Reforming or ruining?

There have been a lot of publications and rumors lately about the future of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) – it is allegedly to be closed or turned into a retraining center or even a hotel. The ministry’s silence has only triggered the suggestion that the government begins to ruin this higher educational institution under the guise of reformation.

The Day decided to find out what is really going on with this institution. First of all, we requested Serhii KORSUNSKYI, head of the Diplomatic Academy reorganization task force, an MFA ambassador-at-large, to explain to us the ongoing reform and the MFA’s vision of the future of this diplomat-training establishment.

“When I was making a report at the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, its head, Ms. Hanna Hopko, said the committee had recommended two years before that the Diplomatic Academy be reformed. We, at the MFA, have also been speaking of this for years, but nobody has ever cared to do a thing.

“No doubt, it was a right thing to found the academy. This was caused in particular by a shortage of personnel because the Kyiv Institute of International Relations trained as few as 25 students for the whole country in 1992. By way of comparison, 88 higher educational institutions have a license today to teach international law or international relations.

“It was then decided to set up a diplomatic academy under the MFA’s jurisdiction for those who had no basic education or had come to the MFA system from other ministries. The academy was supposed to employ the best staff to additionally teach, retrain, and professionally upgrade diplomats.

“But a year later, in 1996, after President Kuchma’s decree, the Lazarenko government approved the statute which defined the academy as a higher educational institution of the 4th level of accreditation that trains specialists in international relations. The academy employed some professionally impeccable professors and instructors but, for some reason, called this course ‘foreign policy’ rather than ‘international relations.’ This tiny detail means today that the academy has no license to train specialists in international relations.

“At first, the academy was coming up to expectations, but then it turned, surprisingly, into an educational institution that had 69 full-time faculty members against 54 students and 46 Ph.D. seekers. Have you ever heard of a university with a 1.5:1 professor-student ratio?

“Now about 46 Ph.D. seekers. It turns out that 29 of them study and do research in the specialty ‘world history and archeology’ and 17 in ‘politics and global international systems’ – the topic on which international relations specialists’ dissertations are based. Of course, some research that is important for diplomacy is also conducted in the specialty ‘world history,’ but, on the whole, this ratio shows that this institution is not doing what it is supposed to.

“Finally, the MFA decided that the academy should be converted into a modern-day retraining center for the diplomatic personnel. The government passed a resolution to this effect on December 17, 2016. Later in December Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin instructed me to deal with reforming the academy.”

“PROBLEMS DID NOT COME UP SUDDENLY”

“I found out that the situation at the academy was not simple. Some Ph.D. seekers do and some do not have to pay fees. There are five academic departments, many of whose members are on maternity leave. There is absolutely nolarity about the foreign language courses, the status of the advanced training center, and the master’s degree program. Besides, the Cabinet of Ministers approved on February 1, 2017, the list of specialties for master’s degree students, which has ‘international relations’ but does not have ‘foreign policy.’ This means that the Diplomatic Academy must obtain new licenses for the new academic year, which is not an easy thing to do. In other words, systemic problems at the academy did not come up suddenly but have been accumulating for years due to various factors. There is no sense in discussing them now because we must correct the situation.

“In my view, the MFA leadership has made an absolutely right decision that, firstly, master’s degree programs should be done away with, and, secondly, Ph.D. courses should only be available at higher educational institutions and research institutes of the Academy of Science – where research is really done.

“Therefore, we will teach the present-day students to the end, and they will receive their degrees. Then the master’s degree program will be terminated, which was announced past year even before the Cabinet made a decision. Deputy Minister Vadym Prystaiko then wrote to the Diplomatic Academy that the ministry would no longer be funding the master’s degree program.

“It is Ph.D. seekers who are facing the most acute problem. I decided to meet them when it became clear what the future status or, in other words, the concept and structure of the academy will be like.

“Frankly speaking, I am awfully sorry that some Ph.D. seekers are really in a fix and will have to transfer somewhere else. So I said: we are ready to help.

“We made a proposal: if you know that there is your specialty or the professor you like at a certain institute or academy, we will write a letter to help you transfer to another educational institution’s Ph.D. course on a non-fee-paying basis. The majority were not exactly in raptures but reacted calmly to this, while others began to criticize scathingly, although the aim of criticism is unclear. I don’t think it is a constructive approach to cancel the government’s decision that the academy is now a post-qualifying institution without a Ph.D. course department.

