Awareness of issues related to the EHEA (European Higher Education Area) among Azerbaijan higher education staff and students is generally weak, though Azerbaijan signed Bologna agreement back in 2005. Communication and networking within and between the Ministry of Education, the higher education institutions and stakeholders is rather sporadic and fragmented than comprehensive and wide-ranging. People working with quality assurance, international projects and mobility are very committed and well informed, but their number is relatively small. Furthermore, there is a lack of easily readable, well-illustrated, user-friendly information materials in Azerbaijani language that could facilitate the understanding of the EHEA standards and guidelines in Azerbaijan.
A Twinning project on EHEA was launched last autumn between the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Finnish and Estonian education evaluation centres - FINEEC and EKKA. The main objective of the project is to further enhance the quality of higher education in Azerbaijan. Enhancing the quality of higher education requires competent academic staff as well as updated curricula based on latest high quality research. But it also requires expanding international cooperation, well-functioning external and internal quality assurance as well as student-centered teaching and outcome-oriented learning.
The purpose of the Twinning project is to increase the capacity of the Ministry and the higher education institutions to implement the common principles and reference tools of the EHEA. One of the tasks of the Twinning project is to assist the Ministry of Education in devising a communication strategy for the EHEA issues. Higher education staff and students, as well as the stakeholders and wider audience need to be well informed and updated on all the efforts to achieve the European quality standards in higher education. The draft EHEA Communication strategy, drawn up as a part of the Twinning project, recommends establishing a national coordination group for regular sharing of information and networking with stakeholders. It also recommends increasing the production of information materials concerning EHEA. For instance, the present Twinning project’s web-page www.ehea.edu.az might be used as a platform for information sharing.
Enhancing communication, networking and coordination requires a platform, a permanent coordination structure within and between the Ministry and universities and in close co-operation with the stakeholders. This structure, maybe a Commission or Council, should regularly review the development of higher education reforms, promote the production and sharing of information and communication on issues related to the European Higher Education Area and ensure networking with higher education stakeholder groups.
