Free higher education has almost been abolished in Azerbaijan, a member of the National Council Gultekin Hajibayli said.

In general, the task is to bring the ratio of the number of students receiving free education in Azerbaijan to the total number of students to at least 50% in the coming years. According to the decree signed by the President of Azerbaijan on February 14, 2019 “On additional measures to improve the scholarship system in higher education”, the ratio of the number of students receiving scholarships to the total number of students increased from the current 31% to 45% in the 2019/2020 academic year. Starting from the 2020/2021 academic year, it should be achieved at a level of not less than 50%.

According to the statistics of the last 2-3 years, the number of students receiving free higher education in Azerbaijan has increased.

According to the State Examination Center (SEC), the number of places ordered by the state in 2018 was 12,204. In 2020, this figure increased to 20,189. Thus, the number of places ordered by the state increased by 7,985, 65.43%. The growth has covered all specialty groups.

For the 2020/2021 academic year, 21,370 students (additional 105 non-competitive places) will be admitted to higher education institutions on the basis of the state order. According to the SEC report for 2020-2021, 42.70% of these places fell to Group I, 19.13% to Group II, 19.74% to Group III, 11.70% to Group IV and 6.73% to Group V. Compared to the 2019-2020 academic year, the number of places allocated for student admission at the expense of the state budget in the 2020-2021 academic year increased by 8.24% (1,626 places), and its share in the general admission plan increased from 41.34% to 44.04%.

In general, the last two years have seen an increase in the number of places reserved by the state. Thus, compared to 2018, the number of places reserved by the state in 2020 was 81.02% (9,565 places).

As mentioned above, the number of places reserved by the state in 2020 increased compared to 2019, and its share in the overall admission plan increased from 41.34% to 44.04%. This, in turn, has resulted in an increase in the number of people admitted to these places. According to the SEC, in 2020, the share of those admitted on the basis of the state order in the total number of admissions increased from 44.90% to 54.48%.

By the way, tuition fees for students belonging to socially vulnerable groups in Azerbaijan are also paid by the state. For example, 24,147 students from socially vulnerable groups have applied to the government to cover tuition fees for the 2020-2021 academic year. According to the Ministry of Education, fees for 15,900 of them have already been paid to higher education institutions. This process is carried out by the Cabinet of Ministers on the basis of the decision “On the payment of tuition fees for students who are members of families belonging to socially vulnerable groups.” The decision involved more than 30,000 students. 40 million manat has been allocated from the state budget for the implementation of the decision.

These facts show that free education has not been abolished in Azerbaijan, but the number of students studying at public expense has increased in recent years.