Authors:
A. S. Talakh, B. B. Lubich.
Source:
Украина – Чехия
– ЕС:
современное состояние и перспективы
.
Сборник
материалов международной научно-практической конференции., 2012г., с.
18–24.
Ukraine hasn’t still overcome the socioeconomic crisis, which also clearly shows itself in the higher education system. The reforms of university education do not solve the pressing problems, such as lowering the quality of education, breaking the information links, the backwardness of the material and technical base of higher education, the existence of educational institutions of different forms of ownership. This unfavourable situation requires thoughtful and systemic reforms. The most acceptable way of reforming the Ukrainian higher education today is the modernisation of it according to European style. In this regard the Bologna process can be a great support. First of all, it is connected with new opportunities associated with the prospect of entering the European educational space, especially the recognition of Ukrainian diplomas at the international level, greater mobility in the European educational space for students and teachers, common education and research projects with European universities and the competitiveness of the European and world labour market. But at the same time the implementation of the Bologna Convention carries a number of negative consequences, such as the weakening of state control over higher education, the reduction in funding of universities, the growing gap between the pre-university and higher education, etc.
The works of such scholars as V. Baidenko, M. Buric, Ju. Davydov, M. Dobrynin, V. Kasevich, K. Korsak, V. Kremin, M. Lebedeva, A. Pankow, A. Petrov, N. Polyakov, V. Savchuk, R. Svetlov, A. Firsov, A. Tsyb, etc. are devoted to the research of integration of Ukrainian education system into the Bologna process. However, a little attention is still paid to determining the results of the implementation of the Bologna process in the educational system of Ukraine and to the research of the optimal synthesis of the methodology of higher education of our country and modern European educational concepts.
The aim of research is to examine the positive and negative aspects of the integration of universities in the Bologna process, to examine a concrete example of a solution of contradictions that arise in the course of adaptation of the national education system to the requirements of the Bologna Declaration.
Donbass State Technical University was one of the first universities in Ukraine that supported the idea of joining the national education to the Bologna Process; it is a pioneer in matters of curriculum construction, evaluation of students’ work, distribution of academic load between the independent and classroom work.
Various experiments were carried out in this area, such as “free day” when the students had no classroom work or they had paid Retake courses and re-examinations, the studying of foreign students in cooperation with the Ukrainian students, etc. But not all of these experiments were successful. Therefore, new perspectives in the construction of high-quality training system have opened for our university with the signing of the Bologna Declaration.
The government of Ukraine signed the Bologna Declaration in 2006 and the implementation of the Bologna process began from that moment. The first action that was taken was the conversion of the work plans into the load measuring system ECTS, as this was the first step to ensure that it was possible to compare the studying load of Ukrainian students with the studying load of students in Europe. But for most universities the Bologna process was considered to be finished after this step. All higher education institutions of Ukraine adopted the provisions of the Bologna process, but each of them retained the classic features of the national education system to a greater or lesser extent. So it was with Donbass State Technical University which introduced the requirements of the Bologna Convention into the educational process, while combining them with the best features of the national educational system.
The credit-modular system of organizing the learning process, which has been accepted in this university, is based on the combination of modular educational technologies and credits, or credit educational units. This means that the semester now consists of parts (“modules”); each of them is evaluated independently and makes it possible to obtain final grade without taking the exam. When credit-modular system of educational process is accepted, the content of discipline is distributed to content modules (from 2 to 4 modules for a semester), so that the discipline is formed as a system of content modules.
The attention in the credit-modular system is centred on two of its characteristics:
The educational system of Ukraine was formed in the conditions of the information deficit and limited opportunities of the access to information. Therefore, the work of the instructor is concerned primarily with information, or rather informing, functions.
But with the development of modern information technologies and the access to information the instructor’s role changes from the information to the advisory role. In addition to this, the student no longer has to attend all classes, and he/she has the possibility to acquire knowledge independently; 70% of the total amount of time is devoted for self-studying for this purpose in the curriculum of each discipline. At the same time the responsibility of the student increases, as he/she needs to educate oneself; the responsibility of the instructor also increases, as instructor now is not only to “read” the lectures, nowadays he/she is to explain to each student the difficult questions. The role of creativity in education is growing and new opportunities for a quantum leap in the level of training of future specialists appear. The use of interactive forms and methods of students’ work under the guidance of an instructor is increasing, and a full-fledged independent work in laboratories, reading-rooms, on the objects of future professional activity are expanding too, which is especially important for distance education system.
