FIRST GRADUATION
     On May 27, 2005, the official ceremony dedicated to the first graduation of students from the MBA Program has been held at the Odlar Yurdu University. Presided by Prof. Ahmad Valiyev, Rector of OYU, the ceremony was attended by a number of distinguished guests including Prof. H.Fenwick Huss, Rector of J.Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, and Prof. Bijan Fazlollahi, Program Director at the same college. Along with the diplomas of the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic, the nine first-ever graduates of MBA Program were awarded special certificates issued jointly by the Georgia State University and the Odlar Yurdu University.
     In the opening address, Prof. Valiyev thanked the faculty and the management of Program who made their best for the success of the whole business. “I’m deeply grateful to Prof. Fazlollahi and to Prof. Huss for their generous efforts that made the organization of this Program possible. I also appreciate our successful alumni for their interest in our university,” Prof. Valiyev said.
     Prof. Bijan Fazlollahi, taking the floor right after OYU’s Rector, stressed the necessity for availability of entrepreneurial and innovative decision makers who can deal effectively with complex and ambiguous problems in rapidly changing business environment in Azerbaijan. “The collaboration of our two universities is aimed at preparing a select group of energetic young men and women for management in a market place that reflects the increased importance of productivity, participatory decision-making, complex and sophisticated financial analysis, management of rapidly evolving new technologies and heightening competition. And today, we are enjoying the first harvest of our MBA Program. I mean these nine young men and women present here. They completed a very demanding curriculum taught by an international group of nine highly respected faculty members who brought to their classroom unusual depth and breadth of American expertise in such areas as General management, Finance, Marketing and International Busines s,” Prof. Fazlollahi concluded.
     At the end of the event, following the decision by the Academic Council of OYU, H.Fenwick Huss and Bijan Fazlollahi were awarded the Diplomas of Honorable Doctor of the Odlar Yurdu University.