Azerbaijan University of Languages (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Dillər Universiteti) is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. The student body consists of approximately 4000 undergraduates and 900 graduate (master's degree) students. The University has a combined faculty of more than 700 teachers. The beginnings of the University can be traced to 1937, with Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute's opening of the School of Foreign Languages. In 1940, the Azerbaijan Communist Party decreed that a separate Institute of Foreign Languages be formed, but outbreak of World War II caused the new Institute to quickly fold back into Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute. After the war, the government of Azerbaijan SSR created the Azerbaijan Institute of Foreign Languages in 1948, but it was folded into the Azerbaijan Institute of Russian Language and Literature in 1959. Finally, in 1973, the Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages was established as an independent institution. In 1996 the school was renamed the Azerbaijan State Institute of Languages, and in 2000 the Institute was given university status and renamed as the Azerbaijan University of Languages.