Exploring Azerbaijani Students' Engagement and Experience in Higher Education: Higher‐Order Thinking and Identity Development

ABSTRACT Over three decades, Azerbaijan's higher education has transformed from a Soviet‐style education to a modern one, yet research on the influence of student engagement and experience on higher‐order thinking and identity development remains limited. This qualitative study investigates student engagement and experience and their influence on higher‐order thinking and identity development in higher education through the lenses of Weidman's socialisation model, Mezirow's transformative learning theory, and Tinto's three‐stage model of student departure. Through maximum‐variation sampling, 15 participants were recruited to conduct semi‐structured interviews, and the qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. This case study identifies key barriers to higher‐order thinking and identity development, including inadequate course content and low‐quality materials, teacher‐centred approaches, and university extracurricular activities. The university environment impedes the effectiveness of students' intellectual and non‐intellectual socialisation, which results in accepting information at face value without question. Another factor contributing to low student engagement, influencing higher‐order thinking and identity development, is that faculty are less likely to be passionate about their course design and caring for building knowledge by using a variety of teaching strategies that may help students recognise the importance of information they receive within their context. Extracurricular activities fall short in broadening students' social circles, enabling them to discover new ideas, learn from their peers, and share mutual interests, which foster higher‐order thinking and identity development. The findings disclose that faculty expertise and performance in some universities may create a positive learning environment. Conversely, inadequate extracurricular activities compel students to seek opportunities beyond higher education, which reveals the problem in institutional support for student development.