Azerbaijan Higher Military Academy

The BVOKU during the Azerbaijan SSR's Golden jubilee parade in 1970.

The predecessor institution to the current academy was the Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School (BVOKU), which was founded on 29 November 1939 as one of many military academies of the Soviet Army. By 1951, the developing school was ranked 6th place among the best infantry schools in the USSR. The school was disbanded in 1991 as a result of the fall of the Soviet Union.[1][2]

The BVOKU was replaced the following year by the Baku High Joint Commanders School, which was created to meet the Azerbaijani military's needs. Some of the first graduates of the school took part in the Nagorno-Karabakh until it ended in the summer of 1994. Since 1997 the admission and teaching standards have been implemented in accordance with contemporary education standards. President Heydar Aliyev 20 August 2001 renamed the school to its current name Azerbaijan High Military School. His son, President Ilham Aliyev added the honorary name of Heydar Aliyev to the school's full name in March 2004, following his father's death just 3 months before. Graduates of the school are awarded a Bachelor's degree the rank of leytenant upon their commission into the armed forces.[3] By presidential decree of 24 December 2015, the Azerbaijan Higher Naval Academy amd the Azerbaijan High Military Aviation School were abolished and transferred to the Azerbaijan Higher Military Academy with the establishment of the corresponding faculties there.[4] In August 2019, the academy military band, led by Colonel Ekhtibar Aliyev, took part in the Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival and Tattoo, representing Azerbaijan for the first time.[5]