And at the T.H. Shevchenko Chernihiv National Pedagogical University, applicants and their parents broke large oak doors due to "congestion" at the entrance to the higher education institution.
Proposals from OPORA: 1. To the Ministry of Education and Science: extend the document submission period to higher education institutions by 1 week (until August 7) for those entering without additional creative competitions or internal exams; 2. To admissions committees: ensure a larger number of technical staff and office equipment in admissions committees, provide for preliminary registration of applicants and the formation of "electronic queues."
2) An equally pressing problem is the lack of data on the volumes of state orders for specific specialties at higher education institutions. This year's applicants have the right to submit documents to no more than 5 higher education institutions. Therefore, not knowing about the number of budget-funded places, citizens may exhaust the limit of 5 higher education institutions by submitting documents to a specialty where, as it may later turn out, there are only 5-10 state order places. Thus, a financially disadvantaged person may lose the right to access education. If the volume of the state order had been made public before the admissions campaign, or immediately after the signing of Ministry of Education and Science Order No. 706 of July 16, the applicant would have had the opportunity to independently orient themselves as to whether they have a chance of being admitted and how high the competition will be. In addition, only on July 19 and 20 were representatives of higher education institutions of I-IV accreditation levels invited to the Ministry of Education and Science to receive information about the volumes of the state order on paper. Thus, during the first week of the admissions campaign, applicants did not have access to information important to them.
Proposals from OPORA Immediately publish on the Ministry of Education and Science website, as was done in previous years, the full text of Order No. 706 with all annexes and oblige higher education institutions to disseminate this information among applicants through admissions committees. 3) At the first stage of the campaign, applicants and members of admissions committees contacted OPORA regarding technical problems with access to the "Konkurs" information system. Due to a conflict between providers, not all consumers could access the website www.vstup.info and familiarize themselves with its content on July 19 and 20. Fortunately, by the 21st the problems had been resolved.
However, applicants continue to complain that admissions committees do not always correctly submit data to the "Konkurs" IS. Thus, some discover that on their page of the website the sum of points is lower than the applicant received in the external independent assessment, to which the average certificate grade was added. Although there are also opposite cases, when out of the maximum possible 800 points (200 certificate + 600 EIA), next to the applicant's surname it is indicated that their total score equals 2000.
According to OPORA information, there are higher education institutions that for unknown reasons boycott the "Konkurs" IS and do not send at all the information that admissions committees must provide daily and publish on the above-mentioned website. Among them: - Luhansk State Institute of Housing and Communal Services and Construction; - Mariupol State Humanitarian University; - Odesa National Academy of Law; - National Aviation University; - Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs.
We emphasize that the "Konkurs" IS ensures applicants' right to access information and helps identify problems or discrepancies in applicants' rankings.
A striking example of how the admissions campaign can be monitored thanks to the system's data is an incident that occurred at Uzhhorod National University after the acceptance of documents from one of the applicants for the training direction "philology: English language and literature." The girl stated in the application she submitted to the admissions committee that she was a winner of the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. We remind you that such persons have advantages during admission. Another applicant contacted OPORA who had 100 points more than her but ended up lower in the ranking than this applicant, with information that he knows her and is sure that the latter did not participate in any Minor Academy of Sciences competitions. OPORA checked the Ministry of Education and Science Order, which lists the winners of this prestigious competition. As it turned out, the applicant's surname is indeed not among them. Subsequently, at the admissions committee, at the request of a public observer, the applicant's package of documents was checked and it was found that there were no materials confirming that the applicant had won national competitions, and the corresponding status was removed from her. As of July 21, the applicant moved from 1st place in the ranking to 85th. Thus, thanks to the incident, it was discovered that admissions committee employees sometimes take applicants' word regarding their achievements, which is a violation.
Proposals from OPORA Ensure technical support of the system and publish information regarding the content of problems that arise with the "Konkurs" IS, or higher education institutions that boycott its work. In addition, the Ministry of Education and Science should ensure disciplinary sanctions for the heads of those higher education institutions that do not submit data to the system, if this is not directly related to technical problems.
OPORA recommends that admissions committees treat applicants' personal data carefully and correctly submit information regarding their scores.
