Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi has noted that the transformation of the higher education system in Ukraine implies that the state order will remain for specialties that the state needs first.
Lisovyi has written this in a column on the website of the Ukrainian Pravda online publication, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"The state order system will remain for those specialties that the state needs first: doctors, teachers, engineers, agrarians, metallurgists, energy staff, etc. The state will continue to pay for the training of these specialists, pay them scholarships and offer the first workplace. Benefits for applicants from vulnerable categories will also remain," he wrote.
Lisovyi noted that the change in the state order system and the introduction of state grants are aimed at increasing the number of students receiving state support for higher education, as well as creating prerequisites for high-quality competition between universities for applicants.
"Now approximately 60% of students study on a contract. Our goal is to ensure that 60% of applicants receive state support in different volumes, depending on the results of the External Independent Evaluation / National Multi-Subject Testing. That is, the higher the score, the larger the grant an applicant can receive (including 100% of the cost of tuition)," he explained.
The Minister also noted that it is planned to introduce individual educational trajectories: students will be able to independently regulate the terms of study, study the subjects that interest the most, and even change their specialty after a year and a half, if there is such a need.
"Students studying beyond the state order will have the opportunity to regulate the terms of study. They will be able to manage their annual workload within 30-80 ECTS credits per year, that is, complete the bachelor's program in 3, 4, 5 or 6 years. This will create more opportunities for student choice and freedom," he wrote.
In addition, according to him, higher education institutions will be able to create interdisciplinary programs at the Baccalaureate level - those where several specialties are studied within the same field.
"A student enters the field and after completing two courses (or 60-120 ECTS credits) can choose a specialty within this field for further study. This will be useful to everyone who at the time of admission has not yet finally decided on the future profession," the minister explained.
Lisovyi also noted that it is planned to modernize the network of higher education institutions, invest in educational, scientific and laboratory equipment in enlarged institutions, whose number will become smaller, but which will be competitive and provide quality education.
Commenting on the initiatives to modernize the network (which involves the merger of institutions), he noted that it is impossible to ignore the fact that the demographic indicators are falling today and this trend began long before the start of a full-scale war.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in January Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the Cabinet of Ministers plans to launch a large-scale reform of higher education in 2024.
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