Belarus

President Nixes Bologna-Style Reforms

Legislation that would have introduced a two-tier (bachelor’s and master’s) system was vetoed in late January by President Alaksandr Lukashenka. The two-tier system was “a Western invention,” Lukashenka said. Belarus should build on the “very efficient Soviet system” it had inherited, he added.

— The Times Higher Education Supplement
Feb. 4, 2005

Georgia

Higher Education Reform Tackles Corruption, Graft

Parliament passed a law on higher education Dec. 21 designed to eliminate avenues of corruption and inject competition into the environment of academic management. The radical changes called for in the bill affect the 200 higher education institutions in the country and give students from Georgia’s 3,200 secondary schools the opportunity to compete for state funding.

As early as this summer, high school graduates applying to college will take a standardized national assessment exam for universities. The students with the highest scores on the test will then receive vouchers redeemable as tuition at either state or accredited private institutions. In the past, individual departments within a university administered admissions exams, giving professors and university administrators powers that led to widespread graft.

The previous system restricted students by forcing them to take an all-or-nothing approach. That is, every university had its own distinct entrance exam and, with testing periods overlapping, it became logistically unfeasible for students to apply to more than one institution. Limited choices meant tuition-free scholarships were in high demand, and families were more willing to pay for improved chances at admission either through direct bribes or costly preparation courses.

The new entrance examination will be administered by the National Assessment and Examinations Center and will be based on tests used in secondary schools over the last three years, thus ensuring that applicants are familiar with the format. In November, the center released study manuals and sample tests to further assist students, a dramatic change from the former, informal methods used to prepare for admissions.

In addition to the standardized entrance exam, the Ministry of Education is overhauling the way the state funds education by creating an incentive system for universities. Unlike the current system, through which state universities receive a block of funding and are given the opportunity to award scholarships based on their own entrance exams, the new system stipulates that money will follow the student. Students receiving the highest marks on the entrance exams will receive a voucher they can redeem as tuition at any state institution or accredited private college of their own choosing, meaning that universities will compete for students. It is hoped the universities will be motivated to launch their own reform process to attract the best students.

— American Chamber of Commerce Georgia News Magazine
January 2005

Medical Students Set Protest Agenda

On March 17, dozens of students at the State Medical College went on a hunger strike to protest a law (see above) that they say breaks legal contracts signed with the government promising them university seats. Some 63 students have been hospitalized, according to local newspapers.

Prior to the introduction of a standardized nationwide exam for admission to institutions of higher education this year, 14-year-old students could pay an annual fee that would allow them to study in a three-year medical college that specialized in their field of study. After graduating those students were guaranteed a place at Tbilisi State Medical University as third-year students if their grades were high enough. Critics say the system was open to widespread corruption. Officially, tuition to the State Medical College was set at US$615 a year. Unofficially, according to Education Minister Alexander Lomaia, bribes ranging between $5,000 and $15,000 were offered to ensure a place.

Under the new law, all students currently at the medical college will be required to sit the new examination even though they entered the system before the new law was enacted. The medical students are particularly enraged because the new national aptitude examination requires that students be tested in Georgian language and a foreign language – subjects for which they have not prepared. Students claim they have, through no fault of their own, been left floating between old and new laws. They argue that all students who enrolled at the college prior to the new legislation should be subject to the stipulations of the old law. Lomaia argues otherwise and has stated that upon graduation students from the college will be given a special certificate similar to the secondary diploma, but will still have to sit national examinations if they want to proceed to university.

— Eurasianet
April 13, 2005

Russia

Minister Hopes Assessments Keep Higher Education in Check

Minister for Education and Research Andrei Fursenko estimates the number of state-run and private institutions of higher education in the country, including affiliates, has risen to approximately 3,000, five times the number that existed during the Soviet era. With the dramatic increase in the number of institutions has come a decline in standards, according to Fursenko, who spoke recently at a conference with college and university rectors in the Volga district. Fursenko said 10 percent of schools do not meet current education standards.

The minister does not intend to reduce the number of institutions by decree, rather through a process of monitoring and assessment. Institutions found to be below par will be forced to close, make improvements or merge with leading local or national schools, according to Fursenko, who also envisages creating a three-tier institutional hierarchy. The top division of schools will comprise the country’s top 10 to 20 national research universities, followed by a second-tier of 100 to 150 regional universities, and a third tier of professional and technical schools training the majority of Russia’s skilled work force. Leading schools will receive additional funding.

— Russian News and Information Agency
Feb. 18, 2005

Ukraine

Universities Ordered to Reinstate Activist Students

An order issued by the Ministry of Education and Science in February requires universities to reinstate all students and employees who were dismissed late last year because of their political activities during the presidential elections.

The order, issued on behalf of President Viktor A. Yushchenko, does not mention the number of students and employees who were dismissed in the run-up to the presidential elections.

— The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 1, 2005

President Promises Institutional Autonomy

Part of newly elected President Viktor A. Yushchenko’s recent election campaign rested on giving leading universities the right to bestow their own higher degrees and academic titles and the overhaul of the Soviet-era Higher Attestation Commission (VAK). The president’s advisers said the “over-bureaucratized” VAK would no longer certify and approve top academic jobs. The task would be handled by the National Academy of Sciences and higher educational establishments with “national university” status.

The VAK is a throwback to Soviet times, when there was a single centralized Soviet VAK in Moscow under the political control of the Communist Party. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, successor states set up their own similar institutions. The Ukrainian VAK has not managed to keep the country’s institutions free from bribery and corruption, according to Yushchenko’s campaign, which criticized the “corruption, extortion and protectionism that has become almost a legalized phenomenon in the scholarly/educational sphere.”

— The Times Higher Education Supplement
Feb. 4, 2005