The first Masters Certificates in Project Management from the George Washington University were presented in Baku today to a large group of graduates from the School of Project Management (SPM), established and funded by BP and its partners in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG), Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), Shah Deniz (SD), and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP).
In its first year, SPM has successfully trained about 150 representatives of some 62 private and public sector organizations, using globally-recognized project management training curriculum. Of these 51 were qualified for Masters and 92 for Associates Certificates from the George Washington University.
BP on behalf of its co-venturers, hosted an SPM graduation event in Baku today during which over 50 graduates received their international Masters Certificates in Project Management. These included representatives of oil and gas, government, engineering and construction, marine and geology, education, banking and finance, telecoms and other sectors.
Addressing the event Seymour Khalilov, BP’s Vice-President, Communications and External Affairs, said: “We are very pleased that BP has the opportunity to mark its 20th anniversary in Azerbaijan by a series of remarkable events. SPM first graduation ceremony is one of such events. BP and its co-venturers are really proud to be involved in establishment of Azerbaijan’s first School of Project Management which has already proven to be a successful and most importantly sustainable tool of training of local managers. The fact that about 150 managers representing both private and public sectors were trained through SPM during the first year and about 50 of them have qualified for international Masters Certificates is an outstanding outcome. We are very hopeful that this success will continue in the future and it will be a substantial contribution to enhancing the local project management capability.”
Ibrahim Ismayilov, BP’s Sustainable Development Manager, says: “Project management skills and competencies are one of the most critical ones in delivering world-class complex projects effectively. We believe this is even more critical in Azerbaijan, which experiences huge economic growth and development across various sectors. BP and its co-venturers are committed to national capacity-building in project management and this indicates the companies’ dedication to developing local pool of professionals and the region’s long-team sustainable development”.
Notes to Editors:
BP and its co-venturers announced in January 2011 that they would contribute one million dollars to establish a new School of Project Management (SPM) in Azerbaijan.
SPM was designed as a tool to provide private and public sector representatives access to a globally-recognized, comprehensive project management programme. It focuses on simultaneous goals of improving immediate project management performance and establishing long-term project management capability in the country.
SPM curriculum consists of seven modules - Managing Projects, Project Leadership, Management and Communication, Risk Management, Scheduling and Cost Control, Quality for Project Managers, Project Management Applications, and Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam Preparation.
In addition, the aim of the project is to increase capacity of the local training institution, and therefore while initially the language of the course is English, there are plans to train local professionals in 2-3 years time so that they can deliver the same programme in the Azerbaijani language. For this purpose the entire training curriculum has already been translated into Azerbaijani enabling other organisations to offer the same training to those employees who don’t speak English.
The SPM training is conducted by ESI International - a leading project management training and solutions company, in collaboration with Khazar University.
Key highlights about School of Project Management
Tamam Bayatly, BP Baku Press Office, telephone: +994 (0) 599 4557