Cumbria County Council will welcome nine Ministers of Education and Finance from Azerbaijan on Monday.
The visitors will stay in the county for three days when they will meet members and staff of Cumbria County Council, tour the city and visit two rural schools.
The main aim of their visit is to look at how England's primary and secondary school financing system works. It will particularly focus on financial management at school level and the role of the local authority in allocating funding in order to address priorities and how schools are held accountable. The study visit will show how a system of decentralised school financial management promotes both efficiency and equity and empowers school managers and governing bodies while at the same time ensuring accountability and financial control.
The delegation represents both the Ministries of Education and Finance in Azerbaijan and includes the Deputy Ministers of Finance and Education and Heads of Department of Social Accounting, and Planning and Finance.
County councillor John Collier, Chairman of Cumbria County Council is looking forward to meeting the delegation on Monday. He said:
"I am really looking forward to meeting our visitors from Azerbijan on Monday. Cumbria is particularly suitable for the delegation to study as Azerbaijan has many small remote rural schools like Cumbria.
The purpose of the visit is for them to find out about the local management and financial responsibilities of schools. We now have over 15 years experience in this field and as a result of our beautiful geography and low population rate, we have striven to work particularly with smaller schools often in isolated situations. We are also keen to learn from their experiences and hope we can exchange and share knowledge where possible.
I am sure they will find the visit very worthwhile and hope they enjoy visiting two of our outstanding rural schools –Queen Elizabeth Secondary School in Kirkby Lonsdale and Milburn Primary School."
Leader of the council, councillor Tim Stoddard will join the Chairman to present gifts to the Government Ministers in the Old Court Room at the Courts at 12.30pm on Monday 28th November.