country, literate personnel are trained in this field.