Education in Ukraine is going through a rather difficult period, because despite the fact that our students win various competitions on the international arena, none of our educational institutions is included in the first or second hundred prestigious ratings. This indicates the undisclosed potential.
Currently, more than 7 % of the country's GDP is spent on education in Ukraine, but the results of activity are disappointing, which indicates the low quality of education management, wear and tear of funds and aging of personnel.
Serhiy Kvit noted the importance of reforming the education system in Ukraine, emphasizing that not everyone will be satisfied with the Ministry's work methods, because only under such conditions is it possible to achieve success in reforms.
First, the need to implement the autonomy of Ukrainian universities and create modern quality assurance mechanisms in higher education.
Each university determines how to compile a study program and what disciplines to include there. No ministerial commission is capable of determining how to teach and learn better, this is not the function of officials.
Achievements of higher education institutions will be monitored both internally and externally through the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education.
Secondly, it is necessary to change the principles, because it is not the number of universities that determines the development of education, but their quality. For example, in accordance with the new Law "On Higher Education", at the moment, the number of higher education institutions has decreased from 802 to 317. A low-quality higher education institution is doomed to disappear from the educational field of Ukraine, so Serhii Kvit emphasizes some reduction of educational institutions in the future.
Also, before the adoption of the new law, there was a list of 16 subjects from which a block of mandatory disciplines was formed. Among them are political science, sociology, physical education, Ukrainian language, history of Ukraine, philosophy, foreign language, life safety, etc.
Thirdly, the Ministry, according to the current law, will not force educational institutions to introduce the study of a separate list of subjects, therefore, the definition of the list of mandatory disciplines is the prerogative of universities, after all, as well as the right of students to choose a university, its programs and certain disciplines within this program.
Note that under the MES program, each student will be able to independently shape the trajectory of their own education, and the workload of teachers will decrease from 900 to 600 hours per year.
In order to make the transition to the new education system, the Ministry of Education and Culture plans to develop a plan of actions that each higher education institution will be able to gradually implement.
The MES plans to change the scholarship payment system, but these changes will affect only future first-year students. According to Serhiy Kvit, the scholarship system in Ukraine has enormous resources, because every year more than 5 billion hryvnias are allocated for its payment, but the principle of distribution of these funds is extremely inefficient.
An appropriate working group has already been created, which includes, in particular, representatives of the student body, specialists in demography and econometrics, which will deal with this issue.
Changes are planned to be implemented gradually and carefully, in accordance with the experience of European countries. For example, in the European Union, the social scholarship is distributed taking into account the income level of the student and his family, while the beneficiaries are divided into several categories.
The principle of an individual approach will be considered, when a larger social payment will be received by less protected social strata of the population, and people with a higher but insufficient level of income will, accordingly, receive a smaller payment.
Also, the question of financing education and science is very important, as a single tool for development, because they cannot be separated. These are, first of all, investments in the development of society and the national economy.
Since 2015, Ukrainian higher education institutions and scientific institutions have the right to be served by banks, which in turn gives them the right to independently determine the future expenses of their own special fund. According to the Minister, the principle of educational institutions "not to grow or produce anything" should be changed.
First, it is necessary to determine the types and principles of scientific research of universities, that is, all scientific research must be financed on open grant principles from a single source (fund), when grant proposals are formed jointly by universities and academic institutes.
To date, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine is actively working on the draft laws "On Education", "On Vocational and Technical Education" and "On Scientific and Scientific and Technical Activity", so in the near future it will be possible to learn more about future changes in education in detail.