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HALLMARKS OF TODAY’S HIGHER EDUCATION:
QUALITY AND CONTINUITY
А. А. Beznosyuk
The article analyses the experience of implementation of the principles of Total Quality Management - TQM. Today's higher education is seen as a continuous process. The main objective of higher education is an opportunity for lifelong higher education.
Key words: higher education, total quality management, continuous education, university, systems' certification.
The strategy of development of higher education in Ukraine should incorporate the global trends of transforming nature and methods of today’s higher education, to become an accelerator of economic growth, and to help meet the growing needs and unblock a person’s creative potential.
The experience of countries which are economic leaders strongly suggests that investment in the development of higher education and research work at the level of 3-8% of gross domestic product allows these countries to remain advanced. This is understandable, since in the context of transition from the industrial to the information society and the economy of knowledge, the level of development of a country depends on the level of the nation’s intellectual potential. In this connection, quality of education becomes the defining category, not in the traditional narrow sense, but in a broader semantic aspect: the transition from the student's ability to collect certain information to development of the ability to learn independently, develop skills of creative thinking, make science-based decisions, as well as to act constructively. We can achieve this through the fundamentalization of education, that is, focusing on the study of the fundamental laws of nature and society, and introducing new disciplines focused on the formation of a coherent picture of the world. Education must be innovative. It is necessary to prepare an individual able to work effectively under conditions of uncertainty and variability of many factors affecting the outcome, and thus, be able to make the right decisions and ensure their implementation.
Another way to ensure the higher quality of higher education is its humanization. We mean that higher education is not only the way to train a professional, but rather the way to prepare a person for development and selfimprovement.
Modern higher education is seen as a continuous process. It is mentioned in numerous resolutions and documents of international organizations. For example, in the “Declaration of higher education” adopted at the World Conference on Higher Education in October 1998 in Paris, it is stated that the main task of higher education is to ensure the opportunity for higher education throughout one’s life.
One of the hallmarks of higher education is its adaptability, i.e. the ability to quickly and adequately respond to the new demands of the society, economy and identity. To this end, higher educational institutions develop close partnerships with governments, non-governmental organizations, and employers, and organize training in accordance with the specific social, economic and cultural needs. There
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is another related hallmark of higher education: its advanced character. In other words, higher education must not only respond to the current needs, but also be ahead of society’s expectations in training of specialists.
Higher education must also become more accessible to all who wish to learn throughout their life. Scientific and technological progress requires constant updating of knowledge, and this, in turn, requires from higher education institutions, on the one hand, timely revision of curricula and methods, and improvement of the educational process, and on the other - an increase of competence of professors and teachers and other people working at a higher educational institution. It is clear that the introduction of new teaching methods creates new additional requirements to teachers that are different from those that were used a few years ago. This applies to the development of lecture materials, practical training materials, and training methodologies based on the information and communication technologies. From a translator and inspector of knowledge, the teacher is transformed into a consultant who guides the learning process, corrects it and helps to activate the creative abilities of students.
Globalization of the world economy has also affected the field of education. Modern education must prepare specialists, the competence of which can be recognized in the world educational environment. This recognition should be based on the system of international standards in higher education, similar to the way it happens in different industries. Another characteristic of world-class higher education is not only to teach, but also to educate a conscious member of the society and a citizen.
The understanding of higher education, stated by us as a combination of a number of hallmarks, makes it a decisive factor in the progress of mankind, allowing us to formulate a generalized mission of a higher educational institution.
Ukraine, which declared its intentions regarding integration into the world economy through innovative development, should reinforce this desire through adequate development of its education and science. Without training of specialists capable of generating new knowledge, advanced technologies, and to develop and implement innovations, and ensure the release of high-tech products, Ukraine is doomed to be a supplier of raw materials, semi-finished products and cheap unskilled labor. The system economic crisis, which Ukraine experience in the 1990s, also affected the area of higher education. The consequence of these negative processes, according to experts, was a significant decline in the quality of training, which already in the medium term can significantly affect the overall competitiveness of Ukraine in the world market. Among other deficiencies we should indicate the emergence of a significant gap between the triad: education, science and economy.
The commercialization of higher education has led, on the one hand, to a widespread practice: admission to universities of a large number of unprepared students, and on the other - the inability of most high schools to maintain a high level of teaching staff due to the limited opportunities for ongoing training, exchange of experience, scientific research. As a result, Ukrainian higher education lags behind the global educational processes. Usually, most of the problems of the national high school are associated with a lack of funding. But, unfortunately, this isn’t the only problem.
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The process of reforming Ukrainian education is hampered by the existence of old structures and management practices which were inherited from the administrative and command economy of the USSR. In this regard, there is a need to develop and implement modern methods of organizational innovations and management as an important factor in accelerating the development of the entire system of higher education and an individual higher educational institution. Thus, in the medium term, it seems appropriate to carry out reforms based on use of methods of developing education, innovative education, and implementation of the concept of advanced education, its fundamentalization and humanization, increasing the availability and quality of education on the basis of modern information and communication technologies.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translastions Bureas
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