The Civil Network OPORA and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine monitored this year's admissions campaign. They recorded a number of violations caused by the imperfections of the system for accepting documents and enrolling applicants. In particular, as noted by the head of the Volyn branch of the CVU, Yurii Kresak, "the main problems that applicants faced this year were: the lack of clear information for them regarding state orders and budget-funded places; the choice of university and specialty due to insufficiently defined stages for submitting original documents; the imperfect system for distributing places between beneficiaries and ordinary applicants" (one of the benefits was a gold or silver medal – a medalist has the right to priority admission provided they score the same number of points as another applicant). In addition, Volyn universities received 17 appeal applications from applicants regarding the lack of objectivity in assessment within additional internal examinations, half of which were resolved in favor of the applicants. According to the coordinator of the OPORA Civic Network in Volyn, Mykhailo Shelep, this year's admissions campaign was accompanied by considerable commotion caused by tight deadlines for accepting documents. Moreover, a certain chaos was introduced by the multi-stage updating of the lists of applicants recommended for enrollment. In particular, it was envisaged that the first lists of recommended applicants would be published on August 6. Within 5 days after that, the applicant had to bring original documents. If not, their place was freed up for the "second wave" – applicants with lower scores. They, accordingly, also had to bring original documents within five days. And that is precisely where problems arose with informing such entrants: a considerable number of them did not know that they had made it into the qualifying portion, and accordingly did not bring their documents, as a result of which, after 5 days, the next applicants took their places. As Mr. Mykhailo noted, such a situation is an all-Ukrainian phenomenon, and therefore it needs to be resolved not at the local level. The responsible secretary of the admissions committee of Lutsk National Technical University is convinced that monitoring the passing scores is the applicants' own responsibility. Moreover, their lack of interest in the results is caused by uncertainty: "How do young people think? Anywhere – as long as it's free. If free didn't work out – anywhere, as long as it's cheaper." The admissions committees of Volyn universities worked at full capacity and published the lists of those recommended for enrollment on time. This year, the competition for one budget-funded place in Volyn was 7.2 contenders per one bachelor's student card, regardless of the form of study. The highest possible result was equal to 800 points, and the average indicator of those who realistically competed this year for victory in the admissions campaign for prestigious educational fields was 775-790 points.
* * * The purpose of the project "Campaign for Public Monitoring of the Objectivity and Impartiality of Admission Procedures to Higher Education Institutions in 2010," carried out by the All-Ukrainian Civic Organization CVU in partnership with the OPORA Civic Network with the support of the Education Program of the International Renaissance Foundation, is to monitor the ensuring of open and transparent admission to higher education institutions in 2010.
More about the program: www.irf.ua