Over the past few years the phrase “Bologna Process” has acquired certain clearly negative connotations for people who are working in the sphere of education in Ukraine. Complaints about an insufficiently considered approach to the Europeanization process in Ukraine’s universities are being heard from both lecturers and those who were fortunate enough to study during this transition period. Testing modules are constantly being introduced into each discipline in the curriculum, and the “specialist” degree is being abolished, to be replaced by a one-year Master’s degree (magisterium) program, obviously to meet the Bologna standards. Changes are being introduced into every institution of higher learning, and everywhere such changes are being carried out differently. As a result, some people are suffering because of the superficial, formalistic approach on the part of university administrations, while others are taking advantage of new opportunities and measuring up to fresh challenges.
The next stage in this process is reforming the third higher educational stage, known as aspirantura and doktorantura in Ukraine and as Ph.D. programs in the West. By confirming its desire to be part of the single European educational space created until 2011, Ukraine has undertaken to offer its own analog of doctoral studies. This Ph.D. experiment was started at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In September 2008 this university will start offering its entrants four doctoral programs. In the following interview, Prof. Mychailo WYNNYCKYJ, Ph.D., NaUKMA’s acting vice-president for training and research, who teaches in the Department of Sociology at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, talks about the Ukrainian version of Ph.D. programs.
Dr. Wynnyckyj: The single educational space does mean the drafting of a universal model; every country tries to adjust the Bologna principles to its own educational needs.
Could you tell us about your academic background?
I was born in Canada and obtained my B.A. degree there with a double major in History and Philosophy. Then I left for the University of Cambridge in England to do my M.A. and Ph.D. My M.A. thesis was connected to Political Science and certain sociological aspects (an analysis of the constitutional process in Ukraine in 1996), and my doctorate was in Economic Sociology. As you can see, each stage of my studies was in a different academic field, which is very typical of universities in the West, and now of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, but this is not characteristic of the rest of Ukrainian educational institutions.
Right now you are an immigrant who has gone through almost all the required legal procedures. When did you decide to move to Ukraine?
I first visited the Soviet Union in 1989, after Academician Yukhnovsky, the then curator of the Lviv branch of the Small Academy of Sciences (MAN), organized a Ukrainian Canadian student exchange program. That was a truly romantic year: all of Lviv was singing. In 1990 I told myself I had to do something really untypical. I grabbed my knapsack and, surprisingly, obtained a Soviet entry visa. I had no idea where I would sleep the next night. I boarded a flight to Munich, then a train to Vienna, and then to Lviv. I simply traveled around Ukraine. I spent two nights in railway stations, first in Kyiv and then in Odesa. I even visited Dnipropetrovsk, where one year later I would visit in a more formal manner, as a student of Dnipropetrovsk University’s Faculty of History, although I would spend most of my time engaged in politics rather than attending lectures.
At this very time the university had become a gathering place for lecturers and postgraduate students, and the rector would eventually kick them out in retaliation for their manifestations of national consciousness. Among them were Prof. Yurii Mytsyk and his postgraduate student Viktor Brekhunenko, both of whom I would later run into at NaUKMA; Prof. Serhii Plokhy, who currently heads the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies; and Prof. Mykola Kovalsky, who is now at Ostroh Academy. Since that time, I visited Ukraine at least twice a year for nearly 10 years. I made my final decision in 1999 and arrived in 2003, right after receiving my Ph.D. Regrettably, my Cambridge degree is not recognized anywhere in Ukraine except at NaUKMA. The Supreme Attestation Commission (VAK) wants me to undergo “nostrification,” to confirm my diploma as meeting the demands of Ukraine’s schools of higher education. This is absurd but true.
The VAK issues every Candidate of Sciences with an English— language Ph.D. diploma. Why, then, is the “nostrification” procedure necessary?
