Visiting professorship in Azerbaijan successfully completed

Prof. Dr. Matthias Schmidt spent a semester conducting research and teaching in Azerbaijan. He has now returned to Görlitz with many new impressions and experiences.

From October 2017 to February 2018, Prof. Dr. Schmidt served as a visiting professor at the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industrial University in Baku as part of an international exchange program. In addition to establishing research collaborations, Prof. Schmidt taught nine semester-hour-equivalents per week in two master’s programs and one bachelor’s program offered by the University of Georgia in Atlanta (USA). Even though the degree programme is based in Baku, Azerbaijan, students receive a dual degree from an American university.

As a work and organizational psychologist, Prof. Schmidt was able to address current topics related to global change, digitalization, and occupational safety in his lectures and seminars. The lectures “Organizational Behavior” and “Work and Employment” also covered topics such as leadership and diversity in the workplace. In addition, Prof. Dr. Schmidt offered training sessions for the Career Center at the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industrial University. Prof. Dr. Schmidt received special support from the U.S. Embassy in Baku for his seminar “Human Factors and Limitations.” American astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper spoke about her Space Shuttle missions and provided practical insights into how she, as a woman, became a leader at NASA and the importance of certain precautions and safety measures for stress prevention during spacewalks.

The region is currently celebrating 200 years of German settlement in the Caucasus, an event accompanied by numerous exhibitions organized by the Goethe-Institut and the German Embassy. As part of official delegations, Prof. Dr. Schmidt had the opportunity to visit several universities in the country. There was particular interest in cooperation at the State University of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

Establishing international research collaborations is an important task for Saxon university faculty and is supported by the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the State of Saxony. As such, International Affairs also holds a special place in the current agreement on objectives between the Saxon State Ministry of Science and the Arts and the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. On the one hand, the goal is to foster collaborations in research and teaching; on the other hand, the aim is to promote knowledge transfer and student exchange. In the future, the EU and the federal government will provide funding for university staff to participate in international development projects. Many European problems can only be addressed through international cooperation. Prof. Dr. Schmidt will deepen international relations with the Caucasus region and increase cooperation with universities in Ukraine.

From March 19–21, 2018, a group of students and staff from ASIU in Baku will visit Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. On this occasion, a cooperation agreement between Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industrial University in Baku will be signed, and students will have the opportunity to gain insight into student life in Germany.