Third PARLA Cohort Completes NEQSOL Scholarship Programme

The third group of scholars in PARLA, a scholarship and development programme for female university students in Azerbaijan, has completed the programme, NEQSOL Holding Chief Executive Officer Kirill Rubinski said in a LinkedIn post on 5 November 2026. The programme is run by NEQSOL Holding with the state-backed Education Development Fund, and its fourth intake closed for applications on 4 October.

"PARLA is about more than education. It is about giving talented young women the opportunity to build confidence, develop new skills and prepare for what comes next," Rubinski wrote. He thanked the teams at NEQSOL Academy and the Education Development Fund "for the work behind the program and for helping turn it into something that creates real opportunities."

Neither organisation has yet published the number of graduates in the third group. The figures below come from the two partners' own announcements.

How the programme works

Each year PARLA selects 50 female bachelor's students at Azerbaijani universities. According to the Education Development Fund, scholars receive AZN 200 a month. NEQSOL says the financial support continues until graduation, alongside English and IELTS preparation, leadership and soft-skills training, mentoring, internships at NEQSOL Holding companies and online courses through NEQSOL Academy and LinkedIn Learning.

The programme is aimed at students who are academically strong but come from households under financial pressure. The September 2026 call for applications asks for at least 450 points in the university entrance exam, an academic average above 80% and a record of volunteering or other activities. Applicants must also meet at least one social criterion, such as a family receiving targeted state social assistance, having no parents, or parents who are registered unemployed, disabled or pensioners without work. Selection runs in three stages: an online application, an assessment of grades and documents, and an interview.

Demand and results so far

Competition is stiff. The Education Development Fund reports 674 applications for the 50 places in the first round, held in 2023, and 791 applications in the second round, launched on 17 September 2024, of which 128 candidates were invited to interview. That puts the acceptance rate at roughly 6 to 7%.

In the first cohort, 14 students completed the development track in September 2024 and three were hired by NEQSOL Holding and its companies, the fund says. NEQSOL said 27 more completed it with the second cohort in October 2025, bringing the total to 41. When it announced the third cohort in March 2026, the company said most of those 41 had gone on to internships or full-time jobs and some were studying abroad. Across the three cohorts, PARLA has supported 150 students.

The programme won gold and silver at the 2025 Stevie Awards for Great Employers, in the extended-enterprise learning and diversity and inclusion categories, according to NEQSOL.

Why it matters for business

For a diversified group active in energy, telecommunications, construction and mining, PARLA works partly as an early talent pipeline. It reaches students years before they enter the labour market and gives them internships inside the group's companies. For the Education Development Fund, it adds private money and corporate mentoring to state scholarship support.

The model is still small. Fifty places a year is a fraction of Azerbaijan's female undergraduate population, and the published outcome data is limited: the partners report completions and some hires, but not salaries, fields of study or longer-term career results. A new alumni community, announced with the fourth intake, offers a way to track those outcomes if the partners choose to publish them.

What to watch

Watch for three things: the number of third-cohort graduates and how many joined NEQSOL companies, the list of fourth-cohort scholars expected after interviews this autumn, and whether the partners publish employment results for the 41 earlier graduates. Rubinski's post ends on the same point: "It's always rewarding to see an initiative grow from an idea into something tangible - and even more rewarding to see the people who benefit from it take their next step."

Sources: Kirill Rubinski, LinkedIn, 5 November 2026; Education Development Fund; NEQSOL Holding, 17 September 2026; NEQSOL Holding, 17 October 2025; Trend, 19 March 2026

Image: Caucasus Business Journal