The 2008-09 academic year has just begun, and it looks as if it will be a period for fixing mistakes. At least this is what future high school graduates and their parents are hoping for and colleges are expecting. The reason is that this year’s radical changes in the college admission system have caused a whole slew of problems for admissions committees and rectors, who are responsible for implementing the ministry’s instructions.
Also affected by these innovations is Ukraine’s oldest university, Ostroh Academy, which, like other institutions of higher learning in our country, has abandoned the traditional entrance exams in six subjects and brought its admissions procedure in line with the new rules mandating that students be accepted on the strength of scores they obtained on externally administered independent tests.
“Don’t count your students before the mid-year exams are over,” it is said. So, it is too early to say how successful this year’s selection process was.
We asked Dr. Ihor Pasichnyk, the rector of Ostroh Academy, to tell us about the overall results of the 2007-08 academic year.
Dr. Pasichnyk, what was the last academic year like for Ukraine’s education system, and Ostroh Academy in particular?
“The academic year was, as always, intense. Like a mirror, our university inevitably reflects all the problems our country is facing with regard to developing its education system. Fortunately, we do not have the burden of Soviet-era traditions. The average age of our faculty members is relatively low — a little over 30. We are trying to revive some of our alma mater’s old traditions and are actively shaping new ones. A presidential edict is helping to provide fairly broad self-government authority. However, we would like to have more rights, not to mention opportunities, which are enjoyed by European universities. Nevertheless, we are obeying the law and operating in keeping with Ukraine’s education legislation.
“Every year the Ukrainian education system undergoes some changes that always cause psychological tension. Cases in point are the introduction of the 12-grade point scale, the transition to the 12-year school program, modified requirements for accreditation, the closure of separate educational units, etc. This year saw drastic changes in the entrance procedure to higher educational institutions. Naturally, each innovation, especially the one in higher education, will need adjustments.
“For example, there is a problem with the admissions preference system. Nowhere in Europe do they have any admissions preferences. Is it fair that a high school student who has graduated with distinction and has an overall score of 360 points has to yield his place to a C student with a 250-point standing only because the latter has a certificate confirming that he or she was born in the Chornobyl zone or something like that? The state has to ensure social provisions for such children rather than hand them a university diploma as a gift. The student population of Ostroh Academy includes orphans and students disabled since childhood, and we offer them grants, provide them with housing and meals, but they show the same level of knowledge as everyone else.
“I also believe that universities should be granted the right to set the minimum passing grade. For example, our university could set the passing mark at 160-170 points. Thousands of students with lower scores overload the admissions committee and burden themselves for nothing. I believe that a college’s ranking would have to be established based on its minimum passing score.
“At this point in time there are many people who, after graduating from high school a few years ago, are now working and would like to pursue extramural or distance studies. The overwhelming majority of these people do not have test certificates. In many Western European countries people go to university after they have gained some working experience rather than enrolling fresh out of school. Of course, their choice is more motivated and rational.
“Unless the admissions rules are modified and admission to the extramural department is based on entrance exam results (in addition to test certificates), we will lose quite a few students this year, who are in fact willing to pay tuition. Who will benefit from this? For example, clergymen with degrees in theology want to take religious studies as extramural students at our university. Why not allow them to do this?
“I believe that in September 2008 the Ministry of Education and Science should lay down the admissions rules for next year so that students in their final year at school can clearly see which subjects they will need. In order to provide incentives to study a range of school subjects rather than just the ones needed for a particular major, it is absolutely necessary to acknowledge both test certificates and the student’s grade point average.
“Another thing that is not clear is the official stance on English proficiency. The only way to free oneself from the post-Soviet domain is to have a good command of English. This has been proved at Ostroh Academy has proved it: students who are fluent in English can use our virtual library, among other things. This allows them to utilize knowledge produced throughout the world rather than only on the post-Soviet Russian-speaking territory. It is very unfortunate that this year’s admissions system and the ministry’s directive prohibiting English entrance exams outside such specific majors as English Language and Literature and International Relations did not allow us to select the students we need, and discouraged students from studying English. As a result, this move has proved counterproductive with regard to the objectives that education officials have set before our system of higher and secondary education.
“Of course, reforms are needed, but the financial provision for our education system is a far cry from European standards. I envy my colleagues in the West, who don’t have these problems. This year the situation has been especially difficult because the amendments to the State Budget have not been passed yet. We have launched the construction of a building for the Faculty of Humanities, which will be a valuable addition to the university and the Old City. The design is a wonderful combination of the old and the new, and — I do not hesitate to say — a masterpiece of contemporary architecture. However, this year we have not received a penny for the construction project. So we are proceeding as our finances allow. Help will sooner come from abroad, despite the fact that Ukraine has the funds — as do wealthy people in our country, who often have more money than wealthy Europeans. Unfortunately, they often fund dubious projects and ignore truly worthy things!
“But we do not live by bread alone. This year is a special one for our academy. A few months ago we marked the 400th anniversary of the birth of Prince Vasyl-Kostiantyn of Ostroh, the patron of our academy. This date was widely celebrated on the state level in Belarus, where an anniversary postage stamp was issued, conferences and church services were held, as well as a meeting of ambassadors representing various Slavic countries, which took place in Minsk. The anniversary will also be observed in Poland and other countries. We organized certain events in our academy and submitted a draft edict to the president to commemorate this date. The draft passed the necessary expert checks but was not accepted. Truly, there is no prophet without honor except in his own country.”