“We have reached an agreement with the Academy of Public Administration, which is also being reformed like the Diplomatic Academy, that they will take our Ph.D. seekers and professors who are ready to work. We are very grateful for understanding and support, for we promote a common cause. Moreover, we’ve made a deal, on our initiative, with Borys Hrinchenko University which is establishing a department to train international affairs specialists. They are also prepared to employ our historians, teachers, and Ph.D. seekers who wish to transfer to another higher educational institution on a permanent basis.”

“FROM NOW ON, THIS INSTITUTION IS A CONTINUING EDUCATION CENTER, ABOVE ALL, FOR DIPLOMATS”

“One way or another, the minister of foreign affairs has approved the statute of the new academy. It sets out that this institution is from now on an advanced training and continuing education center, above all, for diplomats.

“In compliance with the Cabinet’s resolution, the statute uses the title ‘Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.’ In essence, there will be three major divisions at the academy, each of which will undergo a certain transformation: the Advanced Training Center, the Foreign Languages Center, and the International Studies Center.

“About the Advanced Training Center. While there were 20-25 short-term courses a year up to now, for which some people were invited from Ukraine and from abroad to deliver lectures to diplomats and other officials, this is going to be changed. In addition to short-term courses, we will form one-to-three-month-long courses at the MFA’s request.

“For example, the MFA is now announcing a competitive selection to fill vacancies. We will teach those who will win the competition, even if their specialty is ‘international relations,’ what it is to be a diplomat, what it is to be engaged in foreign-policy activities every day.

“These courses will be compulsory and long enough to produce a result. After the learners finish the course, they will receive a proper certificate which will testify to the MFA that its bearer has done his or her studies and can be employed.

KYIV. 2, VELYKA ZHYTOMYRSKA ST. BEAUTIFUL PREMISES… / Photo by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day

“Besides, those who come back from abroad will also have to do the courses. We must give additional knowledge to the officials who have worked abroad for four years because they focused on a specific country or international organization in these years and will now work in other MFA fields. The MFA will ask these people to do a retraining course for two or three weeks so that they update their knowledge and are prepared to get back to the ministry’s apparatus. One more thing. The career of a diplomat consists of the following stages: attache; third, second, first secretary; and counselor. But these are not top offices. Diplomats like these do not lead – they just work as individuals. But then they become deputy directors or directors of departments, ambassadors. These people are to be specially trained to lead a team. But, so far, nobody is taught to lead a team in our sphere, although it is necessary.”

“NOT ONLY AMBASSADORS BUT EVEN THEIR WIVES RECEIVE TRAINING”

“Having visited other countries and seen their systems, I must say that not only ambassadors but even their wives receive special training. They are taught the rules of behavior and protocol, culture and traditions in the country of appointment, etc. Besides, the future ambassadors should be trained to manage the embassy’s economy and finances because the ambassador is responsible for everything.

“When one goes abroad, he or she must be taught. Going for the first time is one thing and taking an executive position is another. We will do all this in the course of time. We will try to lay the groundwork this year – I mean the system of training the personnel in most of the important fields. It is done so all over the world.

“I was surprised to learn that, for example, diplomatic academies were established in Australia a year and in the UK two years ago. It is strange, for these countries have a very high level of education, but still they can see that the world is totally different today. The demands made on a present-day diplomat are entirely different than they were 20 and 10 years ago. Incidentally, we will also provide training in communications (in the broad sense of the word). We want our diplomats to know how to communicate with the media in an unrestrained and professional way, how to behave, what and how to say or not to say. The diplomat must know how to work on social websites, how to contact in general his or her foreign counterparts and officials in the country of appointment.

“And we should invite the current diplomats, ambassadors, as well as former chiefs of missions, to share their experience. We think it is a very considerable potential which has remained unused do far.

“The second part is about other public servants. We work daily with the NATO Professional Development Program. In the next three years, this program will focus on the Diplomatic Academy – the goal is that we provide training to public servants, not only to the diplomats who deal with Euro-Atlantic integration. We will also draw up, in conjunction with the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany, a joint language-learning and training program and a joint educational program in the field of global security problems. We are planning joint projects with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, too.

