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Section 5. Pedagogy
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20534/ESR-17-5.6-54-57
Goncharenko-Zakrevskaya Natalia, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Deputy Director of the Averroes Institute of International Relations and Linguistics Interregional Academy of Personnel Management,
Kiev, Ukraine E-mail: [email protected]
MAJOR TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGES IN UKRAINE'S HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE POST-SOVIET PERIOD
Abstract: The article describes the main stages of the formation and development of the system of higher education of Ukraine in the years of independence. The list of normative legal documents regulating the activity of the higher education system of Ukraine is analyzed.
Keywords: higher education of Ukraine, higher educational institution, independence, Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education", transformational shifts.
Introduction. It is well-known that higher education plays a crucial role in shaping future generations. After Ukraine gained independence, there started the transformation of not only the system of higher educational institutions, but of the higher education system in general. Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union a powerful, extensive educational system with advanced infrastructure as for that time. However, at the moment, it needs transforming, as qualitative and quantitative indicators do not always correspond to the European level of education and the requirements of the modern labor market, and as a result, it has obsolete content, forms and methods of training, as well as other obstacles and problems. Despite the insignificant historical gap, it is expedient to make certain generalizations about the transformational shifts of higher education in Ukraine from the moment of its independence in 1991 to today.
The analysis of scientific literature on the research problem suggests that studies on the chosen problem were carried out by Ukrainian scholars Y. Alekseev, M. Tymoshenko, M. Zerkal, Y. Sirim, V. Andrushchenko, O. Bilan, S. Boyko, V. Lytvyn, B. Pogrebnyak, M. Panov, and others.
The purpose of the article is to provide a theoretical substantiation of the transformational shifts ofhigher education in Ukraine during the years of independence (1991-2017).
The period since 1991 has become remarkable in Ukraine, since the very first private institutions ofhigher education began to appear at that time. From 1992 to 1994 there was a rapid increase in their number, this was a period when there was no need to summarize the first results of the work of educational institutions — the issuance of education documents. Adoption of the June 1, 1992 Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions" declared at the state level the right of private higher educational institutions to carry out their activities in the legal circle [5, 8].
In June 1992 was created the "Inter-branch Republican Accreditation Commission", which introduces the licensing process, introduces a single list of necessary documents for licensing, and creates other unifications and systematization of management, and already in 1995-1996 takes place the process of accreditation ofpri-vate higher educational institutions, and at the same time, there was a significant reduction in the number of private universities. Through continuous work in 1997, there started the issuance of the first statelevel diplomas to graduates of private higher educational institutions is initiated [5, 8].
According to M. Tymoshenko, the formation and development of higher education in Ukraine covers the following stages (table 1) [11, 236].
Table 1. - Stages of the formation and development of higher education in Ukraine
Period of time Characteristics
1 2
"The Post-Soviet period" The legislation of Ukraine was aimed at reforming the legal regulation of the economic activity of higher educational institutions since the early 90's of the XX-th century.
1 2
Period from the end of 1991 — till 1995 In line with the fast reduce in public funding, the practice of extra-budgetary funding is spreading.
1996-2000 Adoption of the "Constitution of Ukraine" on February 12, 1996 and the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On Licensing, Certification and Accreditation of Educational Institutions".
From 2000 p. till today In connection with the adoption in 2002 of the Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education" ofJanuary 17, 2002, the regulation of the content of higher education, documents certifying obtaining of higher education; consolidation of the system of higher education standards; establishment of the order of management in the system of higher education.
By the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine of December 24, 2003, the "Licensing conditions for the provision of educational services in the field of higher education" were approved, which established the minimum norms ofprovision of educational institutions with material, technical, methodological and informational basis, scientific-pedagogical and pedagogical personnel [1].
It should be noted that the signing of the Bologna Declaration in 2005, which led to the integration of the Ukrainian system of higher education into the pan-European education, was no led to important transformational changes in the system of higher education of Ukraine. The main objective of the Bologna Process was to consolidate the efforts of the academic and educational community
and governments ofEuropean countries to significantly increase the competitiveness of the European education system and ensure its quality [2].
Adoption of the new edition of the Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education" in 2014 became a formal beginning of the reform and transformation of the national system of higher education. The purpose of the reform is to solve the most acute problems of Ukrainian higher education and its approach to modern European standards [4].
For better understanding of the essence of transformational shifts in modern Ukraine, one should consider the dynamics of the number of higher education institutions in Ukraine. Thus, over the past 17 years, their number has decreased from almost a thousand to 657 (Fig. 1) [6].
Figure 1. Total number of higher educational institutions of Ukraine
According to the new "Law on Higher Education" Ukraine is on the edge ofsignificant revolutionary changes, namely: the education quality control will be provided by the "National Agency for the Quality Assurance ofHigher Education", academic autonomy, financial and economic autonomy, strong student self-government, transparency, bachelor — Master—PhD, like in Europe, an updated classification ofhigher education institutions, plagiarism fighting, reduction in the loading on teachers and students, academic mobility, enrolling only on the base ofexternal independent testing, competitive system ofgovernment order, scholarships at the level of subsistence level, state financing ofscience, teaching in the Ukrainian language. Some of the above pointed innovations have already started to work, so let's take a detailed look at each of them.
At present, the quality assurance of higher education will be provided by the "National Agency for the Quality Assurance of Higher Education", which will include 25 members ofthis collegial body, be elected for 3 years. 13 of them will represent universities, 5 branch academies of sciences, 3 associations of employers, 2 National Acad-
emies of Sciences, and student self-government bodies. It should be emphasized that the structure of the agency can not include heads of universities or the Academy of Sciences and their deputies, there can be no more than two terms of membership of this body [7].
Changes in the structure of higher education institutions. Academic autonomy of higher educational institutions, the essence of which is that each university has the right: to implement its own educational and scientific programs; award academic degrees; decide independently whether to recognize foreign diplomas and degrees when admitting to study and work; to issue both own and state diplomas; rectors and deans will be elected by directly by teaching personnel for a term of 5 years, as well as students whose share ofvotes is increased to 15% [4].
The next point of the revolutionary changes is the financial and economic autonomy, which means that: higher education institutions have the opportunity to open their own accounts, receive bank-loans, dispose of property and land, establish scientific parks
and enterprises; freely dispose of their own revenues; establish own sustainable financial fund and use it.
An important change is the strong student self-government, the functioning of which has also undergone changes as it is currently formed by the students themselves, protects their rights and interests, self-government can make suggestions on the development ofcurricula, and they can receive 0.5% of the financial revenues of the universities [4].
Transparency is equally important, which includes the fact that higher education institutions should provide public access to all information about their activities. Like in Europe, the bachelor-master-PhD system, there will be only 5 educational and qualification levels: Junior Bachelor, Bachelor, Master, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Science.
It should be noted that at present, there will be only 4 types ofhigher education institutions functioning: universities (universal educational institutions), institutes and academies (branch schools), colleges (where specialists are trained to the level ofjunior bachelor or bachelor).
A significant contribution is the plagiarism combat, which means: scientific reviews and reviews of opponents before the defense are posted on the university's website; the defense of theses will be public; sanctions for plagiarism; there will be internal control over plagiarism among teachers and students.
We shall emphasize that many higher educational institutions of Ukraine have their own 'Code ofAcademic Honesty', which lists the rules that students and teachers should manage in their scientific work. Such a code is used at the Kiev Boris Grinchenko University, the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, and the Catholic University. Let's consider some of them on the example of the Boris Grinchenko University of Kyiv and the Catholic University.
Boris Grinchenko University of Kyiv approved the 'Declaration on Academic Integrity' on September 30, 2016 at the Conference of the Labor Collective of the University. The purpose of this is to identify and establish the main priorities and values of the internal quality assurance of education and research, the observance of which by the community of the University is a prerequisite for the creation of a favorable environment for study and work [3].
Instead, the Catholic University operates the Provision "On the Prevention of Plagiarism and the Correct Use of Quotations in the Learning Process of the Ukrainian Catholic University", which regulates the application of general principles and rules of scientific ethics in written papers of the students and scientific researches, and methodological developments of the UCU Teachers; acknowledges the academic and professional ethics and respect for copyright as the key principles ofthe organization of the educational process and research work; improves the quality of the organization of the educational process, the level of discipline of students when performing educational tasks in the form of written papers, ensuring compliance with the requirements for registration and responsibility for their violation [9].
Next point in the list of changes is a reduction in the load on teachers and students, which has been reduced by one -third, from 900 to 600 hours (without staff changes) for students, then one credit of 30 hours, instead of 36 [4].
Among all the transformational shifts, an important role is played by academic mobility, which means the introduction of a
credit-module system in the educational process of a higher education institution, free choice of study courses by students, the possibility of changing the specialty upon admission to the magistracy, the possibility of protection and continuation of study abroad.
In many higher educational institutions, academic mobility is manifested in: academic internships for teachers and postgraduates within the Erasmus+ program, signing international cooperation agreements, student exchange programs, and conducting open guest lectures by well-known foreign scholars that we can observe today in this audience.
Among the main changes is the university admission only by the results of the external independent assessment, which means that each EIA certificate will weigh 20% of the final score, the school certificate — 10%, the prize places in the national Olympiads and contests — 5%, the score for the creative contest or physical training at some universities comprises 50% [4].
The system of state orders has also been transformed, which will continue to represent the process of electronic admission to higher educational institutions, the selection of entrants in the specialty at the stage of preparation of the EIA, as well as the possibility to obtain private higher educational institutions budget places for training.
A valuable upgrade of the higher education system includes the increase of the scholarships to the subsistence level according to the 2017 budget allocation plan, which raised the average student and academic scholarship, and its appointment will be based on the student's success rate.
An important transformational shift in the Ukraine higher education is the teaching in the Ukrainian language, which means that, the university has the right to teach part of the disciplines in English or other foreign languages, while providing knowledge of the discipline to students in the Ukrainian language as well; list of foreign languages acknowledged as languages of instruction, will be approved by the educational institution; if foreign students are taught in a foreign language, special groups are created, where students are obliged to study the Ukrainian language as a separate discipline.
Today we can observe that this shift is implemented in the non-auditing activity of many higher educational institutions, within which there are various competitions, round tables, excursions, flash mobs, brain rings, student actions, Ukrainian readings, conferences, etc.
It should be noted that the higher education system also introduces active forms of communication and information exchange between the subjects of the educational process: seminars, trainings, round tables, conferences, etc. At the same time, it should be outlined that modern Internet technologies allow using the above-mentioned forms of communication between participants who are located in different parts of the globe. Their communication is provided by computer technology using Internet channels and related software. The mentioned communication has the following names: on-line-seminar, web-conference, webinar, etc. The software platforms for hosting webinars may be programs that are installed on the server of an educational institution or which are hosted on the Internet by servers of companies [8].
One of the innovative methods currently used in higher education institutions is case-study, which is a method of post-classic teaching methodology; it contradicts the classical methodology, and is characterized by high methodological saturation, since it con-
tains a significant epistemological, praxeological and axiological potential; it allows to accumulate considerable volumes of knowledge, to form professional qualities of students; it is an intensive education method that mobilizes and activates the activities of the educational process subjects; reveals significant opportunities for the formation of universal, social and professionally relevant qualities; has the ability to integrate with other methods of learning, to enrich at their expense, and therefore to increase their functional capabilities [11].
Further transformation of Ukraine's higher education system is not possible without strategic directions of its development, which should include: ensuring the innovative orientation of the education system; increasing the effectiveness of the domestic sector of scientific research and development in order to strengthen its role in providing innovative development of the national economy; ensur-
ing expanded reproduction of knowledge based on the integration of the activities of higher educational institutions, academic and industry scientific institutions.
Conclusions. Main transformational shifts in Ukraine's higher education should be based on the following principles: firstly, it is a national idea of higher education, which is supposed to preserve and increase national educational traditions; secondly, the development of higher education should be subject to the market economy laws, that is, the law of labor division, the law of labor variability and the law of competition, since the economic sphere is extremely important in shaping the logic of social development; thirdly, the development of higher education should be considered in the context of trends in the development ofworld educational systems, taking into account integration processes.
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