EDUCATING

EDUCATING

IN
IN

AZERBAIJAN
AZERBAIJAN
• Azerbaijan has inherited from the past
a strong educational system. It
became even more widespread and
prominent during the Soviet period.
Now with the collapse of the Soviet
Union at the end of 1991, education is
facing a severe crisis as the economic
basis and orga-nizational structure for
education has had to be assumed by
each of the individual
republics.
 Some figures
• There are approximately 108,000
children enrolled in kindergarten,
1.367 million in primary and
secondary school, about 53,000
college and technical lyceum students
and 140,000 university students.
• Azerbaijan's educational system includes
approximately 1650 kindergartens, 4,600
primary and secondary schools, 180
technical lyceums, 61 colleges, and 53
institutions of higher education.
• About 200,000 professors, teachers,
and lecturers are involved in education
-13,000 of them at universities. About
1,000 university educators have earned
our highest degree, Doctor of Science
(equivalent to a post-graduate degree in
Western countries), and more than 6,000
of them have earned their Candidate's
Degree (Doctorate Degree).
 Russian Language Link is Disappearing

• In the past, it was the Russian language

that gave us access to the latest
achievements in scientific thought. But the
links have been broken these days. We used
to have access to a tremendous number of
major international academic journals or, at
least, Russian translations of them
• In addition, since so many of our mature
scholars have concentrated single-mindedly
on mastering Russian, many don't know
English or other European languages, and
now they find themselves cut off from the
international academic community.
 Lack of Computer
Literacy
• Another problem relates to our
lack of computer know-ledge
and know-how. In the former
Soviet Union, we wrote mostly
by hand. But times have
changed. Now everywhere in
the world, people are
communicating computers.
Importing Paper
and Pencils
• Despite the fact that
so many people are
involved in education in
Azerbaijan, there is
still no single enterprise
in the entire country
that produces supplies
and equipment related
to education.
 New
Educational
System Adopted

• A new "three-tiered" or "three-degree"

system (Bachelor's, Master's and Doc-
torate) similar to that used in the Uni-
ted States and Europe.
 Refugee Children
• In Azerbaijan, one person out of every se-
ven is a refugee. An estimated 200,000
children of primary school age are refu-
gees. Approximately 15,000 teachers, dis-
placed themselves, have lost their jobs and
are scattered all over the country.
• Educational communities have been
scattered and mentoring relationships
broken. Thousands of children, living
in "tent cities" or improvised shelters
made of reeds or mud bricks
alongside highways, have not atten-
ded school for the past three to
four years, and some-
times longer.
 Alphabet Transition
• This is not the first time we've
faced this problem. It happened
earlier this century when Arabic
was substituted with a modified-
Latin script in 1928. Arabic had
been our alphabet for more than a
thousand years since the 7th
century. Our alphabet changed
again in 1938 when Cyrillic was
imposed by Soviet authorities and
the Latin forbidden.
• ( But it's not just the alphabet that has
officially been changed-our ideological,
cultural and historical point of view is being
reevaluated at the same time. )
INSTITUTION TYPES & CREDENTIALS

Types of higher School leaving

education and higher
institutions: education
credentials:
University Certificate of General
Academy Education
Institute Bachelor (Bakalavr)
College Diploma of Specialist
Conservatoire Magistr (Master)
Doctorate (PhD)
 STRUCTURE OF
EDUCATION SYSTEM
 Pre-higher education
(Structure of school system)

Primary Education:
Length of program in years: 4

Age level from: 6 to: 10

 Basic Education:

•Length of program in years: 5

•Age level from: 10 to: 15

•Certificate/diploma awarded: Certificate

of Primary Education
Secondary Secondary

• Type of school providing this education:

High School

• Length of program in years: 2

• Age level from: 15 to: 17

• Certificate/diploma awarded: Certificate of

General Education
 Vocational Education
• 108 vocational institutions, including 47
vocational lyceums, 1 Vocational
Education Centre and 59 vocational
schools are functioning under
submission of the Ministry
of Education. 8 out of them
belong to prison establish-
ments.
• .
 Teacher Education
• Teachers are university graduates.
They are mostly trained at the
Azerbaijan State Pedagogical Univer-
sity, Azerbaijan Institute of Tea-
chers, and Ganja State
• University.
The Ministry of Education of
Azerbaijan
• In 1988 all three departments were
abolished by the decision of the Council of
Ministers, and on their base were created
the Ministry of National Education and
approved its structure. The Ministry was
reorganized into “Education Ministry” on 3
September, 1993 by the order of the
President of the Azerbaijan Republic. The
Presidential decree dated March 1, 2005
approved Regulations of the Ministry.
• Which problems do we have about
education in Azerbaijan?

• What can be done?