BP: Support for Azerbaijan's School of Project Management extended

BP and its co-venturers in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Shah Deniz, and South Caucasus Pipeline projects have decided to extend their support for the School of Project Management (SPM) until November 2015.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on extension of the initiative was signed today by Gordon Birrell, BP’s Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, on behalf of the co-venturers in an event held at the Khazar University, BP said in a statement.  

SPM was established by BP and its co-venturers in 2011 to help the private and public sectors get access to a globally-recognized, comprehensive project management programme. The objective of the initiative is to help improve the local project management performance and establish a long term project management capability in the country. 

The curriculum of the school leads to two globally-recognized certifications: the "Masters Certificate in Project Management", awarded by the George Washington University (GWU), and the "PM Professional" certificate, awarded by the Project Management Institute (PMI). 

Addressing the MOU signing event Gordon Birrell, BP’s Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, said: “The decision to extend our cooperation is based on the success that BP and our business partners have seen over the past three years of the School’s existence. We believe the School has so far met its objectives with two successful graduations achieved and a total of over 300 international certificates awarded. 

“We are pleased that the globally-recognized, comprehensive project management training curriculum and international project management standards offered by the SPM have been fully translated and are available in the Azerbaijani language along with English.  This means that now non-English speaking national managers also have direct access to the trainings and this is very important in the local environment.” 

Since its start in 2011, SPM has successfully trained over 300 specialists representing 98 private and public sector organizations. Of the graduates, 129 have been qualified for Masters and 192 for Associates Certificates by the George Washington University.

The project is implemented by ESI International - a leading project management training and solutions company, in collaboration with the Khazar University. 

ANN.Az