The Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts (ASUCA) - the nation’s oldest university and training ground for generations of talented musicians, actors, directors, artists, choreographers, researchers into the arts and culture, and teachers.
The university prepares professionals in many of the arts, as well as highly qualified specialists in the humanities, management and public relations for institutions of art and culture. The combination of classical teaching with the latest innovative approaches has contributed to the development of an effective system for mastering the theoretical and practical skills necessary for professionals. A broad range of the modern, popular, educational programmes demanded by contemporary life is offered here.
Prominent public figures and well-known doyens of art and culture were in at the origins of ASUCA: the names of outstanding playwrights like Abdurrahman bey Hagverdiyev, Jafar Jabbarly and Huseyn Javid are held in the highest esteem in the hearts of many. The university is rightly proud of its graduates who do so much for our native culture in all parts of Azerbaijan and internationally. These alumni have preserved and extended that culture and continue to do so, working for the development of human culture and values, the best traditions of cultural and art work and the creation of a social intellectual elite. The conductor Niyazi, artists Tahir Salahov, Mikayil Abdullayev Toghrul Narimanbeyov, composers Shafiga Akhundova, Haji Khanmammadov, opera singer Lutfiyar Imanov, actors Abbas Mirza Sharifzade, Ulvi Rajab, Qasim Ziya and directors Adil Iskenderov, Mehdi Mammadov, Maharram Hashimov all made invaluable contributions to the establishment and development of the university.
The structure of the university is continually strengthened and expanded, undergoing transformation into an integrated system of research and education. Training facilities are expanded, new specialisms opened, and advances in scientific research are offered to a stable annual intake. The many monographs and weighty scientific papers reflect the development and international recognition of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts.
The university - a recognized leader in cultural and artistic education – is a creative community of professors, lecturers and teachers who see their purpose in the affirmation of the humanitarian values of national and global culture.
One of the largest centres in Azerbaijan for the advanced training of specialists in culture and art, this is a creative leader in education.
Modern information technologies, including multimedia hardware and software, are fully integrated into an educational process that is conducted in close cooperation with cultural institutions, forming integrated information resources with the country’s major libraries and museums.
ASUCA is also progressing its international work; it has partnered vocational training programmes with twenty-six universities in Turkey, Russia, Egypt, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Iran, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, France, the USA and the UK, and is a member of international networks of university cooperation: the Caucasus University Association (KUNIB) and the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA).
Twenty-two scientific conferences have been held since 2010, most of international status, and the university’s rating abroad is continually on the rise. There are currently 100 foreign students on the roll.
We are proud of our academic and creative schools and impressive professorial staff. There are over five hundred full-time teachers, more than seventy People’s and Honoured Artists of Azerbaijan, Honoured Science Workers, Honoured Art Workers and employees of the republic’s most advanced school.
More than two thousand students and graduates are at work in five faculties, two study centres and twenty-four departments.
The Faculty of Fine and Decorative Applied Arts
The training programme builds on students' use of the foremost achievements of the world’s academic schools of national and classical art. The basic method for the acquisition of specialized knowledge lies in practical training for students in creative workshops and computer classes. During the course students master the secrets of creating images in a variety of genres, they travel to the picturesque corners of Azerbaijan and practise in the open; they also gain experience in publishing and printing centres, advertising agencies, in television, online companies and architectural structures as well as in professional modelling schools.
The faculty has opened courses leading to a master’s degree which encourages a significant increase in levels of qualification. A master’s degree provides a deeper exploration of theory in the chosen profile and prepares students for research in the selected area. Of course this degree is recognized in most countries and offers opportunities to transfer between universities, as well as recognition by foreign employers.
The Faculty of Musical Arts
The Faculty of Musical Arts provides a solid theoretical background and develops natural talent. A distinctive feature of the faculty’s work is its individual approach to each student, creating the conditions for the release of individual creativity.
Here the university prepares musicians: players of orchestral string, wind and percussion instruments and folk instruments, as well as pianists, musicologists, composers, sound engineers, choir conductors and singers - classical, folk and pop vocalists.
People’s and Honoured Artists of Azerbaijan, Honoured Culture Workers and musicologists all work in the faculty. The students are members of creative student groups: the youth folk instruments orchestra, wind and jazz bands, vocalists and sound engineering in the University’s professional recording studio. These groups tour concert programmes extensively, both within Azerbaijan and abroad. The faculty organises several international competitions and scientific/practical conferences.
The Faculty of Theatre Art
The Faculty of Acting delivers professional training in choreography, film and theatre acting, television announcing and programme hosting.
Under the guidance of experienced specialists, students master the wide range of professional knowledge and skills necessary for creative, artistic performance, and scientific, educational, organisational and methodological work.
Important to the professional development of students are acting experience, group work, organizing concerts and tours and the development of their own television, news, concert and theatre projects.
The Faculty of Film and Television
Over the past decade, the faculty has developed original and authoritative schools of theatre directing, festival directing, television art, cinema, video and camera operation.
The faculty’s tradition includes the interaction and cross-fertilization of, on the one hand, academic traditions of training and, on the other, the latest educational technologies, specialist classes and creative workshops.
The department’s success is evidenced by its numerous invitations to participate in various international student theatre and film festivals.
The Faculty of Cultural Studies
The Faculty of Cultural Studies in the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts is a training centre whose principal objective is the preparation of specialists in culture across the broadest methodological, geographical and temporal range.
The university currently provides professional training in the development of the theory and history of culture in different fields (popular culture, professional art, the social and cultural problems of the modern world, intercultural relations and new communication technologies) from different methodological standpoints: cultural studies, philosophy, sociology, psychology, art history, politics, economics etc.