Organizational culturein private higher education: a case study of a new private universityin post-soviet azerbauan

Statement of Problem and Research Questions

A central question raised by postcommunist transitions is whether the newly established successor governments in the republics change their patterns of govemance from the pattems inherited from their former totalitarian predecessors. Education in the republics of former Soviet Union is bound to be affected as their economies and societies are struggling to adjust to the enormity of the changes. The political-ideological shifts that have brought on these changes have affected higher education, which has traditionally been a recipient of a large share of state funding. Dramatic decreases in the amount of government financing of higher education have affected the structure of higher education, belief systems, govemance mechanisms within universities and between universities and the state bureaucracies. Although these private universities indirectly help the government by reducing its financial commitment to fund higher education (Kozma, 1992), they have engendered suspicion and hostility from the government in general. Predictably, relations between the state and private universities in Azerbaijan are precarious and constantly changing. Their emergence speaks to the scope and nature bf change that has occurred in that society.

In Azerbaijan, the establishment of a robust private university sector since the collapse of communist rule marks the emergence of new higher education structures in an unprecedented situation. In this study I will examine Khazar University a new private university in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. The following research questions will be addressed:

1. What are the distinct features of the organizational culture of Khazar

University?

2. What are the key elements that define group members' identity and

organizational self-belief at Khazar University?

3. What is the nature of authority and its legitimization at Khazar

University?

4. What roles do foreign links with westem universities play in the

development of Khazar University's organizational culture?