Last year beat all the records in terms of the numbers of protests that the students had to organize to fight for their rights. They started with a campaign against the appointment of Dmytro Tabachnyk to the position of the minister for education and science. Then they protested against the bill “On peaceful gatherings.” Next came the campaign against increasing student fees and charges, followed by another dozen or so. However, in most cases the youth’s demands weren’t heard. Actually, they were, but the government simply ignored them. The protest action held last week, however, was an exception. Students from Kyiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Odesa, Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv addressed the Verhkovna Rada with a demand to withdraw the bill “On Higher Education.” This bill has been criticized not only by the youth, but also by the educators and officials. The students’ protest actions gave a result: the parliament has postponed the adoption of the bill until February 16.
However, it’s too early to rejoice. It’s still unknown if the authors of the bill will consider the students’ complaints and take into account their wishes. The students are dissatisfied with the fact that the new law provides for the reduction of the government order by 42 percent (The Day wrote about the consequences of this decision); the management of the institutes of higher education will be allowed to raise the cost of studies during the period of education: for example, a student pays 5,000 hryvnias for the first year and 7,000 for the next. Previously studies cost the same during the whole period. The new law also eliminates free distant learning, and the universities’ status will depend on the number of students: if there are less than 10,000 students in it, the university will lose its status and become a college. In the youth’s opinion, all of those innovations will only make education more commercialized, and university studies will become less accessible for poor people.
“We are sure that the bill No. 7486-1 will allow the universities management to increase the cost of studies for those who pay for their education without restrictions, since the bill provides for the price increase based not only on the inflation index, but also on the unregulated chancellor’s ‘x,’” says the representative of the students’ union Priama Dia Vadym Gudyma. “It was only the warning action with music and dances. If the bill isn’t definitely withdrawn and the educational commercializing continues, the next actions will be much more serious.”
The students’ intentions to fight to the last drop aren’t just words. They’ve already demonstrated their resolve. “Despite the fact that on January 31 the holidays started in most of the universities, more than 500 people came to the action in Kyiv. In general, more than a thousand people took part in protest actions in different places of Ukraine,” says the member of the Ukrainian Youth Organization The Foundation for Regional Initiatives Anton Delikatny. “The thing is that most of the students haven’t heard about the enslaving norms of the bill as they didn’t come back from their vacations. That is why the real struggle is still ahead.”
Last year beat all the records in terms of the numbers of protests that the students had to organize to fight for their rights. They started with a campaign against the appointment of Dmytro Tabachnyk to the position of the minister for education and science. Then they protested against the bill “On peaceful gatherings.” Next came the campaign against increasing student fees and charges, followed by another dozen or so. However, in most cases the youth’s demands weren’t heard. Actually, they were, but the government simply ignored them. The protest action held last week, however, was an exception. Students from Kyiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Odesa, Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv addressed the Verhkovna Rada with a demand to withdraw the bill “On Higher Education.” This bill has been criticized not only by the youth, but also by the educators and officials. The students’ protest actions gave a result: the parliament has postponed the adoption of the bill until February 16.
However, it’s too early to rejoice. It’s still unknown if the authors of the bill will consider the students’ complaints and take into account their wishes. The students are dissatisfied with the fact that the new law provides for the reduction of the government order by 42 percent (The Day wrote about the consequences of this decision); the management of the institutes of higher education will be allowed to raise the cost of studies during the period of education: for example, a student pays 5,000 hryvnias for the first year and 7,000 for the next. Previously studies cost the same during the whole period. The new law also eliminates free distant learning, and the universities’ status will depend on the number of students: if there are less than 10,000 students in it, the university will lose its status and become a college. In the youth’s opinion, all of those innovations will only make education more commercialized, and university studies will become less accessible for poor people.
“We are sure that the bill No. 7486-1 will allow the universities management to increase the cost of studies for those who pay for their education without restrictions, since the bill provides for the price increase based not only on the inflation index, but also on the unregulated chancellor’s ‘x,’” says the representative of the students’ union Priama Dia Vadym Gudyma. “It was only the warning action with music and dances. If the bill isn’t definitely withdrawn and the educational commercializing continues, the next actions will be much more serious.”
The students’ intentions to fight to the last drop aren’t just words. They’ve already demonstrated their resolve. “Despite the fact that on January 31 the holidays started in most of the universities, more than 500 people came to the action in Kyiv. In general, more than a thousand people took part in protest actions in different places of Ukraine,” says the member of the Ukrainian Youth Organization The Foundation for Regional Initiatives Anton Delikatny. “The thing is that most of the students haven’t heard about the enslaving norms of the bill as they didn’t come back from their vacations. That is why the real struggle is still ahead.”
As the education bill will be considered again in two weeks, this term will be sufficient for public discussions. The government at least pretended to organize public discussions for the language education and literature education bills, but they didn’t do anything similar for the higher education bill. The assistant of the Head of the Presidential Administration Hanna Herman also supports the idea of public hearings. The Head of Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn suggested that the deputies of the Parliament Committee for Education and Science hold one more meeting for the bill on higher education.
However, the Head of the Parliament Committee for Education and Science Volodymyr Polokhalo doubts if it will help: “The Ukrainian government has already annulled its decision concerning payment for educational services. However, now the situation is the same. I believe that this fundamental law has to be openly discussed; they shouldn’t have tried to secretly adopt this decision without the committee quorum as they did for the second time on January 12-13, 2011, when I was away. The more that Verkhovna Rada and Tabachnyk have several bills related to this issue.”
It’s true that the second version of the law on higher education, motioned by a member of the Party of Regions, was left unattended by society, educators and the ministry itself. However, it’s possible that it would be more acceptable. For example, in the second version of the law the types of higher education institutions are preserved: university, academy, institute, conservatory, college and technical school. The point on students’ self-government also remains intact, and there’s nothing about the changes in the cost of education during the whole period of studies.
The Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sports assures that the new law on higher education is one more step towards the reformation of the whole educational system, which is undertaken within the framework of Ukraine’s accession to the Bologna Process. One way or another, the system of higher education has to work, and will, according to the new rules. Let’s hope they really bring Ukrainian education closer to Europe.
COMMENTARY
Petro KRALIUK, First Vice-Rector of the National University Ostroh Academy:
“There won’t be any changes for the better after the law is adopted. Most likely, the changes will worsen the work of institutes of higher education. First of all regarding their status depending on the number of students. Now a lot of universities are nervous about it. It concerns not only such universities as Kyiv-Mohyla Academy or Ostroh Academy, where there aren’t many students, but also the universities with thousands of students that don’t correspond to this or that level. We should keep in mind that if the new gradation is introduced, the paperwork will require a lot of money. All this work is needless and it won’t have any effect. However, the gradation is not the only point. This law supposedly provides for the universities’ autonomy. However, if you look at it carefully, real autonomy isn’t suggested. Conversely, it seems that the Ministry of Education will take more control over the institutes of higher education. As far as I know, the law suggests other innovations concerning scientific grades, but they won’t do any good. Most likely, they will be formal. As for another bill on higher education, suggested by Yurii Myroshnychenko, few people know about it, which is why nobody pays attention to it. The ministry’s bill is presented on its site. In fact, it’s been discussed for a long time, since the era of [Minister for Education] Vakarchuk, but then it was a different version. This law is quite well known and it’s not accepted by the management of many universities. To all appearance, the ministry is eager to put an end to this law and vote on it. The fact that it has been postponed until February 16 is probably due to the students’ protests. Or, maybe, there are some other reasons behind it.”
