| ASAIF (Azerbaijani Students and Alumni International Forum) | |
|---|---|
| Formation | September 15, 2010 |
| Type | Public Union International Forum Non-governmental organization Non-profit organization |
| Headquarters | Baku Azerbaijan |
| Key people | Orkhan Akbarov Chairman (September 15, 2010–present) |
| Website | www.asaif.org |
ASAIF (Azerbaijani Students and Alumni International Forum)— Public Union in Azerbaijani Republic.
Contents |
ASAIF – Azerbaijani Students and Alumni International Forum started in 2001 by organizing summer forums for the Azerbaijanis studying abroad. The organization carried different names since it was established. But in 2010, during the VIII summer forum conference of the organization the name was changed to ASAIF. The organization the aim of which has always been to bring Azerbaijani students studying abroad together decided to become official and have structures. On this purpose ASAIF held an establishment meeting in September 15, 2010. A variety of students from 15 different countries took part in the meeting. After confirming the structure of the organization during the meeting, ASAIF applied to the Ministry of Justice of the Azerbaijan Republic. The organization was registered as “Azerbaijani Students and Alumni International Forum” in September 24, 2010.[1]
ASAIF has board of directors (18 countries), board members (40 countries) and regular members. The structure of the organization consists of Azerbaijani youth, who has accepted the country’s development priorities as their own development and who works hard to successfully represent Azerbaijan abroad. Today there are many young doctors, politicians, economists, psychologists, lawyers, genetics, engineers, mathematicians, biologists, journalists and many other professionals among the members of ASAIF. Some of these members have already completed their education at the leading universities of the world, but some are still studying. On every member’s mind besides getting good education, there is an aim of representing Azerbaijan, country’s development and prosperity. ASAIF activists are the young professionals who love Azerbaijan and who are ready to build its bright future with their own hands![2]
As a result of the establishment conference in September 15, 2010 the organizational structure below has been confirmed. General Secretary was elected according to suggestions during the internal meeting of the organization.
Orkhan Mustafayev – United Arab Emirates
As an organization, lobbying and diaspora activities are the priorities of ASAIF. Therefore ASAIF pays special attention to the lobbying and diaspora activities realized by the Azerbaijani youth who study abroad. The main target in these activities is to inform the world about Azerbaiijan’s history, culture, development, Nagorno Karabakh and all other issues related to Azerbaijan. ASAIF in its turn is preparing new approach methods and strategies to increase the efficiency in the activities mentioned above.
Besides these, one of the main goals is defining the right strategy and coming up with an action plan, to develop the effectiveness of the events held abroad. First of all, unlike other related organizations, ASAIF will held its meetings and events not only in European countries, in contrast other continents and in different themes as well, based on the different interests of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani youth.
Organizing “Azerbaijani days” and “Stop Armenian aggression” events will continue being among the list of important events that ASAIF supports.
ASAIF was created by gathering Azerbaijani students, scientists and researchers who study or already graduated from the most leading universities of the world together. ASAIF believes that its activities will form conceptual approach system towards the problems and will create a society who is informed about Azerbaijan in a more correct way.
World is always witnessing new processes and in order to keep the track of the innovations it is important to implement new strategies. Since Azerbaijan gained independence careful approach system to the existing problems was used, because of the rules of the real situation. But, ASAIF believes that it is already time to switch to the active approach and management style, in which youth will also take an active part and which will cover the future as well. In its turn, ASAIF has also chosen couple priority themes and directions to divert the future events.
ASAIF believes that, besides Nagorno Karabakh problem as the main goal of lobbying activities, listing Azerbaijan’s culture, history, the role of the energy resources in Europe energy security, tourism potential will be very useful.
During the common success of the activities and early implementation period of the projects using internet resources, access to foreign media centers, building and developing important individual relations are important. ASAIF believes that, institutes that Azerbaijani students study today will play very important role in delivering Azerbaijani truth to the individuals. Therefore participating in conference and seminars to develop common values is crucial.
ASAIF has accepted representing Azerbaijan as the top goal of the organization and will use any means to create a positive image about Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani youth and networking will definitely play an important and irreplaceable role in this precious mission.[5]
In the end of the VII – beginning of the VIII century, when the Caliphate army marched into Azerbaijan, with the spread of Islam, Persian education and culture also got developed in the area. Besides this, tens of Azerbaijani people moved to the Near and Middle East cities to study. All these were the beginning of the Diaspora processes. Since then ethnic Azerbaijanis have been living in different parts of the world. After Azerbaijan got independence in 1991 many projects have been implemented to strengthen the government, to represent the country among other states. These activities are getting developed more and more every year.
