Azerbaijan University of Languages was founded in 1937 as the School of Foreign Languages. It attained full university status in 2000.
Since 2021 the Inclusive Education Centre has provided classes for autistic and disabled students along with training for specialists in these fields.
Students are divided across schools of international relations and regional studies, philology and journalism and translation and further education. The Philology section covers six languages – Azerbaijani, Russian, English, German, French and Spanish. Specialised research laboratories focus on Azerbaijan studies, translation studies and multiculturalism.
This provision is supplemented by Confucius and German Studies Institutes and 19 study centres devoted to other countries and their culture and languages including Hungary, Turkey, Austria, Indonesia, Korea and Israel.
Dual degrees are offered in teaching English as a foreign language, with the University of Essex, and in translation and interpretation with Strasbourg University.
