scholarly journals Forming expert environment for accreditation of educational programs: A case of Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-82
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Dluhopolskyi ◽  
Olena Knysh ◽  
Ihor Oleksiv ◽  
Lesia Smyrna ◽  
Oksana Panchenko

The new system of educational programs’ accreditation and the establishment of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance (NAQA) as an independent regulator has led to the demand for professional experts who can evaluate the educational programs of universities at a qualitatively new level. The paper aims to analyze the formation of the expert environment in Ukraine by conducting numerous training in various formats, as well as to assess the relationship between training and the quality of accreditation visits. The correlation analysis was used to substantiate the conclusions. Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the experience of training experts in the accreditation of study programs in Ukrainian higher education institutions, the results of a pro-active approach by the NAQA in 2019–2021 were presented. It is shown that the accreditation system has been working without red tape, the taint of corruption, using transparency mechanisms, and expert advice since the end of 2019. The accreditation format according to the ESG-2015 standards made it possible to form an expert environment in Ukraine in a short time and encourage changes in higher education. Despite many pieces of training and consultations, many experts and representatives of the Sectoral Expert Council (SEC), evaluating study programs, still provide criticism, prejudice, and not advice and assistance. To minimize such negative practices, NAQA regularly conducts online webinars, briefings for expert groups and heads of study programs, and rotates experts and members of the SEC.

Author(s):  
Georgiy Lopatenko

The article presents an analysis of the decisions of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance on the accreditation of educational programs of the following specialities: 017 Physical Culture and Sports, 014 Secondary Education (Physical Culture, Human Health). Considering the significant differences between the previous accreditation procedure carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (until 2019) and the current accreditation procedure carried out by the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance the analysis of accreditation cases is particularly relevant. In the course of the research, the analysis of accreditation cases that took place in the period from November 2019 to November 2020 was carried out. It included the assessment of educational programs, curricula, self-assessment documents, reports of the expert groups, conclusions of branch expert council and decisions of the National Agency. Generalized data on the evaluation of educational programs according to individual criteria is presented. The article presents an analysis of the main shortcomings identified in the process of assessing the quality of educational programs at the stage of field accreditation procedure and, at the stage of assessment of the accreditation case by the branch expert council of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance. It is shown that the main reason for the decision of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance on conditional (deferred) accreditation of the educational programs was the presence of significant shortcomings in the structure and content of educational programs, as well as in the processes related to teaching and learning. It was also shown that only half of the educational programs in the field of sports, which passed the accreditation procedure in the period from November 2019 to November 2020 met the requirements for ensuring the quality of the educational process. This indicates that the internal quality assurance systems of Ukrainian higher educational institutions were not ready for the new requirements set by the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 153-166
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Velychko ◽  
Liudmyla Velychko ◽  
Svitlana Khalatur ◽  
Hynek Roubík

Development of the system of ensuring quality in higher education of Ukraine grounded the creation of such management subject as a guarantor of the educational program. However, a formal understanding of the role and uncertainty of the guarantor’s status in the contemporary area of managing higher education institutions became the widespread consequence of those innovations. Considering the stated above, various models of managing the quality of educational programs with the help of the guarantor have been developed in the research, and conditions for efficient application of such models in Ukrainian universities have been grounded. The research is based on the application of the strategic analysis method GAP for identifying issues and features of organizing management in systems of internal quality assurance in universities, and methods of modeling and graphical analysis method for creating alternative management systems in educational programs with and without such professional educational-scientific structural subdivisions as departments. As a result, the developed models include the rational organization of management of educational programs under the conditions of centralized and decentralized systems of internal educational quality assurance provision. For instance, it could create favorable conditions for decreasing bureaucracy and repetition of functions in the management system of universities and lead to the realization of the individual potential of guarantors as managers-experts in educational programs. Acknowledgment To the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance for the possibility to take part in accreditation expertise and consulting evaluation of educational programs in universities of Ukraine. The research was carried out also within the context of the tasks of Ukrainian-American international project “Program of professional development of them managerial staff in Ukrainian universities,” which was initiated by the investment company “Rayter Inc.” (The USA). In addition, we are thankful to the Czech Development Cooperation support, which allowed this scientific cooperation to start (through projects: “Strengthening scientific capacities and cooperation of Ukrainian universities in AgriSciences” and “Interuniversity cooperation as a tool to improve the quality of selected universities in Ukraine”).


Author(s):  
Mohammed El-Khawas ◽  
Elaine El-Khawas

The last decade has seen substantial growth throughout the world in higher education quality assurance systems. As one knowledgeable observer notes, more than 50 agencies now exist worldwide that have roles related to quality assessment or quality assurance.1 In most cases, these agencies have been mandated by government decrees and follow a design developed by ministry officials. Often these agencies have encountered resistance or criticism. In other instances, their approach has had to be revised extensively— or even disbanded—after a short time. By the late 1980s, Mexican institutions of higher education were in dire need of additional funding. The financial crisis of the 1980s caused a 50 percent decline in the purchasing power of faculty salaries, forcing many qualified academics to quit their jobs or to take on additional employment. This resulted in severe staffing problems and a deterioration in teaching conditions at a time of increasing enrollments. This led to public concern and government demands for improving the quality of higher education. With the economic recovery in the late 1980s, the government was ready to increase public expenditures on higher education but insisted on reforms and increased public accountability.


