The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, gave an interview to local television channels on January 5. In his interview, the Head of State also answered a question about the reforms carried out in the field of science and education. “Mr. President, as a continuation of this topic, what makes a state and a nation strong is also science and education. A few years ago, you had a concept of an educated nation, turning “black gold” into human capital. How do you assess the current situation in the field of science and education in Azerbaijan? What steps should be taken? What would be your advice to young people in this regard? ", in response to the question, President Ilham Aliyev noted the following: “You know that we have already made structural changes, the Ministry of Science and Education was created. Why? Because science was actually left outside the state structures. The Academy of Sciences, of course, has been operating for many years now, and I have also participated in the anniversary events. But at the same time, science and education must come together to more fully implement state policy. Because we know the experience of developed countries. There, science develops more along with universities, or under them, and we have chosen this model. Now structural reforms are underway. Many research institutes are being merged with each other. In parallel with structural reforms, personnel reforms are also underway, with more modern, younger personnel being promoted. It"s not that difficult to find the quality factor here. This is common practice in the world. In which scientific journals, in which magazines, how many of your scientific works have been published, and to what extent does your scientific potential correspond to today"s realities? If we really want to develop science, if we want to develop science, not just provide jobs for scientific workers, then we must go for these reforms. This is inevitable. If we do not do this, then there will be certain limitations to development. Because I have said this many times, and I say it again, fully consciously, the development of developed countries is only related to intelligence, reason, education, and science, not to oil or gas. Look at the situation of oil and gas rich countries and developed countries. Yes, there are successful countries among oil and gas rich countries, not many, but there are some. Where do their technologies come from? Do they invent them themselves? No, it comes from brain centers, technological centers. What is it connected to? Education, science. It"s a simple matter. Therefore, we must actively work in this direction. Over the past 20 years, 10 new higher education institutions have been established in Azerbaijan, some of them with foreign partners. For example, two with Russia, one with France, one with Türkiye, and one with Italy – five. The rest are our own, including Karabakh University. This is the intention of the state, the policy of the state. Improving the quality of education, social security and professionalism of teachers, the testing system, etc. All these factors have one goal: to make society literate and knowledgeable. Only then can we achieve long-term development. Otherwise, we may find ourselves in a very difficult situation after our oil and gas run out. But now we must try to see the future of our people and state decades, centuries from now. Therefore, this is an extremely important area, and I hope that the reforms carried out will lead to good results. We have many talented young people. Now we have many young specialists who have studied both abroad and in Azerbaijan. Various state programs are being implemented. One of them is this "Yukselish" program. This is also very important to motivate, encourage, and then attract young people to state structures and private structures. Those who studied abroad under my instructions have long since returned. Many return and work here, and we see that, for example, the situation changes completely after a modern, knowledgeable person comes to a leadership position. I have been in this chair for 22 years. All these events are happening before my eyes, and I have both good and bad experience. I have experienced it all, and this allows me to say these words today. Personnel reform, science and education, the general intellectual level of society - because without these, it is rare for any talented person to emerge. A high overall intellectual and educational level of society leads to the emergence of a cohort of talented individuals. Of course, each of us wishes only good days for our country, and this question you asked is also a very timely one. This is also the subject of a separate conversation, that is, a conversation. However, I believe that we are on the right track and reforms will continue”. The President also noted that over the past 20 years, 3,600 schools and hundreds of hospitals have been built and overhauled in Azerbaijan: “This is an integral part of our policy, including economic policy, and I repeat, the more our economy grows, the more attention will be paid to social issues and the more funds will be allocated”.