The economic difficulties, which the country has been facing since independence, prohibited the country from developing a wide array of quality academic materials of its own. A large proportion of academic materials available, including textbooks, date back to the soviet period. There is a critical shortage of modern research laboratories and computer equipment. Access to information from the west is very limited. The continued dependence on a centrally-controlled curriculum make it unlikely that the teachers will be able to create and adapt novel and progressive classroom activities.
Corruption still plays a major role in the university admission process.
Still, among educators at all levels, there appears to be some interest in exploring new ways of doing things. In the state sector, there are very limited opportunities to pursue these interests. The little tangible progress made up to this point is only evident at 2 or 3 of the small private universities which have made a determined effort to break with much of the soviet past and embrace western educational models. One of the first laws adopted by the government of the newly independent Azerbaijan was the law on education. Its purpose was to create a new educational system, which met international standards.