On Sept. 1, students and professors at Wisconsin International University Ukraine will commemorate the start of its 18th academic year – celebrating an existence that was under threat only six months earlier.
The university was once part of Education Minister Serhiy Kvit’s drive to eliminate low-quality universities and drag Ukraine’s higher education out of the Soviet era and into the 21st century. In December, the WIUU was included on the list of 53 higher education institutions deemed to have an insufficient number of students. The quality of the tuition provided was never called into question, but an enrollment of only 280 students rang alarm bells for the government.
Vice Rector Julia Romanovska said they were shocked to be on the minister’s hit list. “During November and December last year we got several new licenses from the Ministry of Education, so we were sure that we were doing quite well. We are a small university. But it was never our strategy to become a big university, because we are a business school.”
Many of the university’s selling points align perfectly with Kvit’s stated aims for the future of education in Ukraine.
It offers tuition in English and both Ukrainian and American accreditation in Business Administration and Management, with a program that allows students to study for both degrees jointly. It maintains partnerships with universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary and other European nations.
It also has strict ethical policies in place to prevent plagiarism, a widespread problem at many Ukrainian universities.
Third-year student Yuliya Morozova describes the university as “one of a kind here in Ukraine. Closing such an institution would just be illogical.”
University staff, students and alumni began a campaign to save their school, writing letters to partner institutes, supporters and friends around the world seeking support. The faculty then asked for a meeting with Kvit and presented him with accreditations and details of partnerships, exchange programs and recommendations.
They won.
On Jan. 6, the University announced that Kvit had taken them off the chopping block.
Despite their fight to stay independent, Romanovska says that the university is open to uniting with another small institution in the future, as recommended by the reform. “It’s not so easy to become one institution. Maybe step by step it will be more convenient to do that.”
Kvit earlier this year said his plan is to unite research and educational institutions, to encourage joint master’s and Ph.D. programs. “We need to change the structure of Ukrainian universities and infrastructure of scientific research, as well as to overcome the post-soviet isolation and integrate into global educational and research space,” Kvit said.
WIUU Senior Lecturer Andrii Drobot said that the process of integration is underway, but some steps have been overlooked.
“In our curriculum, all the course names are according to the American or European codes, and the methodology of teaching is the same,’ he explains. “But when a student gets a diploma from a Ukrainian university, it’s impossible to transfer those credits because the names are different, the hours are different and the methodology is different. The Minister for Education should move in the direction of introducing a unified course names system. It’s the simplest thing, but I haven’t heard any plans for them to do it.”
The university will continue to operate as a business school. It will offer a new course in tourism management for 2015/2016 and has plans to introduce another in pharmaceuticals management.
For students, the university’s small size is an advantage. “There’s an individual approach, we know all the teachers and all students know each other,” explains Morozova. “We communicate, we can ask for help, we exchange information and later in the future it helps, because this is your network, those are the people you’ll continue to communicate with in future.”
Romanovska remains optimistic about the post-EuroMaidan Revolution Ministry of Education under Kvit. “Although I was very disappointed in December, I see that they are doing the right things,” she said.
Kyiv Post staff wrtier Sandra MacKenzie can be reached at [email protected]
