Photo by Kostyantyn Chernichkin
National authorities have not yet approved all of the necessary regulations for the full functioning of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance (NAQA). But some “businesspeople” have already contacted higher education institutions offering to solve all their possible accreditation related issues or to resolve different conflict situations for money. These educational institutions have received telephone calls from a person introducing herself as “Halyna Mykhailivna from NAQA.”
Needless to say, such an employee does not exist, so educators should solve all issues through official procedures, in particular through official communication with national agency experts at the time of the accreditation site visit. The accreditation of Ukrainian higher education programs started under a new system in September.
Now the accreditation process will be less bureaucratic. It will be organized online, without hard copies. Obviously, the creation of software, the “digital core,” needs time and funding, and for this we will involve not governmental, but independent sponsors’ funds.
The launch of the national agency is an important step in the reform of Ukraine’s higher education system. Certainly, there are more needs: consistent financing, realistic societal expectations, etc.