A maximum of two universities per 350,000 population: the Ministry of Education and Science announced the criteria for consolidation of educational institutions
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Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Mykhailo Vynnytskyi outlined the criteria for consolidation of higher education institutions. In his opinion, in cities with a population of 100 to 350 thousand people, no more than two universities should be maintained.
He wrote about this on his Facebook page after the meeting of the Union of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions of Ukraine.
“It’s no secret that with the current demographic and economic indicators, the existing network of higher education institutions is not optimal and effective.
The most acceptable scenario is the union of higher education institutions, and the most logical thing is for the heads of institutions in the regions (together with local administrations) to propose their solutions.” he remarked.
| The Deputy Minister of Education named the criteria by which higher education institutions should be consolidated. Photo: billiondigital/Depositphotos |
According to Vynnytskyi, Ukraine is currently on the path of “updating from below – through negotiations between rectors.” However, if nothing changes, the optimization will start “from above” – through the decision of the Cabinet.
The deputy minister also outlined the main criteria that should be followed in the course of consolidation of higher educational institutions:
- Higher education institutions located in cities with a population of less than 100,000 people should be preserved (we are talking about Ostrog, Glukhiv, Drohobych, Izmail, Nizhyn, Kamianske, etc.) – the educational institutions there are actually city-creating;
- in cities with a population of 100 to 350 thousand people, a maximum of two secondary schools should be left (in particular, in Poltava, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernihiv, Lutsk, Zhytomyr, Sumy).
- in cities where more than 350 thousand people live, a network of educational institutions of three types can be formed: educational institutes that have a close connection with the employer, research universities and interdisciplinary or specialized academies.
In addition, at least 5,000 full-time students must study at higher education institutions (except for city-building and specialized academies). However, the target should be 10,000 students.
Currently, the average number of higher education students in MES institutions is more than 6.6 thousand.
“There are those with more than 25,000 students, but the average figure is too low. This has a negative impact on students’ ability to choose disciplines, and wastes valuable human and material resources.” – said the deputy minister.
The joining of any higher education institution should be preceded by an analysis of its status, which will include the results of financing, studying the status of accreditation of educational programs and the availability of a suitable partner in the city.
He also added that “only large and powerful higher education institutions that provide modern high-quality education will be able to withstand competition with European universities.”
It will be recalled that the Ministry of Education and Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine said that it envisages the unification of higher education institutions.
Read also: Money per student, individual educational trajectories and network modernization: what will be the transformation of higher education
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