The new academic year has already started in higher education institutions. One of the most interesting issues for students is related to changing the educational institution or specialty, in other words, student transfer. How the transfer process is carried out, what criteria are taken into account during the application, and who can benefit from this right are topical questions for students.
AzEdu.az presents the current rules regarding student transfers.
Student transfers are carried out in accordance with the rules approved by the decision of the Board of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated February 21, 2024, No. KQ-02. These rules cover issues of student transfer, expulsion and reinstatement from educational institutions, as well as academic leave for students studying at bachelor's and master's levels of higher education institutions, as well as in secondary vocational education institutions.
According to the rules, student transfers are carried out once a year during the summer vacation period. Transferred students continue their education on a paid basis, with certain exceptions. Students studying at the expense of the state or by state order and changing the educational institution or form of education for the same specialty are an exception to this rule;
During the transfer, the credits accumulated by the student during the previous period of study are taken into account. A student who has not accumulated at least half of their credits is not allowed to transfer. At the same time, the admission score accumulated by the student must be higher than the minimum passing score for the specialty they wish to transfer to;
Students, as a rule, can change their specialties within the same specialty group. Changing the language of instruction is not allowed (except for cases where the language of instruction is changed from English to the language of instruction in which they studied at the general education level, or from the language of instruction in which they studied at the general education level to English);
When transferring for specialties requiring special abilities, the results of both graduation and ability exams are taken into account. Changing the form of education is only possible if admission to that form of education is carried out for the relevant specialty;
Students who have studied for a period longer than the normative period of education are not allowed to transfer. Persons admitted to a higher education institution as sub-bachelors also cannot be transferred, with the exception of changing the form of education. Students studying at the master's level can only change their educational institutions; they are not allowed to change their specialty or specialization;
Winners of international and republican subject Olympiads, international competitions and contests, as well as graduates of internationally accredited educational programs can only be transferred to the specialties they choose. The transfer of students of special purpose higher education institutions is possible only if provided for in the charter of that institution.
Special requirements have also been established for students wishing to transfer from foreign higher education institutions to universities in Azerbaijan:
In this case, the student's results in international exams or centralized exams held for admission to higher education institutions in the country where they studied may be taken into account.
For the bachelor's level, these indicators include at least 1200 points on the new scale from the SAT exam, including a minimum of 650 points in mathematics, at least 75 percent from the YÖS exam, a total of 300 points from the ЕГЭ exam and a minimum of 75 points for each subject. Also, 3 or 4 points from the AP exam, 25–35 points for the IB diploma, C or B for A-Level, and 27 points from the ACT exam are among the considered indicators.
According to another criterion, the university where the student was admitted abroad in the year of admission must be among the top 500 universities in at least one of the international rankings: “Times Higher Education World University Rankings”, “QS World University Rankings” or “Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking)”.
The transfer of Azerbaijani citizens studying abroad within the framework of state programs to universities in the country can only be carried out if their education within these programs is terminated.
Applications for transfer and their review are carried out electronically through the portal.edu.az platform based on relevant documents.
