An “easy” entry

Last week all Ukrainian schools held traditional “last ring” ceremonies. However, 11th-graders are yet to undergo external independent evaluation. And only then will they have an opportunity to try and win admission to higher education institutions. Experts predict that this year many youths will be able to enter universities without much hassle and problems, as the number of se-condary schools graduates will be lowest in years: only 230,000 (last year, according to the Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sports, there were 380,000 graduates). This is due to the demographic crisis of the early 1990s, when the birth rate declined sharply, as well as due to the fact that in 2009 many ninth-graders (who would otherwise be graduating now) went to study in technical schools and colleges. Thus, graduate numbers in Lviv region decreased by 29 percent, in Kyiv by 61 percent, and in the Crimea by 75 percent.

So the chances to be admitted to university are significantly increasing, even for students with low scores on their school and external independent evaluation certificates. Some universities, to avoid a shortfall of students in some programs, may even take such a drastic step as lowering the passing score. Then the question will be whether universities will compete for top graduates, so as to be able to train competent professionals, or, conversely, take all those interested.

As The Day was told by Vice Rector of the Lesia Ukrainka Volyn National University Iryna Konstankevych, a lot depends on the image and reputation of the university in question. If it has an honorable name and reputation, takes leading places in rankings and thus has been competing for entrants for a long time, it will not have trouble attracting students: “The specifics of regional, national and other universities are different, and each will have its own body of entrants. Of course, there will be fewer of them, but they will come, nonetheless. Maybe, there will be fewer distance education students, not all licensed places for fee-paying students will be filled, but there will be no shortfall of government-sponsored students. Shortage and closure are threatening private universities more than public ones, since public higher education is always in higher demand.”

According to experts, there will still not be enough students to fill places in those programs that are now in low demand and considered unpopular. At the same time, law schools, departments of economics, as well as those related to information technology and international relations, will be in high demand as before. Therefore, as in previous years, prestigious universities will arouse the most excitement.

“This year’s admission campaign will be a litmus test of its transparency. Based on the approved conditions of university admission, the entrant will write se-parate applications for fee-paying and state-sponsored places (it was the case last year, too),” says the head of the Center for Educational Monitoring (former Deputy Minister of Education and Science) Pavlo Poliansky. “There will be more administrative and financial levers. I mean, they will implement the principle under which universities will take into account those obscure average university scores and average school certificate scores, bypassing the external independent evaluation certificate. In its entrance requirements, the ministry allowed submissions of the external independent evaluation certificate with scores below 124 when entering the program where the subject in question is not the core one. That is, with a certificate in chemistry or physics, the entrant may be admitted to English language, mathematics, or some other program. Thus, this will not be a basis for genuine competition between the best entrants.”

Experts agree that the student ranks, despite the peculiarities of this year’s admission campaign, will be filled, and universities will not be forced to announce closures or reduce the numbers of programs on offer. But how will this affect quality? After all, higher education requires serious secondary training. Thus, the question remains: will we get well-trained bachelors and masters after their graduation from university? Will they find jobs if their diplomas will only be university certificates, offering no proof that their owners have acquired genuine knowledge and skills? Therefore, their relatively easy entry to university does not mean they will get jobs with similar ease, because now employers do not look whether the graduate’s diploma is “red” or “blue” [a vestige of the Soviet system, where red diplomas were “with distinction.” – Ed.], as the potential employees skills and experience matter much more.