'The proof of the pudding is in the eating'. The wisdom of the old English proverb lies in the word ‘proof’, meaning the same as 'testing' whether something really functions in practice. The AzSG (Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance of Higher Education in Azerbaijan) have now been tested in three Azerbaijan universities. The AzSG was used as a manual for pilot evaluations by international – Azerbaijan and European - evaluation groups. The AzSG was designed in our Twinning project together with Azerbaijan Education Ministry and University experts, based on the European criteria and methods of quality assurance, applied to Azerbaijan.
Despite the evaluation outcomes are not yet available, we already know that all pilots were implemented successfully. The experience of the eating (=implementation of pilots) proves the pudding (= the AzSG). The European criteria and methods can be applied in quality assurance of Azerbaijan universities. All evaluation groups worked professionally and each group interviewed 80 to 100 people from top management to main staff groups and students. All pilot universities were well prepared. Azerbaijan members of evaluation groups – including student members – proved as competent as their European colleagues.
The evaluation reports are expected to be ready and translated to Azerbaijan language later in May. In early June, our Twinning project will arrange feedback meetings for each pilot university and a common seminar to evaluate the process and criteria. These provide basis for the final recommendations of our project. Our project is close to achieve all its key results.