People are saying that the introduction of independent testing and the reasoning that this will help combat corruption are discrediting the authority of educators and undermining public trust in them. Is this true?
“The mass media and some experts have emphasized the point that testing is part of the fight against corruption, and I believe this was wrong. Such claims cast doubt on many colleges, lecturers, rectors, and admissions committee secretaries who are carrying out their duties honestly. I am more than certain that corruption has never existed at Ostroh Academy and never will. The admissions system that once existed in our academy was perfectly geared toward preventing corruption.
“I believe there was no need to take such drastic steps to modify the admissions procedure for higher educational institutions, as we have experienced. Perhaps we should have followed the example of Poland, where a certificate system of entrance exams and an interview system coexist. This enables university administrations to formulate their own admissions rules. In contrast, rectors in Ukraine bear the responsibility for the admissions procedure, whereas in reality all the admissions rules are handed down from above.
“I believe that next year the Ministry of Education and Science will need to designate universities that will have the right not only to set the minimum passing grade, but also to formulate admission requirements (at the discretion of the rector’s office). In doing so, they will need to take into account the differences between educational institutions because a student’s reason for applying to Lviv Polytechnic University differs greatly from that of a student intending to study at Ostroh Academy.”
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy has introduced an additional system of internal evaluations, justifying the move by the less-than-perfect nature of the external testing system and its failure to assess creative individuals adequately. Should other colleges follow suit?
“No doubt, the experience of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in developing an entrance testing system is invaluable. I think this system should be utilized, perhaps even as an alternative to external testing, rather than put to rest. We cooperate with Kyiv-Mohyla Academy on a regular basis. From the time that Ostroh Academy was revived until this year we employed the testing system developed by Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. This system is universal and geared not only toward a formal examination of students’ knowledge but also toward a verification of their ability to use it. This is important because the applicant’s level of knowledge does not always correspond to his or her level of thinking — these are elementary psychological axioms. The mechanical reproduction of learned material and the inability to use it do not shape professionals, at least not the ones Ostroh Academy produces.”
How ready is our system of higher education to integrate with the European educational space? What is at the top of our list of priorities?
“Whether we are ready or not, we need to integrate. If we wait until we are ready, we will have no time to integrate. In my opinion, the adoption of the Bologna process requirements, irrespective of colleges’ wishes, forces them to bring their standards up to the European level. However, this should not be done quickly and algorithmically. We should not blindly copy a particular education system. Transplanting the globalized European educational algorithm to Ukraine poses a threat to the achievements of our young state. To the adherents of globalization the concept of nation is something rudimentary, as is state building itself. For nations that have undergone the process of full-fledged formation the ideas of globalization are not dangerous. Ukraine, however, continues to shape both its state and nation and may suffer grave damage. We first need to create national universities — not in the formal but the literal sense of this phrase — and only then let globalization ideas permeate them. For example, the Humboldtian conception of university, which is so popular in Europe, involves producing specialists with a state-oriented mentality rather than creators of a “megasociety.”
“Lastly, our libraries, especially virtual ones, do not withstand comparisons with European libraries. Thus, a deep cut in their financing will diminish students’ proficiency. Students from European and American universities study in our university on exchange programs, and I have never perceived a difference in the level of knowledge between them and our students. On the contrary, our students are better prepared in terms of theory; however, they need to work hard on applied aspects. Therefore, the most urgent issue for our system of higher education is to pay closer attention to the hands-on, applied dimension of our education, as well as its research aspect.”
You said that Ostroh Academy is preparing the elite of the Ukrainian nation. But you would agree that one does not make it into the elite automatically — a certain distance has to be covered. Do your students cover it in the five years they spend at the academy?
“Our graduates are different, of course, and most of them are members of the elite. These are not my words — this is what employers say. Five years is enough time to accentuate certain dominant traits in a young person. It only takes hard work on the part of the entire faculty. The traits we try to shape in our students are a corporate spirit, clarity of purpose, inspiration, and faith in the good future of our country. We also pay a great deal of attention to fostering high moral traits based on Christian values. In educating students in this vein, we have seen that Christian morality and the national idea can serve as a classic educational model for Ukraine. Our graduates stand out among their peers, graduates of other colleges, primarily by their high moral qualities. Again, this observation comes from employers, not me.”
You are a successful rector, so here is a special question for you. What priorities should an institution of higher education have in order to achieve the heights that have been reached by Ostroh Academy on the Ukrainian and international levels?
“I do not consider myself successful-I am simply a rector. A university rector in contemporary Ukraine is primarily a manager, who has to work not for his own interest but for the good of the faculty. This may sound high-flown, but this is the only motive that can spur one to success. Naturally, knowledge of psychology is a necessary component of management, especially in such a complex organization as a university. And, of course, we differ from our fellow rectors in the West, who are not burdened with all sorts of economic issues and have sufficient time to engage in research. I hope we have this too some day.
“But as Vasyl Symonenko writes, “it is only your Motherland that you cannot choose.” This is true: you cannot choose your Motherland. So despite problems and difficult circumstances, we need to work for the good of our Motherland. This is the only thing that will produce results. Our university, Ostroh Academy, is thus a model.”
