ADA University was established on the basis of the diplomatic academy, which was opened in 2006. In 2009, the Academy formed the first master’s program “Diplomacy and International Relations”, and in 2011 the first graduation of masters took place and the first admission of bachelors in the field of business administration and international affairs began. By 2013, the Academy had three schools – School of Public & International Affairs, School of Business, and as well as School of IT & Engineering. In 2014, by decree of the President of Azerbaijan, the Academy was transferred to University status.

ADA University is created to grow talents in the field of international relations and business. University students are taught business management, present-day realities in the field of economics, management and business leadership. ADA faculties, which include instructors from both Azerbaijan and the leading universities of the World, encourage students to participate in discussions about the world economy and business, which, in turn, stimulates debating abilities and enhances outlook of students. The university pays special attention to international relations and business, innovative training models, unique conditions for conducting joint research, which makes ADA a unique educational center in Azerbaijan.

As mentioned above, students of ADA University study in three different schools, namely in School of Public & International Affairs, School of Business and School of IT & Engineering. Each of these schools has several undergraduate programs that is shown in the table below. Consequently, each student has different views on the ideal workplace to start a career.

School of Public & International Affairs	International Studies	Public Affairs	Laws (Legum Baccalaureus)
School of Business	Business Administration	Economics
School of IT & Engineering	Computer Science	Computer Engineering	Information Technology

The education system at ADA University is different from other universities in our country. The difference is that the students themselves choose their instructors and time for their classes, that is, students have a flexible schedule, which they must draw up at the beginning of each semester. In addition to providing such a convenient way to study, the university also offers third and senior students every semester to choose one course, namely a free-elective course from another faculty that is most interesting to them. It is this flexibility in studying and gaining knowledge from other areas that allows students to build their careers in another field in addition to their faculty. Consequently, there are several students, including myself, who are studying at the Faculty of Economics, but are most interested in the area related to the Faculty of Business Administration. Moreover, for such students, ADA University also provides an opportunity to gain more knowledge in various fields, for example, attending online courses on the Coursera learning platform.

In addition to providing students with knowledge, ADA University requires students to take Career Development course and taking academic internship after completing this course. During the internship, students can improve their skills in practice, as well as understand their strengths and tackle weaknesses throughout their career path.

ADA University annually holds the Career Week event, which gives students a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the modern labor market, and companies to present their opportunities and offers to future applicants. At Career Week, each student can get acquainted with the job market, learn about news from representatives of the largest companies at event, establish useful contacts, and most importantly – find a place for practice, internship, and, of course, for work.

After conducting an online survey among ADA students, the results showed that students of the School of Public & International Affairs mostly preferred to start their careers in the public sector, such as the ministries, while students of the School of Business anticipated working for multinational companies in audit / financial sector, and students of the School of IT & Engineering chose to work mainly at tech projects in the field of programming.

Business School students are essentially divided into two categories. First one relates to students who want to work in the field of finance / audit. Namely at Big Three in consulting – McKinsey, Bain and BCG, followed by the Big Four – PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG. Students who choose this profile before their careers are trying to gain more and more knowledge by attending various courses, passing exams and receiving certificates such as ACCA, which will help them succeed in their future careers. Specialists in this field work a lot, often have an irregular work schedule, but earn good money.

Students in the second category are those who want to build their own venture and become the owner of their business. They constantly invest their time and efforts on examining various fields of business activity, learning and mastering operations, striving to get a holistic view on diverse business components and processes to be able to launch and run their own company.

Quite often, some students decide to pick an alternative area for starting the career, opposed to the major focus of the faculty. One of the respondents to my survey indicated that her faculty was “Economics” however her preferred field for future career was “Marketing”. So, to my question why she decided not to work in an area related to her faculty, she replied as follows:

“Considering that I completed my first internship in three different departments of the company, namely in the departments of finance, sales and marketing, and was able to master my skills in all of them, I, however, liked the marketing function over two other disciplines. Although my initial background was mostly finance, my inspiration and impact were mainly related to marketing projects. Thus, during my internship, I realized that in the future I would work in the field of marketing. Therefore, in order to succeed in my career, I decided to take a free elective marketing course at ADA University, and also, I took additional courses at Coursera, such as Marketing in the Digital World, Business Strategy, etc. So, now I am aiming to build my career within marketing domain and planning to work for a company with strong expertise in this field.”