UKRAINE: Fears over university centralisation plans

28 August 2011

Leading academics warn that Ukraine Education Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk's attempts to centralise control over universities is hindering their work and dragging Ukraine away from European standards in higher education, writes Rina Soloveitchik for the Kyiv Post.

Educators and officials from Kyiv Mohyla Academy and Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, two of the country's leading institutions, said that reducing their independence by introducing greater control over financing and curricula would damage the quality of teaching and research. Experts said such moves contradicted the Bologna Process, an attempt to align European education systems which emphasises university autonomy.

A parliament committee in February rejected Tabachnyk's draft legislation for further central control following protests by academics and students. But the minister, seen by many as pro-Russian in his views, appears to be pushing ahead with his plans despite protest.
Full report on the Kyiv Post site

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