Education Facing Globalization in Post-communist Country: Azerbaijan

Abstract

Contemporary education, especially, the development of higher education is tightly bound with globalization and is also one of those indications characterizing the globalization. The impact of globalization on higher education is very wide and complex in post-communist countries. This research paper looks at the main characteristics of globalization as a whole, its influences on post-Soviet societies: the refusal and acceptance of the trends brought by globalization in post-communist countries, its impacts on education systems of less developed and developing countries, import of features of long-established education systems from abroad. The weaker education systems’ vulnerability before those powerful, well-established and long-standing education systems and the hard competition conditions encountered by them have been touched upon in this article. Subsequently, Azerbaijan, the pathways of its education history beginning from Russian Empire and Soviet Union, the language and alphabet changes, and aftermath the modern education system of Azerbaijan, newly established universities such as Khazar University, their local and international achievements and challenges and the overall situation of higher education in the country have been discussed as the case study.