The impact of education digitalization on achieving SDG4: A comparative assessment of Azerbaijan and SDG4 leaders

The digital transformation of education is a modern trend, and it is essential to investigate its role in enhancing quality education as one of the Sustainable Development Goals. The purpose of the paper is to confirm the restraining or accelerating impact of education digitalization on achieving SDG4 in Azerbaijan compared with SDG4 leaders. The sample consists of the chosen data of 14 indicators in the education digitalization field (provided by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics Data, and the International Telecommunication Union) in 2016–2023 from 10 countries: Azerbaijan (status ‘Challenges remain’ for SDG4) and nine leading countries (status 'Goal Achievement') according to 2024 SGD Index Rank. To achieve the Goal, the Granger causal test and regression analysis (linear modeling for time series and random-effects GLS regression for panel data) using Stata SE 18.0 software were applied. It was confirmed that in Azerbaijan (both separately and within a panel of studied countries), the impact of education digitalization on achieving SDG4 is positive and accelerating (for specific indicators, it is not significant but not restraining). The stronger impact is observed in Azerbaijan compared to the average on the panel level. The key accelerators are school-level Internet access, digital practical skills, and digital literacy, especially proportions of youth/adults who have used arithmetic in spreadsheets, connected and installed new devices, and created electronic presentations (increase in SDG4 achievement indicator by 2.63, 3.5%, and 9.89%).