Two and a half years ago, the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education was headed by Serhiy Kvit. What has the agency team managed to do during this time? What changes have taken place in the educational space? These and other questions were put by the Svit newspaper to the Head of the NAQAHE.
– Mr. Kvit, history of the Agency creation was difficult. First, in 2015-2016, there was a false start, and then almost the entire team changed. Tell me, why did you agree to the position of the Head?
– In due time, the Law on Higher Education (2014) did not provide for a procedure for the election (selection) of Agency members and requirements for them. For this and other reasons, it started operating only in early 2019, after introduction of relevant amendments to the legislation.
I agreed to head the Agency because I consider ensuring the quality of higher education to be extremely important. In addition, the Agency’s activities, as part of the modern European system of quality assurance in higher education, are part of the Association Agreement with the EU. It is important for me that Ukraine moves in this direction.
Many people did not believe that we would be able to start the accreditation process in 2019. But we were able to create the necessary regulatory framework, prepare an expert environment (now more than 4,000 people), launch a unique online system with a public interface and open access to accreditation dossiers (https://public.naqa.gov.ua/). Previously, such information was not available. By the way, we raised more than four million hryvnias for this system through fundraising.
We have implemented in Ukraine the norms and approaches that operate in the Single European Higher Education Area (EHEA). We are currently working on common standards and guidelines for quality assurance in higher education (ESG 2015). As a result, we have been recognized internationally.
In particular, in the last two years the National Agency has become an associate member of the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and a full member of three other international organizations working in the field of quality assurance and academic integrity, namely: International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies for Higher Education (INQAAHE); Central and Eastern European Network of Quality Agencies (CEENQA) and the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI).
Even today, Ukrainian universities can apply for accreditation of educational programs not only to us, but also to any Agency that is part of the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), the list of which is also approved by the Cabinet. All accreditation procedures, questions and requirements will be the same. The only difference is that Ukrainian accreditation will be cheaper.
If the work of the National Agency is just as successful next year and the State’s policy in this sphere remains unchanged, the Agency will be admitted as a member of the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education and included in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education. This means that our decisions will be recognized in the EU countries as well. This is important for the international recognition of Ukrainian diplomas of higher education: according to the Agreement between ENQA and the European Universities Association (EUA), starting from 2024, the annexes to the diplomas issued by higher educational institutions within the European Higher Education Area will indicate the Agency that accredited certain higher education institution.
– How did European standards “take root” on Ukrainian soil? Have corruption risks been prevented?
– There is nothing wrong with European quality assurance standards. The Law on Higher Education (2014) harmonizes the Ukrainian and Western European educational spaces. All concepts, processes and procedures used in Ukraine today correlate with Western European ones.
We also took into account the experience of the USA and Canada, as well as the national characteristics of individual European countries, such as Great Britain and Germany. Personally, I am very impressed by the Canadian system, which is the most decentralized. From there, we borrowed such a tool as independent peer review. Now we are trying to spread it using our own example: we have often ordered an independent international examination of certain Regulations drafted by us.
The National Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education of Ukraine has never had any complaints about corruption or attempts to create any shady schemes. Today’s process is open, transparent, high quality. That is, the principal thing is not to collect various certificates and papers, but to work with the self-assessment of higher education institutions, communicate with internal and external stakeholders of educational programs.
– But with the beginning of the pandemic and quarantine restrictions, the accreditation of educational programs was under threat…
– In the spring of 2020, we were one of the first in Europe to launch large-scale accreditation online. We simply did not have another choice, because there are more than 1,200 higher education institutions and about forty thousand educational programs in the higher education system! Our experience was noticed. We have even been approached by Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom for advice on how best to set up a remote accreditation process.
Today, our requirements for online accreditation are even stricter than in many Western European countries. For example, we record all online meetings (not all EU Agencies do this).
– And how can you interview online, for example, a group of students, if the monitor does not show whether their answers are not controlled by the teacher?
– In fact, there are cases when one of the teachers is present at the meeting of experts with students, who is trying to suggest answers. It is possible to persuade students to say “the right things”, but if the University does not take the quality of education seriously, it will still become clear by comparing meetings with other stakeholders: teachers, employers.
– One of the most frequently asked questions in Google search for the last two years is: “How to get accreditation?” What is most important during this process?
– There is no single universal answer to this question. Everything is important: understanding of processes, procedures, knowledge of Regulations, the presence of an internal culture of quality and integrity, the reputation of the Institution and its graduates. Our Agency is constantly trying to update Regulations, provide the necessary clarifications, including answers to topical questions.
