Jafar Jafarov: "Azerbaijani society enjoys changes in relation to teaching profession"

The sixth global conference on new educational technologies EdCrunch-2019 is taking place in Moscow. Its main theme is training of specialists in the field of digital economy. On the sidelines of this event, Vestnik Kavkaza spoke with rector of the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University Jafar Jafarov about the future of educational technologies in the post-Soviet space.

- Do you like the EdCrunch 2019 in Moscow?

- After a long absence, I'm very pleased to be back in Moscow, because at one time I studied at the Moscow State University and I still have fond memories of this city. Due to my official duties, I attend many conferences dedicated to education, and this time I really enjoyed speaking with my collegues and participating in sections and plenary meetings. All expectations from EdCrunch 2019 I had came true. The level of this conference is an indicator of development of the Russian educational community, which is extremely pleasing. Of course, I'm interested in Russian higher education, I receive specialized magazines about it, I'm partly a product of this educational community - and what I saw here made me extremely pleased. Russian educational community is moving forward despite all difficulties, which means that the same will be reflected in the former USSR and the CIS.

- What was the most interesting out of all the things you saw and heard here?

- Overall, the topic of technologies in education is interesting. It has already been repeatedly emphasized here that the entire history of education followed the same direction for millennia. There have been some developments, but there have not been any radical changes in the approaches that we have witnessed in recent years yet. The last 10 years in the history of education presented fundamentally new challenges and opportunities. For example, I would like to highlight the idea that was mentioned at the plenary meeting on the eve - "if computer can replace a teacher, that means that teacher has no place here anyway." Indeed, more and more children are basically born with tablets in their hands, and this means that teacher needs to grow to a level where he would remain in demand for students seeking knowledge.

This conference is very representative: representatives of universities from 13 countries came here, which ensures international accumulation of knowledge in the field of education. Most of them are from Russia, and it's very pleasing that most of the participants are the young elite, energetic, well-spoken, well-versed in technology. The day before special envoy of the President of Russia on digital and technological development Dmitry Peskov came here, and from his lectures it was clear that he was in charge of this movement in some way. The experience of the University of National Technology Initiative 20.35, which was created specifically to develop and introduce educational technologies to Russian universities, is very interesting. I think all this work will lead to breakthrough in Russian education.