According to ECTS, a set amount of hours was established in Donbass State Technical University as ECTS credit – it consists of 36 academic hours; and annual student studying load was set which is 60 ECTS credits. It comes from the fact that the studying year on average lasts about 40 weeks. Established annual load is the maximum value – i.e., European education system has the idea to avoid overloading students with classroom work and to give them the opportunity to build their own studying plans.
But such ideas are not yet entirely appropriate for local conditions, since not all the students are so self-motivated to study on their own and to go to the library and study there without compulsion. This is one of the disadvantages of the Bologna system in Ukraine.
Modular-rating system of knowledge evaluation provides a 100 point scale, i.e. 100 points is the maximum number of points that a student can receive for academic success in the discipline. Evaluation of students’ knowledge of the module includes all kinds of activities, the current and final testing (for example, the evaluation of practical assignments, seminars etc.) excluding the evaluation of weights coefficients and including simple summing of the scores. This is the fundamental difference between our university and other universities and the Bologna system, which reveals one of the main advantages for the student and instructor. The idea is that the student can determine for himself/herself what kind of workload to pay more attention according to what is evaluated more. This makes it possible to balance the students’ load, and the instructor has the possibility to divide scores for kinds of work depending on their importance in the subject studying.
A student who scored the required number of points during the semester has the ability:
1) not to take an exam and to get the current score as the final grade;
2) to take an exam in order to improve his/her grade in the discipline..
A student who scored during the semester less the required number of points has to take the exam. The teacher has the right to evaluate student’s work as “pass” if student scored 51 points on a 100-point scale for the current module control. Without receiving 51 points on the current control, the student needs to take a test. The instructor allows the student to take the exam when he gained at least 26 points out of 100.
Every ninth and eighteenth week of the semester are considered to be examination weeks. There are no lessons during these weeks. These weeks are passing academic debts and summarising the current results. At the ninth week instructors do the students’ attestation from 0 to 2 points:.
0 - if the student does not manage with this discipline and has a debt;
1 - the average student’s academic performance;
2 - a great academic performance.
Student’s academic achievements are determined by the system of knowledge evaluation which is used in higher education institution, but with the obligatory conversion of the received grades to the national scale and the scale of ECTS.
For the majority of Ukrainian educational institutions (and for our university in particular) the Bologna process does not mean blind, unconditional acceptance of European standards; it means the adaptation of the existing education system to the Bologna standards. I.e., it means reforming the education system in the following way:
- conveying workload for a standard credit ECTS, while maintaining
various types of training sessions such as practice, seminars,
laboratory, creative assignments, research papers, etc.;
- allowing students to have more time to prepare independently, but at
the same time reserving the role of the teacher not only as a
consultant but also as an administrator which motivates to study;
- standardising the evaluation by the letters A, B, C, etc., but
keeping the accumulative system of grades which is much easier and more
understandable than the school, “average” ratings
for the semester.
All these issues give us the possibility to improve the quality of studying and thus meet the European standards of education that will make our graduates competitive in the European labour markets.
It should be noted that the Bologna process is a process of convergence and harmonization of education systems in Europe with the aim of creating a single European area of ??higher education. However, the introduction of the Bologna system in Ukraine has a number of advantages and disadvantages.
The advantages of the European education system:
- the stability of the system, its consistency for everybody;
- the fundamental nature of the system;
- the process was carried out without failures; clarity and
predictability of the system for many years;
- separation of the learning process from the process of evaluation of
learning outcomes;
- it provides students with more rights and develops the capacity for
independent thinking.
Disadvantages of the European system of education:
- the control over the final product (the student lives from module to
module, usually begins to study in three days before the exam);
- an impact on students mainly through repressive methods, the passive
role of students in the learning process;
- reduction of fundamentality of received knowledge;
- frequently changing work environment which requires large capital
inputs.
The solution of these problems may be conveyed in the preservation of methodological techniques and principles of organisation of education in accordance with national standards with regard to their adaptation to new requirements. In particular, as in the Donetsk State Technical University, these problems are to be solved through the creation of systems of conversion the workload assessments into standardised units (ECTS scale) with preservation of national systems.
Bologna system in Ukraine is not fully introduced, not all elements of it are set up and not all of them are really functioning. Moreover, the attitude to the Bologna system in our country is uncertain. But for Ukraine (which government is constantly proclaims commitment to European integration) there is still no alternative to the Bologna process. However, the participation of Ukrainian higher education system in Bologna transformations can be directed only to its development and acquisition of new qualitative features, rather than the loss of the best traditions of national standards of quality of education. Orientation on Bologna process cannot lead to excessive restructuring of our education system. On the contrary, it should be deeply comprehended and compared with the European criteria and standards, and the opportunities of its improving should be identified.
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