“We are assembling representatives of 40 embassies on April 24 to tell them about the academy reform and invite to cooperate. We want to receive their support for teaching such rare languages as Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, etc., in addition to the standard ones.

“I have conducted negotiations with the British Council in order to introduce a foreign language testing system based on international standards, which will ensure an unbiased evaluation of the language command. This specific test will say whether an individual really knows the written and conversational language, its grammar and vocabulary. In other words, it checks four aspects of the language command and gives the grades A1, A2, B2, C1, and so on.”

“THERE IS A NEED FOR HIGH-QUALITY ANALYSES”

“The Research Center is a story apart. The MFA needs to cooperate with political science centers. There is a need in high-quality and professionally-made analyses. We will set up a small research center that will be assigning short-term tasks to the best political scientists.

“For example, we know that a new president of France is to be elected now. The task may sound, for example, as follows: the analysis of France’s policy towards Ukraine in the next six months if Macron is elected. It is one of the likely tasks the MFA might assign.

“The people who will work here (two or three at most) will have to invite some wise analysts, even foreigners, who specialize in France in this case, for cooperation on a contractual basis, gather the material, and write a topnotch analysis.

“I am a realist and know that all this cannot be carried out instantly with a high quality, but we will begin this year with concrete steps.

“Next year we will try to plan the academy’s work on a serious and systemic level. And I think we will build a structure that meets modern requirements in one and a half years’ time.

“For example, we recently held a seminar with the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. Ms. Valbona Zeneli, a professor of economics, delivered a fine lecture on the overall situation in the world and in Ukraine, and on what economic security is.

“An expert, who has worked for 31 years as a special transnational crime agent, also visited us and explained what corruption is and what mistakes other countries make. We, in Ukraine, are used to the never-ending talk about the corruption we have. But there is no lesser corruption in, say, Afghanistan, Nigeria, or Iraq. They investigate all this. And who else but experts of this level will tell us this?

“For example, it would be good if our ambassadors to such countries knew what is going on there. They should be told about this, but where can they get this knowledge? We will help receive this knowledge and will be inviting the people who can give it. This will promote a high-quality training of the diplomats who go to work in this kind of countries.”

“CONCURRENTLY, THE PERSONNEL SERVICE IS BEING REFORMED”

“The last thing I can say is that, concurrently with the Diplomatic Academy, the MFA’s personnel service is being reformed. There will be one system: the personnel service will be telling us how many people to train for such and such purpose, and we will have to execute the order. This system will begin to be tested in the second half of this year. In the future, it will be put on a routine basis, especially after the new law on diplomatic service is passed. The new law (we are to draw it up and submit to the government in the near future) will envisage updating the diplomatic personnel training system. The current system is imperfect because the law now in force was adopted long ago. The new one will meet the problems and requirements of today and be based on entirely different principles.

“We are launching a new version of the Foreign Languages Center on September 1. All the courses I have mentioned above will come into being. We are working now on the content and on who will teach there what. All this will begin to work in the fall.

“Fortunately, we have enough funds for these purposes. This is an instance when we are not demanding additional funding. The MFA’s budget for this year allows taking the planned steps. I see no problems about funding.”

“OUR MODEL WILL BE CLOSE TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT’S FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE”

“Now about the foreign model on which the reformed Diplomatic Academy is patterned. By all accounts, an American model fits in with our concept of the academy. Of course, we do not mean as large a scale as in the US. They have the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. In many countries, such as the UK, Australia, and Turkey, the diplomatic academy is part of the foreign ministry. Our academy is attached to the MFA. For example, the Estonian Diplomatic School is a separate legal entity, not part of the foreign ministry, but there is an agreement between them.

“In all probability, our model will be close to the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. Like our academy, it is budget-funded, and, taking into account its functions, its main goal is what we are going to do. Of course, the content, duration, and level of training will differ because we do not have the ambitions the US does. We should put emphasis on somewhat different aspects. For example, they focus incredible attention on the country. If a US diplomat goes to a certain country, he is trained on this country only. But we can gather a group of diplomats who go to, say, Africa and trained them on Africa because one Ukrainian embassy may serve a dozen of countries. In other words, we will try to build a balanced structure, taking into account our capabilities, personnel, and requirements. In each of other countries’ models, I saw some interesting points which we will use, and I think their number will only rise in the course of time.”