Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Mykhailo Vynnytskyi believes that the cost of contract education in higher education institutions should be increased. He noted that tuition grants will help to increase the cost of education.
Speaking on theDopamine for Education podcast, Vynnytsky stressed that it is impossible to provide quality training for the current 25,000 hryvnias per year. While in the poorest countries in Europe, the cost of university education starts at 3,000 euros, which is more than 132,000 hryvnias.
“Quality education should be expensive. As a teacher and as a person who knows a little about the financial part of university management, I cannot imagine how it is possible to train any specialist in higher education for 25 thousand hryvnias. And we have higher education institutions that offer this. They are mostly private, but still 25,000 hryvnias: come and pay. It’s just buying a diploma. This is the price for a year. I don’t understand how this can be done,’ he said.
Vynnytskyi also cited examples from Romania and Bulgaria, where university tuition starts at 3,000 euros, while in Germany, 6-8,000 euros per student is spent per year.
The average cost of contract tuition in Ukraine is 1,000 euros, which results in low teacher salaries and poor quality education.
‘Someone may call it working off, but I really don’t like this word because I don’t think it’s your duty to work off. It is the state that should offer a competitive first job. This can be done among doctors, it can be done with teachers, with some other professions related to the public sector. But I repeat once again: with competitive salaries, this is not about serfdom,’ Vynnytskyi added.
He also noted that although raising tuition fees is unpopular, it is a necessary step to improve the quality of education.
Draft law No. 10399, which will be considered by the Rada in November, stipulates that students on the state budget will have obligations to the state, which will offer them their first job.
‘Someone will call it working off, but I really don’t like this word because I don’t think it’s your duty to work off. It’s the state that should offer a competitive first job. This can be done among doctors, it can be done with teachers, with some other professions related to the public sector. But I repeat once again: with a competitive salary, it is not about serfdom,’ said Vynnytskyi.
Thus, students on the budget will have certain obligations to the state, while grants will not.
‘A grant is an investment in the future of the state, where the taxpayer says we need to invest in a young person. And a government order is an order for a specialist for the public sector. And this means certain responsibilities of that specialist to the public sector,’ he explained.
