Baku, 13 March 2020 – The Azerbaijan Tourism and Management University (ATMU) obtained the United Nations World Tourism Organization TedQual Quality Certification for bachelor and master degree education in the field of tourism and hospitality.

ATMU is the first among universities in the South Caucasus that has successfully passed the UNWTO.TedQual certification process, which is an important achievement in enhancing the global competitiveness of Azerbaijan’s higher education.

This has been achieved as part of the “Capacity building of the Azerbaijan Tourism and Management University” project implemented by the State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The main objective of this project which began in December 2018 is to help ensure that the quality of education in tourism and management is fully in line with international standards and preparing students to become highly skilled professionals in the tourism field.

Established in 1998, the UNWTO.TedQual Certification System is one of the most advanced standards of education, training and research in the field of tourism, administered by the UNWTO Academy. This quality system assesses the effectiveness of the pedagogical content and organisation of higher education tourism programmes. One of the main requirements of the system is to measure the effectiveness of the academic system, as well as their degree of incorporation of the tourism industry, civil society and students needs in those programmes.

By having access to the UNWTO.TedQual Network, ATMU gets the right to participate in exchange programmes for academic staff and students, also tap into numerous opportunities for sharing knowledge and experience. Higher education institutions such as the George Washington University, the Université du Québec à Montréal, Bosphorus and Akdeniz Universities of Turkey, China’s Sun Yat-sen University and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University are all members of this prestigious network.

ATMU also obtained ISO 9001: 2015 - Quality Management System Certification in 2019 validating the university’s education for specialists in the tourism and hospitality field.

Media contact:

For media inquiries, please contact Dilara Umudova, Communications Officer for UNDP in Azerbaijan at dilara.umudova@undp.org.

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