We hold webinars, seminars, online schools, answer questions. These events gather thousands of participants on Facebook. We also go to the regions and communicate with the University community. This is a huge job. By the way, this is also a unique Ukrainian experience, nowhere in the world do agencies provide so much free consulting assistance to higher education institutions.
We proceed from the presumption of trust in the higher education institution, we try to build partnerships based on the principles of university autonomy.
– Recently, Ukrainian legislation has made significant progress in detecting plagiarism. But the list of violations does not include, for example, writing scientific papers to order (Ghostwriting). Can we expect an article in the law to prosecute this violation?
– This is a problem not only for Ukraine. Writing scientific works to order is one of the biggest problems for the scientific community of Western Europe too. Students of prestigious Western universities also sometimes order works, including in Ukraine.
When I worked at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, later, at the Ministry of Education and Science and now at the National Agency, my colleagues and I repeatedly appealed to Law Enforcement Agencies regarding cases of writing scientific papers to order, providing direct telephone numbers and links to websites. So far it has not yielded results. Significant changes in Ukrainian legislation are needed.
– During the Committee hearings dedicated to the anniversary of the Agency, proposals were made to proceed from program accreditation to institutional accreditation. Does this really make sense? Can these forms of accreditation coexist?
– Yes, they can. Institutional accreditation is, first of all, an assessment of the internal quality system of an institution, recognition of the fact that the HEI can cope with itself and ensure the quality of its own educational process. Accreditation of every educational program in Ukraine has certain institutional elements. Institutional accreditation realizes many rights of universities, it will simplify life, bring us closer to the best international practices. I hope that institutional accreditation will work in Ukraine next academic year. To this end, we have already prepared the necessary legislative changes, including the removal of the thesis on self-accreditation from the Law on Higher Education. After all, accreditation is a certain external action. Someone has to come from outside and confirm whether you are working well or not.
– The Law “On Higher Education” provides for the establishment of independent institutions for evaluation and quality assurance of higher education. How fast can they be created?
– We have prepared the necessary regulatory framework for the creation of such agencies, now these rules are under discussion. However, it is not yet clear who will create these institutions or independent agencies. It is possible that this will be done by employers’ associations, which could reimburse part of the costs of accreditation. The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine could potentially create such an agency. Or members of industry-specific expert councils who have passed through our system and have relevant experience.
– Higher education institutions complain about the high price of accreditation. Is it possible to reduce it?
– Accreditation is not cheap all over the world. Another thing is that in the EU part of these costs is reimbursed to universities by the state. In Croatia, for example, the state pays for the agency’s work and universities do not pay for accreditation. In Ukraine, we have an initiative of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science and Innovation to create a special budget program that would compensate universities for the costs of accreditation. I would like to encourage higher education institutions to be active and lobby for this process.
– Many “spears” are still broken around the independence of the Agency. What does the law say and what does independence give to the Agency?
– We are a very open organization (the most open of all that use public finances), we publish all financial reports, explain where and how we spend money. But the Agency must have professional independence. We do not have to follow anyone’s instructions: who is to be accredited and who not. We even renounced the status of government officials (with this purpose we introduced respective changes to the legislation). According to the law, the National Agency is an independent collegial body that does not have the status of a central executive body and is not subordinated to executive bodies.
– You headed the Agency almost three years ago. Are you satisfied with your work?
– Yes. I consider our project to create the Agency extremely successful. I would even say that it is more successful than we could have hoped. Three years ago, no one believed that we would have time to do all these things. During this time, there have been attempts to liquidate the Agency, to discredit it, but the institution has survived, and I hope that it will continue to successfully operate.
– Why did you decide to limit yourself to one term as the Head of the National Agency?
– The fate of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, where there has been no President for two years, is very important to me. This is a big problem for the institution. That’s why I decided to run for President of the Mohyla Academy.
– In one of the interviews you said that the main thing for each higher education institution is to find its own niche (research, pedagogical, etc.). Is the niche that the Mohyla Academy already has, enough for it?
– Niche of the Mohyla Academy is leadership. All innovations in Ukrainian higher education began at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. These are the first bachelor’s, master’s and PhD programs, two working languages, student job center, education quality assurance center, honesty policy, etc.
I am convinced that Mohyla Academy should continue to be a leader and an experimental platform for innovation. We have a lot of ideas and projects that need to be implemented.
Interviewed by Svitlana GALATA
“Svit” newspaper, №29 – 30, August 2021