The reverse side of educational reforms

Lviv — Reforms in education were discussed at a press conference held as part of the debate on amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education” proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science. As is known, the ministry proposes, among other things, abolishing such things as “incomplete higher education,” “basic higher education,” and “complete higher education” and replacing them with the following three educational levels: junior specialist, bachelor, and master.

The ministry also would like to make sure that students take part in university management and allow universities to open accounts and make deposits in the national and foreign currencies. The innovation also calls for a clear-cut categorization of higher educational institutions: classical universities (at least 6,000 full-time students, eight areas of education, and eight academic specializations), specialized universities (4,000 students, four areas of education, and three academic specialties), academies (2,000 students, one or two areas of education, and two academic specialties), and colleges (at least 1,000 students and the baccalaureate level), and vocational colleges (at least 500 students and the junior specialist level).

It is the latter change that irks educationists. According to Rev. Dr. Borys Hudziak, Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), making a university’s or a college’s status dependent on the number of students runs counter to international practice and discriminates against private institutions that perform at a level higher than that of some state-run educational institutions. “Should the changes to the education law be passed, the UCU may well become a professional college,” Dr. Hudziak says. “Conversely, it would be a good idea if the state supported the colleges and universities that are funded by international financial institutions rather than the government.”

Yaroslav Hrytsak, a professor at Ivan Franko Lviv National University and chair of the UCU History of Ukraine Department, knows from his own experience that in the countries with a well-developed education system, private universities often have much better academic standards. “Suffice it to say that neither Harvard nor Columbia belong, putting it mildly, to the worst US universities, while it is impossible to imagine modern-day Polish culture without the Catholic University of Lublin,” the professor emphasized.

Experts are also unanimous that the UCU is an example of an educational institution that stands clear of corrupt practices and is one of the main “champions of a broader autonomy of Ukraine’s higher educational institutions.” Also supporting the UCU is Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovy who intends to send an open letter to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Education and Science, urging them to launch a large-scale debate on the risks that the Ukrainian Catholic University may run if the proposed amendments become law.

The Day’s FACT FILE

The Ukrainian Catholic University has inherited and continues to uphold the scholarly traditions of the Greek Catholic Theological Academy established in the late 1920s by Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky. Rev. Yosyf Slipy was the academy’s first rector. After the institution was closed in 1944, its mission and function were assumed by the Rome-based Pope St. Clement Ukrainian Catholic University organized and chaired by Metropolitan Yosyf Slipy in 1963. In 1994 the academy was reestablished as Lviv Theological Academy (LTA), and in 1998 the educational institution gained international accreditation. Rev. Mykhailo Dymyd was the first rector of the reestablished LTA and was succeeded by Rev. Borys Hudziak in 2000. There are 550 full-time and 450 part-time students at the UCU at present, with another 300 upgrading their educational level by way of short-term programs.