For example, in Ireland, where the average annual salary is 32 thousand.

However, the reform of higher education no longer provides for such functions of the Ministry. Therefore, determining the list of compulsory subjects is now personal narrative topics the prerogative of the university, after all, as well as the right of students to choose the university, the program in it and certain disciplines within this program. As a rule, the programs of European and American universities provide that students study disciplines of the humanities. Either because the university has included these disciplines in the normative ones, or because the student has to give a certain number of ECTS credits (European Credit Transfer System) for the selection of elective humanities disciplines, the choice of which is made by the university itself … What is the purpose behind this? Western universities, where academic culture has been formed over the centuries, realize that knowledge of languages, business communication skills, understanding of key philosophical ideas or certain historical processes help to develop professional competencies, professional, promote the student’s worldview and personal growth. In this context, Ukrainian universities must move away from the principle of making up for what they did not have time to learn during school. Higher education should offer a different level from the school curriculum. It is also not necessary to treat the complex of humanities in universities as a certain ideological means of influencing students. We transfer this educational component to the level of secondary school, where the concept of national-patriotic education will be implemented, which will permeate the entire educational process. At the same time, it is impossible to imagine a bachelor’s degree from a modern university without proficiency in Ukrainian and English at a professional level. Such learning outcomes will inevitably become part of the higher education standards we wrote about above. Instead, which courses the language departments, as well as other humanities departments, will ensure that students master these competencies, must be decided by the teachers and academics of the universities themselves. There are two obstacles to the implementation of autonomous principles of organization of the educational process: the lack of experience in organizing free choice of subjects and the postcolonial reality of modern Ukraine, which sometimes results in unprofessional and irresponsible position of university management. Therefore, taking into account numerous requests from universities and the public, the Ministry of Education and Science will prepare appropriate recommendations for the transition period. First of all, logistics: how and when in higher education institutions each year there will be an official presentation of elective courses by departments and teachers, after which students will be able to enroll in them. Now any department can offer its own elective courses. This is how the principle of interdisciplinarity is realized, without which there is no modern university. Undergraduate students must have English language courses and subjects of the Ukrainian Studies and Philosophy block in the list of courses taken. English language and philosophy will remain compulsory for the training of highly qualified personnel. There is another important task to keep in mind, which can be solved only by giving the student the opportunity to shape the trajectory of their own learning. We are talking about reducing from the next school year the teaching load of teachers from 900 to 600 hours per year. First of all, so that they have more time to update their courses and pay serious attention to scientific work. After all, there is no higher education without science. We also finally need to learn this axiom.

SCHOLARSHIPS: INDIVIDUAL APPROACH

The Ukrainian scholarship system has enormous resources – more than 5 billion hryvnias are allocated annually for scholarships. But the principle of distribution of these funds is extremely inefficient. Its main drawback is the lack of targeting. Thus, the academic scholarship must cover at least 2/3 of state employees who study full-time. As a result, the scholarship “for academic success” is received by 640 thousand students on the principle: all – a little. In France, on the other hand, academic scholarships are awarded to students who pass all exams exclusively at an “excellent” level of less than 1%. In Poland, this figure is 10%. In the UK, individual scholarships are possible only for outstanding achievements – inventions, academic publications, etc. Thus, in Ukraine, the academic scholarship has actually become a kind of social payment. In addition, the social scholarship, which is received by less than 2% of students, is available only to privileged categories, which are determined not by needs, but by a certain status (for example, Chernobyl victims). In the European Union, social benefits are distributed according to the level of income of the student and his family, and the recipients are divided into several categories. The less protected receive a higher social benefit, and people with higher but insufficient incomes are entitled to a lower benefit. For example, in Ireland, where the average annual salary is 32,000 euros, students can earn between 300 and 6,000 euros a year, in Croatia, where they earn an average of 12,000 euros a year, student benefits can range from 800 to 1,600 euros. for a year. The need for a dormitory or the distance between the apartment and the university, etc. is also taken into account. Some countries offer tax breaks to parents who maintain students, or provide small social benefits to parents depending on the number of students in the family. The system of these criteria is introduced with one clear goal – to determine which of the students and how many it takes to have enough resources to live in the city where the university is located. Thus, the EU countries provide equal access to higher education not according to the Soviet model of “equalization” but according to the principle of individual approach. At the same time, we must not forget about material incentives for successful learning. And again we return to the frank conversation. Are threes and fours a success? If we want to stimulate and reward truly outstanding student achievements, then such requirements are not enough. The basic condition should be excellent results of the session. The competition for such a scholarship should be more like a competition for a scholarship to study abroad, when the commission determines the winners, assessing their achievements not only in education. Additional criteria may be, for example: victories in international student competitions, international academic student mobility, research initiatives. The desire to limit the number of students who can receive such a scholarship will be ineffective. The main stimulus should be its size, which needs to be significantly increased. These are the cornerstones we need to follow. The Ministry is already starting a working group, which includes, in particular, student representatives, specialists in demography and econometrics. We understand that changes need to be implemented carefully and gradually. Therefore, current students will receive the scholarships they receive now, and the innovations will affect future freshmen.

FINANCING

Funding for higher education and research (these positions cannot be broken) is an investment in the development of society and the national economy. Science and education, performing important social tasks, influencing the development of human capital, technical and technological development of the country, and in the long run – building a knowledge society, play an important role in economic development and cannot be discriminated against or ignored. The Ministry of Education and Science will strongly promote these ideas through the implementation of relevant European norms and concepts. Since the beginning of 2015, Ukrainian higher education institutions and research institutions have the right to be served in banks. This means that they will determine for themselves how they will spend their own special fund. However, the task of achieving full financial autonomy forces us to move forward. It is necessary to abandon the post-Soviet attitude to education as an industry that “does not grow or produce anything” and therefore applies only to expenditure budget items. It is important to reform the structure of Ukrainian universities and the organization of research. The definition of quality criteria for research institutions and universities should be based on scientometric principles. It is time to integrate science and education through increasing the scientific component of Ukrainian universities and involving academic institutes in educational activities through the creation, together with universities, of master’s and structured doctoral programs (graduate and doctoral programs). All research should be funded on open grant principles from a single source (fund), when grant proposals are formed jointly by universities and academic institutions. This article is the first to explain the strategic goal of education reform. The Law on Higher Education was adopted on July 1, 2014. Today the Ministry of Education and Science is working on the bills “On Education” “On Vocational Education” and “On Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activity”. Therefore, future publications will provide an opportunity to reveal the essence of reforms in each field of education. The genre and volume of the text do not allow us to explain in detail and consistently the whole set of planned changes, so we consciously focused only on the main issues. We hope that the basic principles we have outlined here will allow us to see more clearly the goals and mechanisms of reforms and, in fact, the ways to unleash the educational potential of our state. Serhiy Kvit, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Ukrainian Pravda

01/27/2015

Universities will be explained how to teach philosophy

On February 3, the Government House hosted a joint briefing of Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Culture Vyacheslav Kirilenko, Minister of Education and Science Sergei Kvit, Director of the Institute of Philosophy. Frying pans Miroslav Popovich, rector of Kiev National University. Shevchenko Leonid Gubersky and director of the Institute of History of Ukraine NASU Valery Smoliy on the need to study the humanities in Ukrainian higher education institutions. During the briefing Vyacheslav Kirilenko said that recently communities of philosophers and historians have expressed particular concern.