The first phase of 11th Republic Olympiad in Informatics among students of higher schools” was held at the Baku Engineering University by joint organization of Ministry of Transport, Communication and High Technologies, Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Ministry of Education and Institute of Information Technology ofANAS on April 29.

Rector of BEU Prof. Havar Mammadov opened the Olympiad and greeted the attendees. He spoke about care and attention of national leader Heydar Aliyev and Mr. President Ilham Aliyev to the field of ICT, including on the role of state programs executed for infromatization of educational institutions.

Rector informed about activities of the university led by him and plans, stressed out that, the latest laboratories in engineering are functioned here.

G.Mammadov noted that the purpose of the Olympics, dedicated to May 17 - World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, is to increase the knowledge of students of higher educational institutions in the field of computer science and programming and their interest in this field, as well as to attract selected students to international Olympiad.

The rector noted that this year 52 teams from 24 higher educational institutions of the republic were registered at www.olimpiada.az and got the right to participate in the Olympiad. This year, along with Baku, the students of Ganja, Mingachevir, Sumgayit State University, Azerbaijan Technological University and Azerbaijan State Agrarian University also showed a special interest in the Olympics.

Deputy Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Elmir Velizadeh spoke about the attention and care shown about the development of ICT and the measures taken by the country's leadership in this direction. He noted that one of the points of the "Main Directions of the Strategic Roadmap for the Main Sectors of the National Economy and Economy", approved by the presidential decree of March 16, 2016, and is related to the development of telecommunications and information technologies in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

E.Velizade, noting that all conditions for the effective work of youth in the country were created, emphasized the implementation of new start-ups and by the State Fund for the Development of Information Technologies invited young people and students to participate in similar projects. Deputy Director for Technology of the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS, Ph.D. in Technology, Associate Professor Rashid Alakbarov noted that one of the priorities of the state policy is to ensure the integration of science and education in Azerbaijan. The Deputy Director noted in his speech that the legal documents and political decisions recently adopted by our state created a legal basis for the integration of science and education in our country and opened a number of new opportunities for establishing more effective cooperation between ANAS and the Ministry of Education.

R.Alakbarov said that the organization of a magistracy serving for the innovative development of Azerbaijani science in the scientific institutions of the Academy in recent years has opened up wide opportunities for young researchers. Noting that undergraduates of ANAS are being formed as undergraduates-researchers, R. Alakbarov emphasized that individual work is carried out with the undergraduates of the Institute, all conditions for carrying out scientific research at the international level are created and necessary support is provided.

The Deputy Director noted that holding such Olympiads is of particular importance from the point of view of forming an algorithmic way of thinking and intellectual abilities among young people. He brought to attention that in comparison with 2007 there is an increase in the number of higher educational institutions taking part in the Olympiad.

In conclusion, R. Alakbarov invited students to take part in the first republican conference "Actual scientific and practical problems of software engineering", which will be held May 17, 2017 in the Institute of Information Technology.

The chairman of the jury of the Olympiad Ramin Mahmudzade told about the importance of the Olympiad in terms of training highly qualified staff who have great scientific and practical experience, innovative thinking, in particular, engineers in the field of computer and software. Noting that in recent years the role of women in the field of ICT has increased, R. Mahmudzade highly appreciated the participation in the current Olympiad of girls, who make up the majority among the participants.

Then one of the organizers of the Olympiad - the teacher of the Baku Engineering University Etibar Seyidzadeh gave detailed information about the technical issues and procedures. He noted that the Olympiad is held according to the rules of the "International Olympus on programming among students of higher educational institutions". The Olympiad consists of two stages. Each team is organized from 1 teacher and 3 students (bachelor). Only 1 team of higher educational institutions will be held in the final stage of the Olympiad. 4 teams that will demonstrate the highest result will be declared the winner.

Note that on May 6, 2017, Institute of Information Technology will hold next stage (final) of the Olympiad. The winners will be awarded with valuable gifts from Nar operator and BestComp Group Company, diplomas and Certificates of Honor from the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies.