Further Education
ccording to the latest academic rankings published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, 72 of the world's top 100 universities are in English-speaking countries. Of those, 54 are in the US, followed by 11 in Britain. Yet, the presence of so many American and British universities in the top 100 is not just thanks to academic excellence. According to John O'Leary, an expert in university rankings, this "owes something to the dominance of English as a world language in academic life as well as in business". Over a third of all international students currently attend universities in the US and UK. While numbers have fallen in recent years, the income they provide is rising. Since international students pay higher tuition fees than domestic students, they provide a lucrative source of income. So universities in other countries are increasing their efforts to attract foreign students by offering programmes in English. European politics is also playing a role in breaking down national barriers in higher education. As a result of the Bologna Process, an initiative to create a European Higher Education Area by 2010, universities are adopting a degreestructure that is similar to the one in Britain and America, where degrees are classified according to two levels, undergraduate and postgraduate. At the undergraduate level, there is one degree: the bachelor's. This first degree involves three to four years of study. The master's and the doctorate, or PhD, are postgraduate degrees. Normally, one needs a good bachelor's degree to do a master's, and a good master's degree to do a doctorate. As European universities increasingly conform to the Bologna Process, the traditional degrees like Diplom and the Magister in Germany or maitrise and diplome d'etudes approfondies or diplome d'etudes superieures specialisees in France are being phased out, and students are collecting " credits " according to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). The idea of " portable qualifications" is central to the Bologna Process. By creating common standards for academic degrees, it aims to promote student and staff mobility, and make European universities more attractive worldwide. At the same time, this leads people to make comparisons, and it provokes debate on matters such as the fixed-tenure system (jobs for life) and the "publish-or- perish " syndrome, which puts pressure on professors and other scholars to publish. But, perhaps fierce debate is what academic life is all about.
Letter to the President Dear Viktor, As the new university year begins, it seems a good time to write to you pointing out that the higher education system - like most things in Ukraine - still suffers from corruption. True, it's not entirely rotten to the core, but there are still too many examples to ignore, with bribes for both admission and grades. The worry is that the system keeps the stupid powerful and the intelligent desperate to leave the country. Whilst this may very well be intended, Viktor, it means Ukraine may never take its rightful place at the table of success. But you're in luck: there has never been a better time to put it right, and the rewards for doing so have never been higher. What's On would like to help. Let's start by discussing what's happening, as opposed to what's meant to be happening, before seeing what we can do about it. It will help to use two real-life examples: Olena is 22 and didn't go to university, despite getting the best marks in her year. She didn't go because she didn't pay the bribe, whereas four of her classmates did. Only the top four got in, and for some unknown reason her classmates' grades were later revised up, meaning Olena came fifth. Then there's Oksana (not her real name). She's currently studying at a famous university near Shevchenko Park (admission via bribe], admits that she's utterly useless, and doesn't care. She doesn't go to class and does badly in her tests, but she doesn't mind because she knows her results will be bought, so she just goes shopping instead. When the university tried to expel her, her uncle made a phone-call to his friend in the government, and shortly afterwards all disciplinary proceedings were dropped. She's still there, skipping class and getting bad marks. The Oksanas of the country don't have two brain cells to rub together, yet they'll continue to get good jobs as a result of their grades and connections, probably at the expense of the more able. It means that the people who you really need running your companies, authorities, projects and teams are either languishing in dead-end jobs or have gone abroad. This is important for you Viktor, for two reasons. The first reason is money. If you want Ukraine to become your own little fiefdom, then you'll need it to be rich and generate wealth. Soon you'll run out of things to sell to your friends, so you'll need what's left to either cost less or make more, or both. The people who will bring about these changes will need brains (which a university degree in Ukraine doesn't necessarily infer) and motivation (which the corruption certainly doesn't instill). The Olena's are the ones who will cut costs, improve efficiency, see opportunities, motivate staff and grow profits, in short, it's the Olena's who will re-position Ukraine to where it needs to be. Get the Olena's into the top Ukrainian universities now, doing the subjects they're good at (not just the ones they can afford) and you'll have a wealth-generating country within eight to ten years. The second reason it's important is power. Everyone knows Ukraine is totally corrupt, and they assume that those who only pay lip-service to cleaning it up (like you, Viktor) are in on the game. Powerful people have both the means and mental capacity to change a system for the better Powerless people simply work within one, manoeuvring it for their own gain. Change the system, and you'll have real power. And with power comes respect. Convinced? Good. Now we need to work out how to do it, and to do that we need to take ideas from a system that works. Because like Ukrainian public money, Viktor, the best ideas are always stolen. The system we're thinking of is the one employed by a huge multi-national organisation with a base at Boryspil that employs 2,000 people. They're hugely successful, with sales of $82 billion per year, and over 300 brands in 180 countries. They're successful because they employ and promote Olena's, whilst the Oksana's don't even get a look in. They tell an Olena from an Oksana by having a rigorous and transparent selection process. There are interviews and tests galore (so they really get to understand a candidate's overall performance and ability). All of it is marked and administered by people who have nothing to gain from either the process or the outcome, and the marks are verified by others, also with nothing to gain. The results are published early so there can be no last minute revisions like Olena experienced. If you applied this to your higher education system, you'd cut out all those sticky little fingers that grab at students and families along the way. The most able would stand out as such, and university places would go to those most deserving. People would start to regain trust in the system. Finally, when choosing your independent people who are removed from the process with nothing to gain, can we suggest they are not Party klepto-crats? Call us cynical. Kind Regards, What's On Further Education Further education is education in technical colleges, further education colleges, colleges of art and various other institutions which do not award degrees. The term describes a widely differing set of institutions. The majority of the lower level courses, relating mainly to apprenticeship schemes and qualifications are provided in Colleges of Further Education or Technical Colleges. Middle level courses are also offered in Technical Colleges with those having a good share of more advanced work being called 'Colleges of Technology'. Polytechnics may have both degree and non-degree courses. But there are a number of specialized colleges such as the London College of Printing and the National College of Agricultural Engineering. Very few of the broad divisions here are clear cut, there is much overlapping. One of the major areas of 'overlap' that has occurred during the past ten years or so has been between the school system and Further Education. There has been a growing provision of 'Sixth Form' level studies in Colleges of Further Education and Technical Colleges during this period and almost all of the 'non-advanced' technical colleges now offer a broad spread of subjects for the GCE Advanced Level ('A' level) examinations. Many sixth form students seem to prefer the more adult atmosphere of the Technical College to that of the school. A few Local Education Authorities have decided, partly because of this existing trend and partly for reasons of economy, that all the post-sixteen education in certain areas - both technical and academic - should be amalgamated in one establishment; such amalgamated institutions are called 'Tertiary Colleges'. Whatever the type of establishment and its range of educational provision, most of the local inhabitants will probably refer to it as 'the Tech'. The Tech has played an important part in British educational history and its role will be no less important in the future.
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