Adalat Muradov: "Together with Russian universities, we can launch network education in Azerbaijan"

The EdCrunch 6th global conference on new educational technologies was held in Moscow on October 1-2. The key topic of the event was the digital economy personnel training. On the sidelines of the event, Vestnik Kavkaza discussed with Rector of Azerbaijan State Economic University (ASUE) Adalat Muradov digitalization of education in Azerbaijan.

- Adalat Muallim, what is your opinion on the conference?

- This is a very interesting, global event dedicated to modern educational technologies. The latest challenges and trends are discussed here. The transition from human capital to human potential fundamentally changes the approach to education. We pointed out earlier that the main task of university education is the formation of human capital, but now, there is an opinion that the human brain is not able to process all the necessary volume of information, which means that human capital is losing relevance, and universities should focus on increasing human potential.

For me, the idea of ​​an individual educational trajectory is very interesting, as it provides a special curriculum for the student corresponding to his abilities and level. The practice of virtual laboratories used all over the world is also attractive - they are inexpensive and help students to get exactly those skills and competencies that they will need at work. But the most important thing that was discussed here is a distance education that we lack. At least, universities need to create the necessary infrastructure and begin to teach students remotely. I am sure that the quality of such training will be no worse than full-time education.

In general, we made a lot of acquaintances here, so the main work will be done after the conference. We will correspond and exchange opinions with Azerbaijani rectors, we will tell what we learned at EdCrunch in Moscow. Moreover, I and my colleague Jafar Jafarov think that it would be worth organizing the same conference in Baku. In fact, the topic of future education is very important, there are a lot of questions that can be answered during such events.

- How relevant is the topic of education digitalization for Azerbaijan?

- I think it is very relevant. At our university, we created the UNECExtern Distance Learning Center, as we consider distance learning as an alternative to full-time education. At the first stage, we will be able to educate remotely about 20 thousand students. So far, we have launched several certificate programs, in particular, Chinese courses have been started in cooperation with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and professors from Chinese universities.

I am sure that the future is digital education and distance learning. The faster we start, the more successful we will become in this direction.

- What scientific horizons does digitalization open in the relations between Russia and Azerbaijan?

- In Russia, there is a working model of network learning, and we do not have it yet. I think we can join forces with Russian universities and begin online training in Azerbaijan with them. This will allow us, first of all, to attract the best tutors, both from Azerbaijan and from Russia. I think this will definitely contribute to improving the quality of higher education in our country.