The relocation of universities to regions is one of the main issues being discussed today. If we relocate universities to the regions and build new campuses there, the dormitory problems of students will be solved. But this could create other problems. For example, organizing the domestic life of teachers, providing them with housing, causing concerns in families with disabled members, etc.
The issue of relocating universities to the regions is not new.
This topic was also discussed about 17-18 years ago. Specifically, land and project estimate documents had been prepared to build a new campus for universities in the Hoca Hasanli settlement. If I am not mistaken, the construction of each campus was estimated to require about 150 million manats (approximately 200 million dollars) at that time. Even then, like now, no funds were allocated for any work related to the quality of education; the Ministry of Education demanded that any work serving the real development of education be carried out on a public basis. But the large sums allocated to education were wasted on meaningless construction and repair projects (just like now).
At a discussion at that time, we also participated. In my speech, I said, let's first make our universities real universities, and then relocate them wherever you want. Would a university formed on a public basis be truly a university? How would a campus costing 150 million suit a university formed on a public basis? That campus would have nothing other than stones and walls. I do not know if my words had an effect or if they just did not want to spend the money, but later they abandoned this idea, and the campuses were never built.
This topic is again on the agenda now. But we still have not been able to make our universities real universities. We are still "developing" our universities on a public basis. Such a simplistic approach to modern university building in the era of market economy is the pinnacle of unprofessionalism in education management. The financial resources saved here are later squandered in large quantities on construction and repair work. But wasting money for years on insignificant matters rather than on quality has prevented the development of our universities for years.
If over the last 25 years each university has conducted renovation work worth 2-3 million manats annually on average, that means approximately 50-70 million manats worth of renovations over these 25 years. However, during these years, those universities have not spent even 1 million on the quality of education and scientific research. If we multiply this amount by the number of universities in the country, the 25 years of squandered funds amount to 2-3 billion manats, but only a very small portion of this amount was allocated for development-oriented work. Unfortunately, most universities invested this amount not in the quality of education, but in renovation and construction. Now, we want to leave these buildings, these walls, these renovation works costing 2-3 billion manats in Baku and create universities from scratch in the regions. How rational would this choice be? All these problems arise due to the absence of a higher education strategy in the country.
There are no science, education, content, or other significant resources that can be moved from universities in Baku to new campuses in the regions. Because those resources have never been created, no investment has ever been made in them.
Investments in education seem to have been spent under the motto "everything for repair, everything for construction," i.e., squandered. All these 25 years of repair and construction work and the buildings constructed will be completely ineffective if the universities are relocated to the regions.
In this case, the functioning of universities in the regions will have to be built from scratch. Because during 25 years, many important tasks that are necessary to make universities in the capital actual universities have not been carried out.
If universities are to be relocated to the regions now, along with creating infrastructure and new campuses, it will also be necessary to prepare modern curricula and subject programs. In other words, we will have to do in the regions what was not done in the capital. In other words, we still have not made the universities in the capital real universities, and now we will have to do that in the regions. Unfortunately, there are quite serious problems accumulated in higher education over 25 years.
In fact, over all these years, not all but at most 50% of the investment amount should have gone into building and repairing campuses (internationally, 25-30% is spent on this). The remaining amount should have been spent on shaping the university, developing science and education there, continuous training of personnel, improving their competitiveness, and other necessary works.
When we look at the level of graduates from our universities today, it is clear that they do not meet the demands of the labor market. Therefore, we must ensure the development of our universities and raise their levels. For all these reasons, we have been unable to convert oil capital into human capital. Will we be able to do this in the regions?
Ilham Ahmadov,
PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor
