Educators and researchers report systemic violations of their rights as a result of several recent initiatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES), supported by the government. According to them, the changes threaten to increase the shortage of professional staff in technical and engineering fields.
“Postgraduates, higher education institutions in court proceedings, are forced to defend their legal and constitutional rights and freedoms, due to another attempt by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to reorganize educational processes and educational institutions, to reduce the number of universities and to introduce additional control measures not provided for by the laws and the Constitution of Ukraine, which leads to violations of the constitutional rights and freedoms of educators, scientists, children and youth, in that part which cannot be restricted during the legal regime of martial law, in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine,” said postgraduate student, head of the charitable organization “Charitable Foundation ‘Change Our Lives’” Roman Serhiyenko at a press conference at the “Interfax-Ukraine” agency.
According to Serhiyenko, the adopted Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 426 of April 8 gave MES the right to amend the procedure for training applicants for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Sciences. This creates grounds for the expulsion of postgraduate students even if they successfully fulfill their educational and research requirements.
“According to the response letters of MES No.1/8845-24 dated 20.05.2024 and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine No.81631/C – 18859/7.2.4 dated 31.05.2024, these initiatives did not undergo legal and anti-discrimination examination of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and were returned by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to MES, as indicated in the response to the lawyer’s request No.1/16685-24 dated 13.09.2024, signed by Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Mr. Vynnytskyi,” – the Serhiyenko press release states.
In addition to educators, members of parliament also opposed the reorganization, organizing the collection of signatures under a collective appeal to the Prime Minister demanding the cancellation of “changes aimed at depriving citizens of Ukraine of their constitutional rights and freedoms.”
The participants of the event called to:
ban the reorganization and liquidation of educational institutions for at least three years after the end of the war/martial law;
ban the transfer of educational institutions for lease as a single property complex;
ban the sale of property of educational institutions;
change the conditions of the competition for the position of head of an educational institution and limit the term of holding the position.
The press conference was also attended by: head of the Council of Higher Education Applicants, Doctor of Philosophy of NTU “Dnipro Polytechnic” Yelyzaveta Bodriaho; teacher of professional-theoretical training of the State Vocational School “Higher Vocational School No.8 in Stryi” Anatolii Kryvosheiev; head of the legal department of Tavria National University named after V. I. Vernadskyi, Vadym Rykov.
The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has approved the distribution of 18.8 billion UAH of state budget expenditures among 134 state-owned higher education institutions, which fall under the management of the Ministry of Education.
According to the press service of the ministry, the amount of allocated state funds for each university is determined taking into account 5 main criteria that an educational institution must meet.
In particular, the main criterion of distribution is the contingent of applicants who study at the expense of the budget, as well as we are talking about such indicators as: scientific activity – the number of funds that the university has earned from the provision of scientific and technical, consulting services or received in the form of grants for scientific research; internationalization – place in international rankings or participation in European projects Erasmus+; employment – the percentage of employed graduates; regional coefficient – to support the educational institutions of the largest number of graduates in the country.
Thus, the most funds will go to: National Technical University Kyiv Polytechnic Institute named after Sikorsky (UAH 1,530.9 mln.), National University Lviv Polytechnic (UAH 980.1 mln.), National University of Bioresources and Nature Management (UAH 620 mln. ), Lviv Frank National University (UAH 568.4 million), National Aviation University (UAH 498.8 million), National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute” (UAH 496.6 million), Kharkiv National University named after Karazin (UAH 412 million).
“The MES is developing methodological recommendations on the use of the reserve, the amount of which amounts to UAH 504 million. It is envisaged that part of this reserve will be directed to solve problems related to the functioning of displaced educational institutions”, – stated in the message.
Fifty-one universities from Ukraine have been selected for funding under the European Union’s Erasmus+ program, the Ministry of Education and Science reports.
“Thirteen projects involving 51 universities and other organizations from Ukraine have been selected for funding under the European Union’s Erasmus+ program for capacity development in higher education. A total of 145 projects won the competition,” the Ministry’s press service said in a statement.