4) Unfortunately, not all admissions committees are well acquainted with the Admission Conditions to higher education institutions and basic Ministry of Education and Science orders.
Thus, at the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, winners of all-Ukrainian olympiads and the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine are required to submit only original documents for participation in the competition. This is a direct violation of the applicant's right to simultaneously apply with applications to 5 higher education institutions. Original documents must be provided to the admissions committee within 5 days after the publication of the lists of those recommended for enrollment.
At the National University "Lviv Polytechnic," applicants are forced to write applications at once for participation in the competition both for state order places and for contract. We emphasize that the competition, according to the Admission Conditions, is unified both for budget-funded places and for study at the expense of individuals or legal entities (contract). First, a unified ranking of applicants is formed, the most successful of whom will study at the state's expense, and those who end up in lower positions, after the publication of enrollment orders, on August 10 will be offered to study at their own financial expense.
The admissions campaign for applicants of 4 specialties at Kherson State Agrarian University began with the news that their data cannot be entered into the "Konkurs" information system. According to Annex No. 4 of the Admission Rules to the above-mentioned higher education institution, during the competitive selection, the scores of the certificate of the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment are counted, from: 1. Ukrainian language and literature; 2. Biology; 3. Mathematics, or History of Ukraine, or Chemistry.
During the entry of applicants' data into the database, admissions committee employees noticed that in the fields where it is necessary to indicate the subjects for which the applicant submits certificates, specifically "SUBJECT 2," one can select only Mathematics or History of Ukraine. At the same time, according to the admission rules of the higher education institution, Biology must be indicated there, and it is absent from the automatic list. The responsible secretary of the KSAU admissions committee claims that she called both the ministry and the system operators, but the situation could not be corrected. OPORA observers checked the compliance of the Admission Rules with the Conditions approved by the Ministry of Education and Science Order and found that clause 7.2. of the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine on approval of the Admission Conditions to higher education institutions of Ukraine is VIOLATED. Biology can only be the third subject, while at the same time, results in Mathematics or History of Ukraine must be counted without fail. The admission rules to KSAU in 2010 were approved on November 5, 2009, and accordingly checked and agreed upon by the ministry on November 25 of the same year. Now a situation has arisen where accepting documents from applicants who planned to enter the directions of agronomy, technology of production and processing of livestock products, aquatic bioresources and aquaculture, ecology, environmental protection and balanced nature management is complicated due to the inconsistency of the admission rules with the current Conditions. 5) A problem is the inaction of operational headquarters created under education departments in the regions. We remind you that according to a letter from the Minister of Education and Science Dmytro Tabachnyk, by July 15, headquarters on issues of the 2010 admissions campaign should have been created in every regional and city education and science department, which would respond to applicants' appeals regarding violations and provide consultations via hotline telephone.
The Civil Network OPORA checked their work. Observers called the hotline with the question: a notary refuses to certify copies of documents, what to do in such a case? We emphasize that this question is a test one. A qualified employee should give the answer: copies of documents do not need to be notarized; they will be certified by admissions committee employees after comparison with the originals.
OPORA tried to find the telephone numbers of regional headquarters on the web pages of regional and city education departments, but this was possible only in 9 regions (Vinnytsia, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Sumy, Chernivtsi and Chernihiv oblasts). In all other oblasts, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol, hotline telephone numbers for applicants' appeals are absent on the websites, or are located in hard-to-access places.
In Chernihiv, Sumy and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts, the headquarters' telephones do not answer, and in Zhytomyr oblast the number is constantly busy. Professional consultation regarding the test question was provided only in two regional departments - Rivne and Zaporizhzhia.
Proposals from OPORA To the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine: ensure verification of the headquarters' work, inform the public through the media regarding their contacts, involve specialists capable of professionally working with applicants in the work of hotlines and conduct training for them in advance.
Contact person: Olha Aivazovska Chair of the Board of the Civil Network OPORA 063-617-97-50 For reference: The observation is taking place within the framework of the national admissions campaign monitoring campaign, whose participants are the Civil Network OPORA and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, with the assistance of the International Renaissance Foundation and the Alliance of the Program for Assistance to Independent Testing in Ukraine (USETI Legacy Alliance).