The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has ordered higher education institutions to review the names of its educational programs. The reason was numerous cases of mismatch between the name of the program and its content, which creates risks to accreditation and violation of the law.
According to the CEO of the Directorate of Higher Education and Education of Adult Education during online applications with university representatives, the incorrect name of educational programs can lead to legal conflicts, since programs are often classified in not those specialties to which they actually belong.
What did the MES find?
During the monitoring, the most problematic names that do not meet the requirements were identified. These include words that are often used to create "attractive" names, but violate standards. Among the following words:
- right,
- design,
- management,
- economy,
- business,
- security,
- Transport and others.
For example, in the specialty "History and Archeology", one of the programs was called "History and Anthropology of Law", although this name misleads about the true content of the program. Otherwise, a program called "Agrobusiness" was created in the specialty "Economics", which is more in line with other specializations.
What are the new rules?
The Ministry of Education and Science banned universities in the names of educational programs:
- Names of other specialties or fields of knowledge.
- Names of programs that provide professions with additional regulation (law, veterinary, medicine, etc.).
- Names of professional qualifications that require a different level or specialty education.
These rules will help ensure that educational programs are compliance with real specialties and avoid disorientation of students and entrants.
In the summer of 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a new list of branches and specialties in accordance with the Law on Higher Education and Recommendations of the European Commission. The new list is significantly simplified: instead of the previous 28 industries, there are only 10 (+1 additional security and defense).
This initiative corresponds to the international standard classification of education (IAS) and is aimed at improving the transparency, quality and competitiveness of Ukrainian higher education.
Universities are now required to review the names of educational programs and bring them into line with new standards. This is a challenge for many universities that have often created "marketing" names to attract students. However, according to the Ministry of Education and Science, such practice only harms trust in the education system.
This reform process is an important step to bring Ukrainian education to international standards, as well as to avoid legal conflicts and misinformation of future students.