It is noted that Ukraine has the largest number of projects in the Eastern Partnership region and is one of the top 12 countries participating in the program.
It is expected that the projects will contribute to the reforms of higher education in Ukraine based on the leading practices and experience of partners from the universities of the EU member states.
According to the report, the grant-coordinators of the projects are four Ukrainian universities: Bukovinian State Medical University, National University “Lviv Polytechnic”, State University “Zhytomyr Polytechnic”, Black Sea National University named after Petro Mohyla.
Also the partnership brings together 6 displaced universities from the temporarily occupied territories, five universities are partners in three projects: Melitopol State Pedagogical University named after Bogdan Khmelnitsky (displaced), National University “Chernihiv Polytechnic”, National Technical University “Dniprovska Polytechnic”, National University “Lviv Polytechnic”.
“Among the financed projects are 9 national and 4 international. Among project teams – 65 partners from 24 countries representing Austria, Albania, Belgium, Armenia, Greece, Georgia, Estonia, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Croatia, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Sweden,” the report says.
“Erasmus+” is a program of the European Union, which through the support of lifelong learning works for the educational, professional and personal development of citizens of the European Union and beyond in education, training, youth and sports.
During an online communication with the US university community, President Volodymyr Zelensky invited scientists to join the program to restore schools and universities in Ukraine, the press service of the President’s Office reported on Monday.
As the head of state said, a big plan for the restoration of Ukraine is being developed, which, in particular, provides for the restoration of schools, universities, institutes and other educational institutions.
“Thousands of educational institutions have been destroyed. For us, this is a great tragedy. Therefore, we will only be grateful to you if we have such restoration projects at the level of ministries of education, the level of educational programs, the level of universities,” the president said.
“When we talk about resumption, it is not only a question of money, but also of specialists. Because we can build some kind of institute, university, but it is very important that there are people who are carriers of knowledge and specialists. Therefore, we are ready for such joint work and will be very grateful if you help us develop new educational programs,” he added.
Zelensky stressed that the plan for the restoration of Ukraine provides for programs for the restoration of various sectors of the economy and public life.
“We are forming partnerships with this or that institution, with this or that state. We even have patronage. We already have several examples. I know that the United States will choose for itself a suitable region for the restoration of our country, Canada, European states,” the President said.
For the first time in history, the head of the Ukrainian state addressed the students and leaders of major universities under the auspices of the American Association of Universities. Representatives of about fifty institutions joined the meeting, including Yale University, Harvard University, Boston University, Duke University, Cornell University, Brown University. About 5.5 thousand students watched the live broadcast on campuses, the press service reports.
Minister of Education and Science Serhiy Shkarlet says there will be no entrance exams to universities, and enrollment will take place through a special electronic system.
“There will be no exams at universities, in order to avoid manifestations of corruption. A mechanism similar to external independent assessment will be created, but without the participation of a child. Everything will be transparent, since the computer does not take part in any corruption schemes,” Shkarlet said on Ukrainian TV channels.
Shkarlet said that entry into universities will be carried out according to some kind of electronic system.
He also said that a bill has already been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, which cancels the final certification in the external independent assessment for graduate students for 2022.
The Minister is confident that the Parliament will adopt this bill in the near future.
Eight Ukrainian higher education institutions are represented in the QS World University Rankings 2022, according to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
“Eight Ukrainian higher educational institutions are represented in the QS World University Rankings 2022. This year, the university rating is the largest in the entire history of the study, it includes 1,300 higher educational institutions,” the ministry’s press service said.
It is noted that the highest position in the ranking among Ukrainian universities according to the research results is occupied by Karazin Kharkiv National University (511-520 position).
Further the ranking include Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with 601-650 position; Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute with 651-700 position; Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute with 701-750 position; Sumy State University with 701-750 position; Lviv Polytechnic National University with 801-1000 position; National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy with 1001-1200 position; Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, which entered the rating for the first time, with 1001-1200 position.
According to the statement, the top position in the ranking for the tenth consecutive year is occupied by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The QS World University Rankings, which was founded in 2004, has evolved into an authoritative benchmarking tool for benchmarking university performance.