Yes, the VAK issues this kind of diploma so that every Candidate of Sciences can claim Ph.D. status abroad. The paradox is that a person with a Ph.D. granted in the West is not recognized as a Candidate of Sciences in Ukraine. Why? — because most European countries have no institutions like the VAK. Diplomas are issued by universities, not the state. Moreover, in the West the third higher educational cycle is the responsibility and sole prerogative of universities that confer on their graduates not only diplomas but also their prestige. It is quite normal to be asked, “Where did you get your Ph.D.? From which university?” Then you will be treated accordingly, as a Harvard or Shepetivka Pedagogical Institute graduate. There is no concept of a government-issued diploma in Europe or North America, so I doubt that a VAK-issued diploma will add prestige to our scholars abroad.
In the European system there is no place for a supra-university nationwide structure like the VAK. In Europe every university assumes responsibility for the quality of its programs. Universities compete with each other, and this competition serves as the basis of control over the quality of post-secondary education in the West.
That said, however, it should be stressed that the goal of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy is not to fight the VAK. We have to propose an alternative, independent model that would exist parallel to the traditional VAK aspirantura until a real model is developed that would reform it.
In the West universities also have the right to independently organize thesis defenses, and there is no such concept as a permanent special council.
Today permanent special councils are functioning in Ukraine, as confirmed by the VAK. There are also boards of experts who supervise these special councils. In a nutshell, what we have is an overregulated bureaucratic system. At the same time, no one is paying attention to the fact that, with all due respect, all those Doctors of Science who are members of our special councils are not experts in all the narrow fields of endeavor in which our degree candidates specialize. They can figure out the general way in which a given study fits into an established paradigm, but they cannot analyze a thesis at the required length and depth.
Universities in the West form special councils for a specific degree candidate. It serves their interest to have specialists from world-renowned universities present at a thesis defense, who can be invited only by the university. This is done in order to raise the prestige of the degree candidate, as well as to integrate the university into the international scholarly community.
To what degree are Ukrainian universities integrated into the international scholarly community? What other integration methods are possible? Are there any other ways besides setting up thesis committees that would include international examiners?
This is actually a very big problem for Ukraine. In order to win recognition, it is crucial for our Ukrainian scholars to be published in specialized international journals. One of the requirements of the Bologna Process is for a degree candidate to have at least three articles published by international periodicals. Before your material appears in print, an international journal will send a copy to be reviewed by experts, without identifying the author. After this independent expert review your work may be published. In contrast, there are VAK-controlled journals in Ukraine where you can simply pay for a couple of pages without any independent review by experts. With all due respect to our publishing houses, VAK journals are simply not read by the world’s scholarly community. There is also the language barrier: practically all international publications are in English, but few of our experts know the language. However, I believe that the Ph.D. program will give a powerful impetus to resolving this problem.
University autonomy, thesis defenses, publications in international journals — everything you mention requires funding, an administrative superstructure, and an excellent teaching staff. The main thing is a critical mass — in other words, a certain number of professors who would be working in this direction and capable of forming a scholarly center so that a young Ph.D. candidate can communicate with its members.
We have determined that today in Kyiv-Mohyla Academy there are four groups of lecturers who are prepared to assume responsibility for creating such centers for young scholars and securing their structurization by creating special courses on the level of European programs. Thus, four doctoral programs will be launched in September 2008. Each will be interdisciplinary or, at the very least, inter-departmental. The first program, mass communications, will be a joint project of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’s School of Journalism and two departments in the Faculty of Sociology: Political Science and Social Technologies. The second program, management, is being created by the School of Health Care and NaUKMA’s School of Business. The third program, finance, will be developed on the basis of the Department of Finance at the Faculty of Economics, with the participation of several lecturers from the business school. The last program is history. We expect that another three or four programs will be launched in September 2009.
What are the conditions of enrollment in these programs, and how long does a course of study last?
The course of study is three to four years. Europe follows the 4 + 1(+1) + 3 formula. The problem is the second (+1) element because the question of whether the M.A. program should be one or two years has not been resolved. In order to reach a consensus, we have agreed to consider the second year of an M.A. course automatically as the first year of a Ph.D. NaUKMA has a two-year M.A. course, and we do not intend to alter it in the nearest future. In the second year an M.A. student writes a “small thesis” and s/he can expand it into a research proposal and apply for a doctoral program. In the West, young scholars submit their proposals to the professor they want to have as their scholarly adviser. I remember the four-hour interview I had with my future scholarly adviser. The professor wanted to make sure how much our research interests tallied and how much we would be able to understand each other during my studies.
In Ukraine, a young scholar first enrolls in the aspirantura program and then chooses a thesis topic, so it often happens that a postgraduate student has a formal adviser from his alma mater. But in reality the student is supervised by a professor from an institute at the Academy of Sciences or another university. This does not help create a scholarly environment. So in order to avoid this kind of situation, our Ph.D. students will have to submit their research proposals before writing the entrance exams. If they pass these exams with flying colors, but we cannot find them scholarly advisers, they will not be admitted to the program or they will have to change their thesis topic.
Another mandatory condition for our students will be completed candidate exams in English and Philosophy.
Will your doctoral programs be financed by the budget?
Formally, we will enroll students in the aspirantura, so they will receive aspirantura stipends and dormitory housing. You must realize that is impossible to live in Kyiv on a stipend, so we’re trying to get additional vacancies for junior research fellows from the state, so that our young scholars can have their stipends and half of a junior research fellow’s salary. We also hope to find sponsors for private scholarships.
There is also the psychological aspect. In Ukraine, a postgraduate student is still regarded as a student. Abroad, such people are respected as young specialists, junior colleagues who become part of a scholarly community and work under the guidance of senior, more experienced, specialists. Therefore, the status of junior research fellow is definitely important.
How are you going to legalize this experiment?
To carry out this experiment we must offer prospects to our entrants. If we tell them that they will have to defend their theses twice, after they have spent three years in a program whose requirements are greater than those of the conventional aspirantura, this will be unfair. In other words, unless we can convince the Ukrainian government to grant our experiment official status, our Ph.D. students will first have to defend a Candidate of Sciences thesis and then the Ph.D. one, or defend their Ph.D. thesis and then have it nostrificated. To avoid this, I’m preparing a draft cabinet resolution on changes to the clause about the granting of academic degrees. As of today, the Ministry of Education confers the degree of docent to a Candidate or Doctor of Science. We propose to grant this degree to graduates of Ph.D. programs. Thus, after completing the doctoral program, a young scholar will be a nonentity for the VAK, but after two years of work at an institution of higher learning on the 3rd or 4th accreditation level, s/he will be entitled to submit documents to the Ministry of Education through the Academic Council and obtain the docent degree. This way we will offer people career growth not through academic degrees but academic titles.
I hope the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopts these changes because the nostrification procedure is very humiliating for a scholar. Not so long ago we were witness to an embarrassing situation with Andrii Meleshevych, dean of NaUKMA’s Faculty of Law, after he had been awarded M.A. and Ph.D. degrees by Syracuse University. The VAK demanded confirmation of these academic degrees to certify his specialty and the university. This situation is perfectly absurd.
From what I know, you have been officially denied the status of scholarly adviser for Ukrainian postgraduate students because of these VAK standards.
The VAK has officially denied this status to me and my NaUKMA colleague Tetiana Oharkova. The problem is that my Ph.D. is from Cambridge and Oharkova’s Ph.D. is from the Sorbonne. We have to prove to the VAK that our qualification is sufficient for supervising the work of Ukrainian postgraduates. The whole thing is absurd. Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Sorbonne — none of these universities are recognized by the VAK, so we are nonentities in Ukraine.
Perhaps there are fears that the process of unifying the third cycle of Ukrainian post-secondary education in accordance with the Bologna standards will speed up the exodus of Ukrainian experts. What do you think?
I have spent nearly 20 years struggling to swim against the brain- drain current, so it is hard for me to comment on this. I emigrated from Canada, not from Ukraine. If a scholar wants to work in extremely interesting conditions, where everything changes very quickly, s/he will not be attracted by money (in fact, it is not so difficult to earn money honestly in Ukraine) and will remain in Ukraine. This is a unique country with unique possibilities for self-realization, but only for those who truly desire this self-realization.
