Directions for improving the organizational framework for quality control of higher education in Ukraine

Abstract

The author proves that today it is advisable to develop a separate Law which would define the organizational and legal framework for the establishment and functioning of accreditation agencies. It has been noted that this law should not fully regulate all aspects of such agencies formation, organization and implementation of their control activities, but only define the general, most fundamental aspects of the legal status and work of these institutions.

It has been noted that a necessary step to improve the organizational framework for exercising control over the quality of education is interaction and coordination in the system of subjects of such control, since today these aspects of the organization and functioning of the mechanism for controlling the quality of higher education are rather superficially regulated and do not provide a clear understanding of how this interaction takes place, what is the place of coordination in it, and who it is carried out by. It has been proven that it is necessary to define the conceptual foundations of interaction and coordination of subjects of control over the quality of education and to develop an appropriate procedure on their basis, which should provide for the principles and objectives of interaction and coordination, forms and directions of its implementation, and subject composition.

It is emphasized that the current approach to training experts, which involves two-day trainings, is unlikely to guarantee the provision of high-quality personnel (experts) to the subjects of the control under study. The low level of experts’ training results in the fact that their conclusions are often of poor quality.

It has been noted that the problems in the work of experts are due to the fact that they do not always correctly understand their mission in this area, and are not formal in their approach to fulfilling their tasks and goals. This, in turn, is the result of insufficient training of experts. It is necessary to develop a conceptual framework for training experts in quality control of higher education, especially given the prospects for the introduction of independent accreditation agencies. It is important to train experts that the assessment is based on qualitative criteria and cannot be quantified. Therefore, it is impossible to ensure a truly objective assessment by checking only the availability of the necessary documents and the clarity of their provisions.