Yulia Mikhyeva

National Technical University of Ukraine “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, Ukraine

CHALLENGES OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS

The active development of the Bologna Process in Ukraine started from the Order “On approval of the Action Plan on realisation of Bologna Accords in the system of higher education and science of Ukraine for the years 2004-2005” No. 49 approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine on 23/01/2004.

In order to achieve that goal, the process provides for the adoption of convenient and clear hierarchy of diplomas, degrees and qualifications, introduction of the PhD degree recognised all around Europe, using the unified system of credit units (within the framework of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System; introduction of unified diploma supplements recognised in the European Higher Education Area; elaboration and maintaining of European quality standards by using comparative criteria, mechanisms and ways of their evaluation in conformity with the ENQA requirements; elimination of all existing obstacles on the path towards increasing mobility of the students, teachers, researchers and managers of the higher school.

The Bologna Process is the process of structural reformation of national systems of higher education in the European countries going hand in hand with changes in educational programmes and necessary institutional transformations in the higher education institutions of such countries. The question, however, still raises variety of opinions among the Ukrainian pedagogues and politicians.

As result of summing up of their speeches and criticism, four basic views are distinguished, which: raise concerns over motley mix of cultures, interests and approaches (G. Kasyanov, I. Bekh), or over substantial financial expenses involved in the introduction of the informational technologies (B. Korolyov); approve of the changes in the process that would secure education of a creative and mobile specialist (O. Stepanyuk, S. Senenko, S. Yuriy) or approve of the process of education integration only if national tradition is maintained (V. Kremen, V. Andrushchenko, M. Stepko).

The credit-unit system (CUS) is determined for Ukraine as a landmark of forming up of a new training process and its introduction is an important goal in modernisation of the Ukrainian system of education. The credit-unit system as an integral part of the Bologna Process has two basic functions.

The first is fostering the mobility of both students and teachers by facilitation of transfers from one university to another.

The second one is accumulating which means precise determination of the scope of work done by a student in respect of all kinds of educational and academic activities. The sum of credits determines the capabilities of a student studying under this or the other programme. Functioning CUS makes it possible to mark such its advantages as stimulating students to active regular work during the semester; CUS also requires from the students to be initiative; students get used to various forms of work. To sum it up, such a system is more objective and makes it possible to decrease the factor of subjectiveness in allocation of grades.

The shortcomings, however, are that under credit unit system where there are large numbers of students in a group, it is difficult to provide all the students with equal opportunities to get credits they need; secondly, the burden placed on the teachers increases drastically; thirdly, the credits accumulated during the semester not always reflect the activity of a student rather than quality of knowledge gained.

Conformity with the European labour market should find its various reflections in the programmes depending on whether the knowledge, skills necessary for work were acquired at the first or the second level. Employment opportunities taking into account lifelong learning prospects are better to be achieved through values inherent in a quality educational system.

European universities want to become attractive for talented people from all continents. It requires action on the institutional, national and European levels.

Thus, it is worth study in more detail competitiveness in the sphere of higher education and analysing possible perspectives such new offers on the education market of Ukraine as business-training and distance education. The major criterion here may be interest of potential employers in specialists graduating from a specific educational institution.

One of the polls among the employers showed that the popularity of one or another higher education institution depends on prestigious faculties it may have. For example, it is commonly shared opinion that the best economists and lawyers in Kyiv come from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and from National Taras Shevchenko University, the best programmers come from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, and the best specialists in the sphere of banking are trained in the Kyiv National Economic University.

Apart from our education being cheap, the cost of living in Ukraine is also accostable. Even in Czech Republic so attractive for our students lately (with cost of plain living of about 120 US dollars per month), the year of studies at the faculty of medicine at the Charles University in Prague would cost 10 times more than the same year in a Ukrainian medical university.

But the major shortcoming of our educational institutions is that our standards do not correlate with the European standards, and quite often, otherwise, the western education is not recognised by our employers, thus degrading the attractiveness of our higher education.

The conclusion on the necessity to step up training level of our students and teachers of the higher education institutions is only logical. We should maintain, as much as possible, our positive achievements and use efficiently the European experience for training a mobile, highly qualified and creative specialist. The effective introduction of the ideas of the Bologna Process as well as any innovations is to take into account maintaining our best domestic achievements in the sphere of education, our traditions, and modernization of our system of education is to be conducted gradually, without any unnecessary rush. Indeed, it is well known that transition from one system to another is often accompanied by the crisis developments. That is why the policies in respect of the Bologna Process should be balanced, transparent and clear.