Challenges to implement european quality assurance standards (ESG) in Azerbaijan universities

Given the complex nature of the system of governance for HE in Azerbaijan, major areas require further development in order to align with European practices. IIn the area of quality assurance in HE, there is slow growing understanding of its importance in terms of external quality assurance. So, even if ESG could be endorsed top-down, the implementation could be performed only bottom-up. In order to have a successful Azerbaijan's HE transition towards European Higher Education Area (hereinafter EHEA) standards for quality assurance, it is crucial to reveal and discuss the state of the art at the Azerbaijan universities against ESG standards and guidelines. Therefore, the following research question is raised in this study: What are the obstacles (weaknesses) in context and management of Azerbaijan universities to establish and maintain internal quality assurance systems based on Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area? The aim of this study was to reveal the experiences of academic and administrative staff of Azerbaijan universities regarding the external and internal current circumstances to establish and maintain internal quality assurance systems based on Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area. Research involves a heterogeneous set of private and public universities, and a broad range of geographically widely istributed Azerbaijan HEIs with the profile of Social, Natural, Technological, Agriculture sciences and Humanities. 110 participants represented vice-rectors, deans, chairs and heads of Quality assurance centres and its employers of the universities. The data analysis was based on the inductive qualitative content analysis approach. The process included open coding, creating categories and abstraction. Six qualitative categories were revealed after analysis of qualitative data regarding the external and internal current circumstances which determine the establishment and maintenance of internal quality assurance systems based on Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area.