Grant-hungry people are talking about corruption in universities, – Minister of Education

Dmytro Tabachnyk expressed his own view on the place of the external assessment system and the introduction of the university score as components of enrolling applicants to higher education

During a hotline in the «Government Courier», Dmytro Tabachnyk answered a question about the future system of admission to higher educational institutions, which is proposed by the relevant ministry in the draft law «On Higher Education».

In particular, answering the question that testing is a lottery where applicants guess the answers, he reported that a large group of specialists works on improving testing every year. «But so far, sociology shows that a significant part of society is more inclined to support testing. This must also be taken into account.»

He noted that testing was conceived only as one form of improving the quality of knowledge. «Today, the analysis shows that testing has not yielded striking results in improving the quality of education. Therefore, in the new law, we want to return to the model that provides high quality selection of applicants to all leading universities in the world without exception: when admission is taken into account the school certificate score, testing results and the score of the higher educational institution.»

The Minister of Education emphasized that this innovation will not apply to applicants in 2012, since the new law «On Higher Education» has not yet been adopted, noting that the bill was discussed together with the heads of higher educational institutions and representatives of student self-government.

«A classic triad is built almost everywhere in the world. As a rule, in the most famous universities it consists of approximately 1,000 points. And this thousand includes three results in different proportions: the final one – for secondary education, the result of external assessment and the score of the higher educational institution,» he noted minister.

«In what form can the university score be implemented? These are essays, which American universities are very fond of, and written, logical tasks. This is how Harvard, Cambridge, Yale, and Shanghai universities work. And only we have somehow driven our universities away from choosing the best applicant. But our department will regulate only so that the university score is no more than 20% of the applicant’s total score. Everything else should be given to universities, because autonomy cannot be on a short leash all the time.»

Commenting on the issue of the possible return of corruption to Ukrainian higher educational institutions in connection with the introduction of the university score, Dmytro Tabachnyk, in particular, noted: «You know, I studied at the university and did not notice it. Grant-seekers and those who do not want to receive quality knowledge talk about corruption. I am convinced that money is offered by students who cannot pass exams only due to their own mind».

He expressed his belief that the university score will absolutely not prevent talented applicants from entering a university. «Because now universities are hunting for talented applicants for engineering, technical and production areas of training. It is a tragedy when they enter the Kyiv Polytechnic University based on tests and 65% of students cannot pass mathematics during the first winter session. The situation is similar at the Lviv Polytechnic University and other institutions. This is a disaster! And corruption is fueled only by the student who does not want to study».

The minister drew attention to the fact that now the rector cannot influence admission. «How can the head of the university admit you with lower scores than other applicants? After all, all the information is in the electronic database, it is carefully checked and controlled by the ministry. And no rector would dare to hide it. In addition, every year we reconcile orders for everyone who did not get in. All certificates and certificates of external examinations are checked automatically.»

We will remind, after submitting to the Verkhovna Rada the draft law «On Higher Education», developed by the Ministry of Education, Prime Minister M. Azarov decided to finalize its norms. The working group for finalizing the ministerial version of the bill is headed by the rector of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Mykhailo Zgurovsky.

At the same time, two more draft laws have been registered in the parliament, the author of one of which is the representative of the President in the Verkhovna Rada Yurii Miroshnychenko.