Author(s):  
Harrison Adewale Idowu

Given the deplorable state of higher education and the relatively poor attention given to education by African leaders and university administrators, the chapter interrogates global best practices in higher education and how Africa can key into this. Europe and the Asian Tigers, considered to have made significant progress in quality of higher education, are used as benchmarks for best practices in higher education. Relying on the review of extant relevant literature and document analysis, the chapter finds that practices such as massive inclusion of vocational and technical trainings in higher education curricula; increase budgetary allocations to higher education and policy implementation beyond mere formulation have impacted positively on higher education in Europe and among the Asian Tigers. As such, the chapter concludes that if Africa must make significant progress and improve on the quality of its higher education, it must begin to use these practices.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-97
Author(s):  
Lucie Vnoučková ◽  
Hana Urbancová ◽  
Helena Smolová

Assessment of the business higher education quality is a multifaceted and multidimensional concept. Quality as a factor of performance of universities is currently an often-discussed topic. The aim of this article is to identify and evaluate factors of quality of business economics education by university students at a private Czech university. The results are based on a quantitative survey by questionnaire data collection from university students. The factor analysis was conducted to find significant groups of students regarding their perception of the educational process divided into three main areas. The quality perception was analyzed in this paper specifically by using focus on areas of subjects, lessons, and teachers. The analysis found groups of variables with significant appearance within the groups of students to reveal their main orientation and preferences. It is quality orientation (specified learning outcomes and its applicability), business orientation (tailoring to business needs) and expert orientation (skills and knowledge of teacher, his/her orientation on study group and tailoring lessons to their needs). Furthermore, identification of homogenous groups of students and their expectations helps with a design of subjects and lessons in the way of focusing on practice, addressing the needs and preferred teaching techniques. This is especially true when the students are already experienced in the taught subject. A limitation of the study is a narrow focus on one private university. It may be taken as a case study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-178
Author(s):  
A. N. Leibovich

Reveals the prerequisites, the process of development and structure of the National qualifications system in modern Russia, its significance for managing creation and appliance of qualifications in the labor and education fields and development of their dialogue. The author shows the role, main stages of activity and future tasks of the National Agency for the development of qualifications as an operator and methodological hub of this system, coordinator of interaction between business and education. Presents the key projects implemented by the National Agency: monitoring of the labor market, support for sectoral boards in order to form qualification structures, and build of the independent system of qualifications assessment. Since 2017, in accordance with the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, the National Agency has been performing the functions of a Basic center for training, retraining and advanced training of workers. This function is particularly in demand today, since the promotion of new professional standards, new qualification requirements, and a new system of recognition of qualifications in the field of vocational training, secondary vocational and higher education is a guarantee of the quality of training.


Author(s):  
Mikhail Sainov

Introduction. Currently, there are numerous discussions concerning a relevant issue – the impact of transformations of the higher education system on the quality of graduates of technical universities. It is important to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of modern higher education in construction in comparison with one of the Soviet period and to define the direction it should be developed in the future. The present article analyzes the changes that higher education in construction has undergone since 1955 to the present time. Materials and methods. The data used in the analysis include regulatory documents which regulated the implementation of educational activities in different years: orders, classifiers, model curricula and state educational standards. The requirements to the structure and results of the study of educational programs in the field of construction were analyzed. Results. The analysis showed that over the past decades, higher education in construction has undergone significant changes. Fundamental transformations took place at the turn of the millennium when changing from a disciplinary to a competence model of education, as well as from direct government management of the education system to the normative legal regulation of educational activities. If in Soviet times, training was delivered under model curricula of construction specialties, now training is mainly performed according to Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs, the content of which educational institutions determine independently on the basis of educational standards. Conclusions. The performed analysis identified the deficiencies in the modern system of higher education. The imperfection of the regulatory framework, the deficiencies of the competence approach make it impossible to ensure quality training of specialists in the construction industry. This involves improvement of higher education system, including in the field of construction. It is necessary to establish more detailed requirements to the study results and the content of educational programs. It requires among educational standards, exemplary basic educational programs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-142
Author(s):  
Oleksii Nalyvaiko ◽  
Olena Kalistova ◽  
Danylo Poliakov

The article analyzes the main reasons for de-actualization of higher education in Ukraine on the example of teaching foreign languages. The authors identified four main reasons for the deactualization of higher education: a difficult socio-economic situation caused by an incompetent organization of the production forces of the Ukrainian economy, low quality of educational services, depopulation of the Ukrainian population and a decrease in the quality of the teaching staff, a permanent increase in the cost of higher education. To confirm our assumptions, we carried out an introduction of students from different parts of Ukraine who study a foreign language. We interviewed six respondents from different universities across Ukraine about the topic: V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Horlivka Institute for Foreign Languages, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Kyiv National Linguistic University, National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute” and Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University. Every respondent was given a name (A-F) in order to keep their anonymity. We have presented the results of the interview. Students say that problems do not always depend on universities, but personal traits of students and teachers and modern tendencies in labor market. We gave some recommendations: the curriculum must be corrected in favor of main subjects or even subjects that will make graduates more appropriate for some posts than people without degree; teaching staff must have special pedagogical degree in order to improve their pedagogical skills; universities need to employ native speakers of taught languages; universities need to elaborate such study programs that will make their graduates more attractive candidates in labor market. The main conclusion must be so: the system of higher education has to keep up with the times and change itself according to labor market, students’ beliefs and modern tendencies in science and technology.


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