To clarify the situation with bribery in Volyn universities, journalists met with the rector of Lutsk State Technical University, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Viktor Volodymyrovych Bozhydarnik, the rector of Lutsk Humanitarian University, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences Andriy Andriyovych Zhuravlyov, the responsible secretary of the admissions committee of Lesya Ukrainka Volyn State University Oleksandr Serhiyovych Semenov, the chief specialist for coordination of the work of educational institutions of I-IV accreditation levels of the education and science department of the regional state administration Halyna Yuriivna Kozak, and the head of the department for supervision of criminal case investigations by investigative bodies of the prosecutor's office of Volyn region Yuriy Maksymovych Lutsyk.
"This year's admissions campaign is somewhat more difficult than the admissions campaigns of previous years," noted Viktor Bozhydarnik. He sees the reason for this in the reduction of the number of branches and universities, which led to an increase in competition by a third. At the same time, the number of state-funded places did not increase. Despite these difficulties, for the third year in a row there has not been a single appeal at LSTU.
A similar situation has developed at Lesya Ukrainka VSU. According to Oleksandr Semenov, about 500 people apply to the admissions committee every day. In total, it is expected that about 5,700 people will submit documents, which on average will amount to 4.6 people per place, while state-funded places total 773. As a result, only privileged categories of applicants will study on state-funded places in prestigious specialties.
This year, the university is experiencing difficulties with organizational issues, namely the necessary number of classrooms for taking entrance exams, since there are as many people as possible who want to take exams via computer testing (according to Oleksandr Serhiyovych, about 500 applicants per day).
The responsible secretary of the admissions committee noted that "protectionism has become a thing of the past" and "the only criterion for admission to the university is knowledge alone." In addition, he emphasized that during this year's admissions campaign, the presence of additional materials, that is, cheat sheets, among applicants will be very strictly controlled. The methods of control are a secret, but it is certain that art exams (for choreographic and music specialties) will be recorded on tape, and drawings will be coded, and the examiner-teacher will not be able to monitor who is drawing what.
In the private university, the situation is somewhat different. As Andriy Zhuravlyov reported, it is easy to get into LHU, where "there will be a place for everyone who was not accepted somewhere else." However, the requirements for students are high, and failure to meet them, despite paid tuition, leads to expulsion from the student body. As for bribery, the respected rector assured that at the university "there have been and will be no such precedents either during admission or during studies," since when hiring a teacher, they are warned about termination of the agreement if even one case of bribery occurs, and a student is warned about expulsion from the student body. The cause of bribery, in Andriy Zhuravlyov's opinion, lies in the gross violation of the principle of social justice in education. A way out can be found only by transferring all higher education from state-funded places to a private form of education. Especially since graduates end up working in private structures anyway. Instead, Mr. Zhuravlyov proposes that the state give students the opportunity to take out a loan for education for 15-20 years. "Bribery is immortal. And it will last until education moves to normal market mechanisms," the LHU rector is convinced.
His opinion was continued by Halyna Kozak, noting that bribery is a two-sided process and this phenomenon can be overcome by cultivating honesty in both student and teacher. Today, the regional education department operates a hotline: 2-82-17.
The representative of the prosecutor's office of Volyn region, Yuriy Lutsyk, named the number of criminal cases opened regarding bribery. This year, students' statements have already been received regarding two teachers of LSTU and one teacher of VSU (since there is no court verdict, the surnames were not named). Yuriy Maksymovych passed on to university teachers the advice not to engage in criminal actions, since the guilty will always be punished.