Today Azerbaijani youth are able to study at the most leading universities of the world, both with individual funding as well as with the government scholarships. Since those students are the representatives of Azerbaijan only for couple years – during their study abroad periods, as an organization ASAIF is aiming to contact with ethnic Azerbaijanis living in those countries as well. According to the past experience it is obvious that building strong ties with them and students develop lobbying and Diaspora activities to a higher profile. So, building these ties, regulating them with correct strategy and conceptual approach is listed as ASAIF’s main target plans.[6]
Since ASAIF was created, organizing different meetings and building ties between students have been among the main goals of the organization. During this period, besides having meetings in the big cities like Brussels, Berlin, Strasbourg, London, Athens, Istanbul, Washington DC, Paris and others, ASAIF held the VIII meeting of the Azerbaijani students studying abroad in the capital of Azerbaijan Baku in August, 2010. More than 200 Azerbaijani students studying in 32 different countries took part in that meeting. Participants of ASAIF forum were the students of the worldwide universities starting with the USA to Japan. As a logical result of these processes, ASAIF was officially registered and started working on a continuous base. During this time period ASAIF has given its contribution to the world society about Azerbaijan, its culture and values.
ASAIF has already proved its importance as a youth organization for Azerbaijan, and a reasonable place for practical debates and thoughts. Therefore in December, 2010 ASAIF held meetings with the Azerbaijani students studying in London, Paris and Istanbul to show the high respect and value towards their high education, gathering them together for a better and effective support for the development of Azerbaijan.
According to the information given by the Ministry of Education of the Azerbaijan Republic, more than 10 thousand Azerbaijanis are studying abroad today, and 2 thousand of them receive full scholarship from the government. By the end of the first stage of the State Program in 2015, the number of the students studying abroad, as well as members of this network will increase by a huge number. Therefore gathering them together to realize the successful representation of Azerbaijani values and history is a very important issue.
Besides these, ASAIF has prepared a detailed networking strategy and will deliver them during the upcoming American, European and Asian meetings. ASAIF thinks that networking process requires a real desire to join, and believes that this process will be continuous. As a result of this process Azerbaijan will be more successfully represented and will fight against the double standards which are formed about Nagorno Karabagh topic.
ASAIF hopes that Azerbaijan government will accept Azerbaijani youth as a trusted power of representation. And of course, networking will be one of the strongest tools of ASAIF towards this goal.
Youth who want to take an active part in the networking process with ASAIF can join us through the electron membership on the ASAIF web-page.[7]
By pooling knowledge and efforts of these students and alumni, the organization aims to enhance networking among foreign-educated Azerbaijani youth, promote public diplomacy, and contribute to human capital development in Azerbaijan. The last is especially important because human capital, the accumulation of knowledge and skills as a result of education, on-the-job training and/or life experiences, plays a primary role in increasing productivity.
Human capital can better explain why economies are able to grow over the long term because human capital, unlike physical capital, is not subject to the law of diminishing returns, i.e. higher amount of human capital does not imply lower contribution to growth in productivity. That is because it creates positive externalities to society by contributing to its common pool of knowledge, thereby providing opportunities for others to reap benefits without incurring costs.
In recent years, Azerbaijan has experienced spectacular growth, but because this has been based primarily on hydrocarbon sales, this boom may prove short-lived absent important economic diversification, and that will be impossible without an adequate supply of highly skilled workers. Unfortunately, the level of human capital now fails to meet even the demand of the currently small non-energy sector, let alone those of a largely diversified economy. As a World Bank study notes, the current state of the educational system, particularly at the tertiary level, is poor, and at the same time, there is a serious mismatch between degrees granted by local universities and skills demanded by the changing economy.[8]
The government of Azerbaijan has acknowledged the need for human capital development. Over the past few years, it has built or renovated more than 1200 schools, it has invested in the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, and it has created a Science Development Foundation. Another important effort was begun in 2007 with the adoption of the State Program on Education of Azerbaijani Youth Abroad. It funds training of Azerbaijani students in the leading world universities. As of the end of 2009, the number of Azerbaijani young people receiving such support totaled 483 persons, a number slated to reach 5000 by 2015.[9]
ASAIF was created by and aims to work with foreign-educated Azerbaijanis. In broadest terms, the organization serves as a facilitator, organizer and catalyst in attracting foreign-educated Azerbaijanis to engage in human capital development issues in Azerbaijan, among other goals. It works to facilitate technological transfer by providing medium of communication and interaction both within professions and among them.
ASAIF can also contribute toward the goal of reversing the brain drain. Foreign-educated young people are often skeptical about developments in Azerbaijan. They think there are few employment opportunities in the country and that jobs there offer low salaries. Many of these assumptions are simply wrong, the product of an information gap. While the overall unemployment picture may be bleak, the demand for high-skilled specialists is considerable, and ASAIF forums and other activities can help close this information gap.[10]
One of the main goals of the organization is to help alumni find a decent job in Azerbaijan. Therefore if members of ASAIF fill the online form and send to ASAIF office, this will help them to find an appropriate job.[11]
The information about the events organized by ASAIF are published by mass media periodically.[35]
In order to become a member of ASAIF it’s crucial to accept the rules below:
It is also possible to become member of ASAIF using online application form on the web-site.