diff --git a/optimum/commands/export/openvino.py b/optimum/commands/export/openvino.py
index 430101db18..17bcea965b 100644
--- a/optimum/commands/export/openvino.py
+++ b/optimum/commands/export/openvino.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Optional
 
 from huggingface_hub.constants import HUGGINGFACE_HUB_CACHE
-from transformers.utils.quantization_config import QuantizationMethod
 
 from ...exporters import TasksManager
 from ...intel.utils.import_utils import DIFFUSERS_IMPORT_ERROR, is_diffusers_available
@@ -289,7 +288,7 @@ def _get_default_int4_config(model_id_or_path, library_name):
                     "all_layers": None if is_int8 else self.args.all_layers,
                     "dataset": self.args.dataset,
                     "num_samples": self.args.num_samples,
-                    "quant_method": QuantizationMethod.AWQ if self.args.awq else None,
+                    "quant_method": "awq" if self.args.awq else "default",
                     "sensitivity_metric": self.args.sensitivity_metric,
                     "scale_estimation": self.args.scale_estimation,
                 }
diff --git a/optimum/intel/openvino/configuration.py b/optimum/intel/openvino/configuration.py
index ab54e257c3..30e550b54a 100644
--- a/optimum/intel/openvino/configuration.py
+++ b/optimum/intel/openvino/configuration.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 import torch
 from transformers import PretrainedConfig
-from transformers.utils.quantization_config import QuantizationConfigMixin, QuantizationMethod
+from transformers.utils.quantization_config import QuantizationConfigMixin
 
 from optimum.configuration_utils import BaseConfig
 
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@
 class OVQuantizationMethod(str, Enum):
     DEFAULT = "default"
     HYBRID = "hybrid"
+    AWQ = "awq"
 
 
 @dataclass
@@ -171,7 +172,7 @@ class OVWeightQuantizationConfig(OVQuantizationConfigBase):
             entries provided via this argument are used to create an instance of `nncf.IgnoredScope` class.
         num_samples (`int`, *optional*):
             The maximum number of samples composing the calibration dataset.
-        quant_method (`str`, defaults of OVQuantizationMethod.DEFAULT):
+        quant_method (`str or OVQuantizationMethod`, defaults of OVQuantizationMethod.DEFAULT):
             Weight compression method to apply. Possible options:
                 - "default": default weight quantization will be applied.
                 - "awq": compressed weights will be computed according to the Activation-Aware-Quantization (AWQ)
@@ -199,7 +200,7 @@ def __init__(
         sensitivity_metric: Optional[str] = None,
         ignored_scope: Optional[dict] = None,
         num_samples: Optional[int] = None,
-        quant_method: Union[QuantizationMethod, OVQuantizationMethod] = OVQuantizationMethod.DEFAULT,
+        quant_method: Union[str, OVQuantizationMethod] = OVQuantizationMethod.DEFAULT,
         scale_estimation: bool = None,
         **kwargs,
     ):
@@ -210,7 +211,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.ratio = ratio
         self.all_layers = all_layers
         self.sensitivity_metric = sensitivity_metric
-        self.quant_method = quant_method
+        self.quant_method = OVQuantizationMethod(quant_method) if isinstance(quant_method, str) else quant_method
         self.scale_estimation = scale_estimation
         self.post_init()
 
diff --git a/optimum/intel/openvino/quantization.py b/optimum/intel/openvino/quantization.py
index 18b65e8002..8568f4d4df 100644
--- a/optimum/intel/openvino/quantization.py
+++ b/optimum/intel/openvino/quantization.py
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
 from transformers import AutoTokenizer, DataCollator, PreTrainedModel, default_data_collator
 from transformers.pytorch_utils import Conv1D
 from transformers.utils import is_accelerate_available
-from transformers.utils.quantization_config import QuantizationMethod
 
 from optimum.exporters.onnx.convert import check_dummy_inputs_are_allowed
 from optimum.exporters.tasks import TasksManager
@@ -828,7 +827,7 @@ def _weight_only_quantization(
         group_size=config.group_size,
         all_layers=config.all_layers,
         sensitivity_metric=sensitivity_metric,
-        awq=config.quant_method == QuantizationMethod.AWQ or None,
+        awq=getattr(config.quant_method, "name", "") == "AWQ" or None,
         ignored_scope=config.get_ignored_scope_instance(),
         dataset=dataset,
         subset_size=config.num_samples if config.num_samples else 128,
diff --git a/tests/openvino/test_quantization.py b/tests/openvino/test_quantization.py
index 4c382e34a1..df727eb10d 100644
--- a/tests/openvino/test_quantization.py
+++ b/tests/openvino/test_quantization.py
@@ -235,6 +235,20 @@ class OVWeightCompressionTest(unittest.TestCase):
             ),
             16,
         ),
+        (
+            OVModelForCausalLM,
+            "llama_awq",
+            dict(
+                bits=4,
+                sym=True,
+                group_size=16,
+                ratio=0.8,
+                sensitivity_metric="mean_activation_magnitude",
+                dataset="c4",
+                quant_method="awq",
+            ),
+            16,
+        ),
     )
 
     SUPPORTED_ARCHITECTURES_WITH_AUTO_COMPRESSION = (
@@ -413,9 +427,9 @@ def test_ovmodel_hybrid_quantization_with_custom_dataset(
         ]
         model = model_cls.from_pretrained(model_id, export=True)
         quantizer = OVQuantizer(model)
-        quantization_config = OVWeightQuantizationConfig(
-            bits=8, num_samples=3, quant_method=OVQuantizationMethod.HYBRID
-        )
+        quantization_config = OVWeightQuantizationConfig(bits=8, num_samples=3, quant_method="hybrid")
+        self.assertIsInstance(quantization_config.quant_method, OVQuantizationMethod.HYBRID)
+
         quantizer.quantize(ov_config=OVConfig(quantization_config=quantization_config), calibration_dataset=dataset)
         num_fake_quantize, num_int8, num_int4 = get_num_quantized_nodes(model.unet)
         self.assertEqual(expected_num_fake_quantize, num_fake_quantize)
@@ -454,7 +468,7 @@ def test_ovmodel_4bit_auto_compression_with_config(
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:
             quantization_config = OVWeightQuantizationConfig.from_dict(quantization_config)
             model = model_cls.from_pretrained(model_id, export=True, quantization_config=quantization_config)
-            if quantization_config.quant_method == QuantizationMethod.AWQ or quantization_config.scale_estimation:
+            if quantization_config.quant_method.lower() == "awq" or quantization_config.scale_estimation:
                 # TODO: Check that AWQ and SE was actually applied
                 pass