Tural Abdinli, an Azerbaijani schoolboy who won a gold medal at the XIV Republican Project Competition "Scientists of Tomorrow" and a bronze medal at the International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF 2025) held in the USA, is now a student at the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), considered one of China's leading higher education institutions.
Tural Abdinli, distinguished by his international scientific achievements, received admissions from prestigious universities in various countries around the world. He received a scholarship offer from Binghamton University in the USA, and scholarships totaling over 150,000 US dollars from Aalto University and the University of Oulu in Finland, as well as Northwestern Polytechnical University and Harbin Institute of Technology in China. The young researcher decided to continue his education with a full scholarship at the Harbin Institute of Technology, specializing in Artificial Intelligence.
AzEdu.az contacted Tural Abdinli on this occasion.
Receiving the admission news was unexpected for me:
"When I opened the admission letter and saw that I had been accepted with a full scholarship, I felt both great pride and immense joy. It was around April. During that period, I was slowly starting to prepare my documents, and I was a bit stressed because of it. This admission news was like medicine for my stress. I was truly very happy."
The main point distinguishing Harbin University is that artificial intelligence is taught as a separate specialization:
"Generally, the field I applied for and wanted to study is artificial intelligence. Therefore, choosing China was quite appropriate for me. One of the main reasons for this is that China is rapidly advancing in computer science and especially in artificial intelligence, even starting to surpass American and European countries in some areas.
Furthermore, in many universities, artificial intelligence is taught as part of computer science. However, in China, this field is already offered as a separate specialization. That is, "Artificial Intelligence" is taught as an independent faculty and field of study. In this regard, Harbin was a more suitable choice for me. I believe that China will achieve great success in this field over the next 20 years. And I want to be a part of that development."
The main goal was to meet all the admission requirements of the university at a high level. And because I was able to do that, I received a full scholarship:
"First and foremost, confidence plays a huge role in this process. That is, approaching it with the mindset of 'I'll just apply to any university, it's okay if I get in or not' is not right. You need to thoroughly research and deeply analyze the university you choose. You need to find out how suitable the major you want to study is for you, the curriculum, teaching methodology, and other aspects. After that, you need to carefully look at the university's admission requirements.
One of the main requirements at the university I applied to was the CSCA exam. This is a new exam introduced by China and launched in December 2025. I participated in the second stage of that exam and scored 92.5 out of 100 possible points in mathematics and 80 points in physics. This was a fairly good result. Many universities in China now prefer CSCA exam results instead of SAT. For example, Harbin University did not ask me for SAT results, and one of the main indicators was precisely the CSCA exam.
In addition, they also looked at my IELTS result. It fully met the criteria set by the university. Of course, essays and recommendation letters also play an important role in the admission process. The main goal was to meet all the admission requirements of the university at a high level. And because I was able to do that, I ultimately received a full scholarship."
China's distinctiveness, planned lifestyle, and diligent environment are the aspects that attract me the most:
"This country will give me a different perspective. Because China, as we know, is an Asian country, and there are quite a lot of cultural differences, what is called 'culture shock'. Their culture, planned lifestyle, and ability to achieve great success in a short time are truly very impressive. I believe I will also adopt these characteristics.
Of course, one of the main advantages is that to graduate there, one needs to know Chinese at a C1 level, which is a high level. I think that during these four years, I will also learn Chinese to a sufficiently good level. This is a huge advantage for my future.
Besides, studying in China has many more advantages. If I started listing them all, it would probably take a lot of time. But for me, the most important aspects are China's different way of thinking, the diligence of its people, and the hardworking environment. This is what attracts me the most.
Moreover, Harbin is a quite cold city. Since I am tolerant of cold weather and love a healthy lifestyle, I think this city and China in general are a very suitable choice for me."
Our cuisine holds a completely different place for me, but I will try to adapt to the new culture:
"I think the biggest challenge for me might be the food. But I will try to adapt to their culture as much as possible. Of course, time will tell how well this will work out. Because our cuisine is truly very rich, and it holds a completely different place for me. Therefore, it is natural to have certain difficulties in this area. But I believe I will be able to overcome them as well."
My family's support, the people who believed in me, were my greatest strength on this path:
"Generally, the most important factors for success and the learning process in any field are discipline, planning, and a structured lifestyle. If you can apply these to your life, I think it's truly possible to achieve a lot.
Most people might say that motivation is important. Some prefer to watch motivational videos and get inspired. But in my opinion, the greatest source of motivation is being disciplined. The more disciplined, planned, and systematic you live, the more successful you will be. This applies not only to one field but is a principle that can be applied in any direction. Therefore, I think that the main key to success is discipline.
Of course, on this path, my family's support, the existence of people who believed in me, and most importantly, my self-confidence also played a very big role. I always try to do my work in the best possible way. I am a bit of a perfectionist. Therefore, my approach is: either I don't do a job at all, or I do it as perfectly and at the highest level as I can. I think this is one of the main characteristics of my personality."
Answering the question about whether he would return to Azerbaijan, Tural stated that in the future, he wants to return to his country and share the knowledge and experience he gained with young people:
"This depends somewhat on time. I think that the innovations that will occur in this field over the next 5 years will determine a lot. But I would very much like to see serious development in the field of artificial intelligence in Azerbaijan. Today, we see that China, America, and European countries are taking very big steps in this direction.
We, of course, are still less developed in this field compared to China. But I think that if Azerbaijani students who study or will study in China return to the country and share the knowledge and experience they gained with our young people, they can make a significant contribution to the development of this field.
I believe that in the future, new academies for artificial intelligence will be created in our country, and new perspectives will be formed. New curricula will be developed in the education system, and new subjects will be taught in this direction. All of these can contribute to further increasing Azerbaijan's prestige in the field of artificial intelligence.
The experience of our brotherly country, Turkey, also shows this. Especially in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the defense industry, artificial intelligence technologies are successfully used. This shows how important artificial intelligence is in strategic areas.
I would also like to return to Azerbaijan in the future and share the knowledge and experience I gained with young people, and contribute to the development of this field in our country."
It should be noted that Tural Abdinli was awarded a gold medal in the engineering category at the XIV Republican Project Competition "Scientists of Tomorrow" held in 2025.
Later, with the project "Forest Fire Prediction through Explainable Artificial Intelligence", which he prepared with his teammate, he won a bronze medal in the Systems Software category at the Regeneron ISEF 2025 international competition held in the USA. The project was published at the ISPEC 2025 international scientific conference held in Prague, Czech Republic. Later, the project was presented in Russian at the international event "100 Ideas for the CIS" held in Kazakhstan.
