Success of Honors Program in Azerbaijan: Do Honors Students Perform Better Than Nonhonors Students?

The purpose of launching honors programs in Azerbaijan was not only to introduce advanced academic programs but also to change the culture in the universities: to make students more socially active, to encourage them to participate in international competitions, and continue their education. Keeping these goals in mind, we evaluate honors programs by comparing honors students and nonhonors students in respective universities by (a) academic performance, (b) future academic goals, and (c) participation in extracurricular activities. We showed that when we look at academic performance, future academic goals, and some of the extracurricular activities, honors students clearly outperform nonhonors students.