According to the “Rules for the establishment of doctoral studies and admission to doctoral studies”, approved by decree No. 129 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated July 1, 2010 and a decree of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 443 dated November 13, 2019 on amendments to these Rules, persons wishing to enter entrance examinations in a foreign language are taken to doctoral studies (with the exception of the Russian language, the choice should be free or correspond to the specialty), philosophy and subject of the specialty in the amount of existing educational programs for the master’s level higher education. The examination in foreign languages is carried out by the State Examination Center (hereinafter – SCE) of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The content and time of the exam in foreign languages, as well as passing scores and rules for assessing exam results, are determined by the SCE, in agreement with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan.

Persons wishing to obtain a PhD degree through thesis also pass the entrance exam in a foreign language.

In accordance with the Common European Reference Framework for the Determination of Foreign Language Proficiency (CEFR) and the structure of international language exams, entrance examinations provide for testing and evaluating candidates’ reading, listening, writing and speaking skills, language skills for communicative purposes, and vocabulary proficiency and grammatical minimum. Due to the fact that the organization of the process of testing conversational skills in a foreign language of candidates requires some preparation, the assessment of skills in this area will be carried out from next year.

The program of entrance exams, which defines the content and purpose of the foreign language exam for those wishing to enter a doctoral program, is available on the official website of this institution. Persons wishing to enter doctoral and doctoral studies can download the foreign language admission program by following the links (Azerbaijan, Russian).

The candidate’s correct answer to each test task is evaluated by one point, and incorrect answers do not affect the results of the correct answers. An essay is rated at a maximum of 10 points. Thus, the maximum score for the exam is 50. Candidates who have scored at least 20% of the scores for each block submitted to assess the level of foreign language proficiency, and at least 25 points in the exam, are considered to have scored a passing score and are allowed to take the philosophy exam.

Note that in the near future it is planned to conduct an online exam for doctoral studies and dissertations based on the model of entrance exams in foreign languages.

More information is available here.

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