SELECTED ISSUES OF ASSURING QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN UKRAINE IN MODERN REALIA

Abstract

The article seeks to discuss important implications of higher education quality in various society areas of – politics, management, pedagogy, economics, etc. Insights on international best practice convincingly demonstrate that assuring high quality of education and enhancing its further development are the key governance and public administration priorities in all developed countries. It is argued that the quality of life is greatly affected by the level and quality of education. Moreover, it is highlighted that Ukraine has built a robust institutional paradigm of the education system and its governing bodies which focuses on retaining and accumulating strong human capital and research potential. Among the shortcomings in the implementation of the education quality assurance process, the study has identified the following: weak links in the relationships between higher education institutions and business; immaturity of monetization system for university students in the context of their cooperation with private companies; lack of university involvement in promoting the creation of business incubators, science & technology parks, technocities, etc. Apart from that, the findings have revealed significant imbalances in the national economy that translate into the supply shortage in certain occupations and labor market surplus in other professionals, along with displaying another negative trends associated with the processes of skilled workforce migration from rural areas to more developed cities and regions, or the outflow of the working-age population abroad. In turn, labor migration challenges drastic demographic changes that according to statistics, negatively affect the number of higher education applicants. A special emphasis is placed that the national higher education system is facing serious competition from higher education institutions of economically developed neighbouring countries that offer educational services in prestigious high ranked universities, as well as create ample scholarship and grant opportunities to international students. Thus, from the tuition fee perspective, domestic HEIs are often far behind their European counterparts, too. The study presents an in-depth analysis of the range of various impact factors affecting the education quality, the most essential of them are reported to be the legal and regulatory framework for higher education; government policy for higher education management; higher education funding rates; labor market saturation; the effectiveness of quality management tools in rendering educational services, etc.