Europeanisation of Doctoral Reform in Ukraine. Recent State of Play and Future Challenges
European Journal of Legal Education, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 26-31, 2009
43 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2010
Date Written: December 30, 2009
Abstract
Drastic economic downfall which faced Ukraine immediately after its independence in 1991 implied tightening of HE and research funding. As a result the Ukrainian academia experienced a steadily growing “brain drain” and lowering of quality of teaching in higher education institutions (HEIs). In this situation the Ukrainian government had no choice but to open doors for factual self financing of the HEIs. It was done by permitting private HEIs and by allowing public HIEs to collect fees from students which were admitted beyond the governmental quota. As a result of this policy number of HEIs in Ukraine had jumped from 140 in 1991 to 940 today. Unfortunately this reform took place on expense of quantity and quality of HE in Ukraine and implied further deterioration of quality of teaching and research. One of the reasons for it was luck of qualified and competent teaching and research staff to be able to fill in new teaching positions in newly established HEIs. To prevent further decline the Ukrainian government started to look for possible scenarios for reform. The emerged in 1999 Bologna Process appeared to be the most suitable seed to be planted into the Ukrainian soil of HE. In short period of time the Ukrainian government succeeded in implementation of most elements of the Bologna Declaration (introduction of the 2 cycle system of HE and of uniformed HE diplomas’ supplements). However some elements of the Ukrainian HE remain barely changed till today. One of them is doctoral education.
This article focuses on the phenomena of the doctoral studies reform in Ukraine. In the first half of the article the recent system of doctoral education in Ukraine is analysed. In the second half of the article we look at governmental reforms in this area. Furthermore the article evaluates the HE reforms conducted by some of Ukrainian universities. In conclusion the author tries to forecast the future of the doctoral studies reform in Ukraine.
Keywords: Europeanisation, Higher Education, Doctoral Reform, Legal Education, Ukraine
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