Sustainability Policy
For more details see: Sustainability Policy of AUL
Purpose
The University cherishes the chance to contribute significantly to the advancement of sustainability ideals as a higher education establishment. By exhibiting care of the natural and constructed environments in a way that is socially, ecologically, and economically responsible, the university hopes to be an example and a catalyst of change.
Scope and authority
This policy is applicable to all employees, including staff, faculty, and students, as well as contractors and service providers, and it covers all departments of the university that are involved in research, teaching, learning, and providing services.
Current Situation
The Sustainability Policy forms part of the Sustainability Framework and outlines AUL’s sustainability principles and commitments, and articulates the governance, ownership and reporting requirements. This policy applies to AUL staff, students and visitors.
Consistent with its vision and values, AUL integrates sustainability principles into the key functional areas of teaching and learning, research, operations, and partnerships and engagement by:
· Using a local-global perspective, acknowledging that AUL activities have an impact beyond the university's boundaries as a result of inherent connections to local and global communities, taking positive action to address the climate crisis and prevent environmental damage or social harm.
· Improving sustainability effects, the institution should use a whole systems approach and incorporate long-term economic, social, and environmental factors into its commercial, procurement, and investment processes as well as its strategic decision-making processes.
· Addressing social sustainability by acknowledging that real sustainability is achieved through both environmental and social justice activities in line with the Equity, Inclusion and Respect Policy and the Social Impact Framework.
· Engaging students, staff, and the community in decision-making processes related to the sustainability effects of its activities, submitting actions and progress, and sharing responsibility with all members of the AUL community are ways to achieve this. Workplans and key performance indicators can also be used to embed the responsibility for sustainability performance and outcomes.
· Continuously analyze and improve sustainability performance to maintain environmental integrity, financial viability, and equality and diversity, as well as compliance with environmental, health and safety, equity and diversity, and financial regulations.
Sustainable Education
The Azerbaijan University of Languages (AUL) is committed to demonstrating, promoting and disseminating best practices related to environmental and social responsibility in various activities. We are committed to operating as an organization that contributes to sustainable development, social responsibility, and environmental awareness.
This program seeks to close the knowledge gap between the needs of sustainable development and education—a problem that the younger generation frequently overlooks.
The Azerbaijan University of Languages can illustrate the applicability and usefulness of sustainability concepts in several subject areas by integrating sustainability into its current syllabus.
For example, incorporating sustainability into environmental studies courses helps inform students about how lifestyle choices affect the environment and motivate them to come up with eco-friendly solutions.
In this regard, the subject Eco-Tourism in the Caucasus is taught at our University.
The subject Ecotourism in the Caucasus is designed for students specializing in Caucasian Studies at the bachelor's level. The course consists of 45 classroom hours. Tourism has a positive effect on the socio-economic situation of states and plays a major role in increasing mutual understanding and trust between people belonging to different religions and cultures. Tourism activity is not limited only to the organization of trade and services or the search and attraction of new business partners. It also aims to establish mutual relations between citizens of different countries for the sake of establishing and maintaining peace worldwide.
The general structure of the course covers several major topics and enables students to acquire in-depth knowledge of tourism research, including its theoretical foundations, fundamental concepts, development dynamics, classification, ecotourism technologies, and the interaction between environment and tourism in recreation areas. This course holds significant importance in evaluating the recreation-tourism wealth of the Caucasus relative to other regions, exploring related challenges, and studying its interconnectedness with other economic sectors. Ecotourism in the Caucasus is particularly vital for students specializing in the region, providing them with comprehensive knowledge essential for their field.
The purpose of the subject includes:
· Enhancing students' ecological outlook and deepening their ecological knowledge, enabling them to evaluate the consequences of their future tourism activities on natural processes.
· Cultivating comprehensive ecotourism concepts about the region as a whole and its individual countries.
· Providing knowledge about the natural and historical-cultural resources of Caucasian countries, as well as institutions that have achieved a certain level of development in the field of ecotourism.
Learning outcomes for the subject:
· Acquiring scientific knowledge concerning the history, development dynamics, classification, and technologies of ecotourism.
· Gaining in-depth understanding of the environment and tourism, including recreation areas in Caucasian countries.
· Obtaining detailed information about the recreation and tourism resources of the Caucasus in comparison to other regions.
· Developing the ability to investigate various problems related to ecotourism.
· Cultivating the capacity to examine the interrelations of ecotourism with other economic fields.
The goal of the Azerbaijan University of Languages (AUL) is to promote, prove, and spread the highest standards in social and environmental responsibility through a range of initiatives. Our goal is to function as a company that supports social responsibility, environmental awareness, sustainable development, and good governance. Considering this, Romanian poet Emilia Ivancu conducted a seminar-workshop called 'Prismatic Translation' for teachers of the translation faculty within the framework of the THBAM project, organized based on a grant from the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan at AUL.
During that visit, Emilia Ivancu also met with AUL students studying Romanian at the Romanian Language Center. Her relations with the Faculty of Translation continued after the end of the grant project via Dr. Fiala Abdullayeva, an assistant professor of the faculty.
Dr. Abdullayeva translated a series of poems by the poet from English, which is the common language, into Azerbaijani. Since the translations are based on the English translations of those poems by the Irish-Welsh writer, poet, and musician D.Johnson, Dr. Abdullayeva periodically held discussions with the poet over the Zoom platform for one year in order to avoid distortion.
As a result, a collection of those poems called ''This Tree Is a Forest'' was prepared. Fourteen poems by Emilia Ivancu in Romanian, English, and Azerbaijani languages are included here. Although their themes differ, one common aspect of all these poems is Emilia Ivancu's call to protect the environment and her loving concern for Mother Nature."
COP 29
Azerbaijan has designated 2024 as the "Green World Solidarity Year”. The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) is being held in the capital of the city Baku. Azerbaijan University of Languages has hosted numerous events in connection with COP29
The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. The Conference of the Parties is the supreme decision-making body that oversees the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The parties involved are 198 countries that are members of the Convention. Unless otherwise decided by the parties, the COP is held annually.
Hosting the COP29 conference can be considered the most important event of 2024 for Azerbaijan and a logical continuation of the country's strategy of transitioning to a green economy. In accordance with this mission, 2024 was declared the "Year of Solidarity for the Green World" in Azerbaijan by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.
"Azerbaijan will prove itself in this field as an oil and gas country, and everyone in the world will once again see that our agenda is related to green energy. The creation of green energy types and the transportation of green energy to world markets are currently the priority of our energy policy. This is a reality, and the whole world will see it again," President Aliyev emphasized at the meeting on the holding of COP29 in our country on December 15 last year.
Azerbaijan proves its importance to the green energy economy with practical activities. For example, Azerbaijan aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases by 35 percent by 2030 and by 40 percent by 2050, compared to 1990.
Holding the event in Baku will give a great impetus to the further increase of the reputation of Azerbaijan and the direct and easy delivery of the country's realities to the world community. A delegation of 80,000 to 100,000 people representing more than 190 countries worldwide is expected to be received within the framework of the conference (COP29) to be held in Baku on November 11-24.
COP29 is considered the largest event to be held in the country's history. Azerbaijan's hosting of such a prestigious event will bring huge dividends to the country on a local, regional, and international scale.
The ultimate goal of the convention is to prevent all human-made interventions in the climate system that could be considered dangerous.