Responsible bodies 

The bodies responsible for ensuring the quality of higher education in Ukraine include the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MESU), the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance (NAQA), the Ukrainian Centre for Educational Quality Assessment (UCEQA) and the Testing Board for Professional Competence Assessment of Higher Education Trainees in Medicine and Pharmacy.

The MESU establishes the relevant institutional and legal framework for the higher education quality assurance system (Якість освіти МОН). It defines approaches and methods for assessing the quality of higher education. The MESU also collaborates with sectoral public authorities to develop standards for each specialty, which it then approves in consultation with the NAQA. In line with NAQA’s proposals, the MESU approves regulations for programme accreditation and the institutional accreditation procedure. The MESU also compiles a list of fields of knowledge and specialties for higher education programmes and submits it to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Additionally, MESU sets the procedure for recognising qualifications awarded by foreign higher education institutions (HEIs), in agreement with NAQA.

The NAQA is a permanent collegial body responsible for implementing state policy on quality assurance in higher education(Постанова Кабінету Міністрів України ‘Про утворення Національного агентства із забезпечення якості вищої освіти’).It works closely with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the MESU. The NAQA also cooperates with central and local executive authorities, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the national branch academies. In addition, it engages with local governments, public associations, enterprises, institutions, research organisations and HEIs in other countries. NAQA maintains links with international organisations active in the field of higher education.

The NAQA's main responsibilities include the following:  

• developing regulations on the accreditation of educational programmes, institutional accreditation of HEIs, accreditation of independent institutions, assessment and quality assurance of higher education, and the functioning of the Appeals Chamber;

• analysing the quality of educational activities in HEIs;

• conducting institutional accreditation;

• carrying out post-accreditation monitoring;

• accrediting educational programmes for the training of higher education students;

• entering information into the Unified State Electronic Database on Education concerning certificates (official decisions) on the accreditation of educational programmes issued by foreign accreditation agencies or quality assurance agencies in higher education. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approves the list of such agencies;

• formulating criteria for assessing the quality of educational activities, including the scientific achievements of Ukrainian HEIs. These criteria are used to determine institutional rankings;

• developing procedures for awarding and revoking the decision of a one-time specialised academic council of a HEI or research institution on the award of a Doctor of Philosophy degree. The NAQA submits these decisions to the central executive body responsible for education and science for approval;

• accrediting independent institutions responsible for evaluation and quality assurance in higher education and maintaining their register;

• performing other functions as provided by law.

Every year, NAQA prepares and publishes a report on the quality of higher education in Ukraine and its relevance to the sustainable and innovative development of society, and other related issues. 

UCEQA is a state non-profit enterprise. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine has entrusted it with the function of external quality control over the training of healthcare specialists. This includes assessing the quality of training and ensuring its compliance with higher education standards through standardised testing in the form of the USQE and the ‘Krok’ exams.

Approaches and methods for quality assurance 

According to the Law on Higher Education (Закон України ‘Про вищу освіту’), quality means meeting both the conditions of study and the learning outcomes set out in legislation and higher education standards. This also includes any relevant professional or international standards. HEIs achieve this by carrying out internal and external assurance procedures that respond to the needs of stakeholders and society.

The quality assurance system of higher education in Ukraine consists of:

1) the system of ensuring the quality of educational activities and the quality of higher education (the internal quality assurance system) of HEIs;

2) the system of external quality assurance of HEI educational activities and higher education quality;

3) quality assurance systems of the NAQA and independent institutions for the evaluation and quality assurance of higher education.

The internal quality assurance system involves the following procedures and measures:

• defining the principles and procedures for ensuring the quality of higher education;

• monitoring and periodic review of educational programmes;

• annual evaluation of higher education students, as well as teaching and research staff at HEIs;

• providing professional development for pedagogical, scientific and research staff;

• ensuring the publicity of information about educational programmes, higher education degrees and qualifications;

• ensuring academic integrity among HEI employees and students;

• other procedures and measures.

The NAQA or its accredited independent institutions, for evaluation and quality assurance of higher education, evaluate the internal quality assurance system to ensure compliance with the requirements of the higher education quality assurance system.

The external quality assurance system for the educational activities of HEIs and higher education quality involves implementing the following procedures and measures:

• ensuring the effectiveness of internal quality assurance processes and procedures at HEIs;

• ensuring the availability of a system of external quality assurance procedures;

• ensuring the availability of published decision-making criteria following the quality assurance standards and recommendations of the European Higher Education Area;

• establishing accessible and clear reporting;

• conducting periodic inspections of the quality assurance systems and mechanisms to address recommendations received;

• other procedures and measures.

        The quality assurance systems of NAQA and of independent institutions responsible for evaluating and assuring the quality of higher education include the following procedures and measures:

• ensuring the availability and effectiveness of processes and procedures for external quality assurance of higher education;

• ensuring the availability of sufficient and balanced resources for implementing external quality assurance processes in higher education;

• ensuring independence in NAQA’s and independent institutions' activities for evaluation and quality assurance of higher education;

• accountability;

• other procedures and measures.

Authorised bodies develop higher education standards for each level and specialty under the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). These standards help to determine and assess the quality of higher education, the performance of HEIs (including research institutions), and the learning outcomes in relevant specialties.

A higher education standard specifies the following requirements for an educational programme:

1) the number of ECTS credits required to obtain the relevant higher education degree;

2) the educational level of individuals permitted to enrol on the programme and the outcomes of their studies; 

3) a list of mandatory graduate competencies;

4) the normative content of higher education students’ training, formulated in terms of learning outcomes;

5) forms of assessment of higher education students;

6) requirements for creating educational programmes in a field of knowledge, two fields of knowledge, or a group of specialties (for junior bachelor's degree standards), as well as interdisciplinary educational and scientific programmes (for master’s and doctoral standards);

7) professional standards requirements (if available).

HEIs have an internal quality assurance system for education. The following departments and educational units are responsible for this system:

• heads of the HEI, faculty, educational and research institute, department;

• the Academic Council of the HEI;

• the supervisory board;

• student self-government bodies;

• scientific societies of students (cadets, trainees), postgraduates, doctoral students and young scientists.

There are also approaches and methods to guarantee the quality of higher education:

The USQE is a standardised form of controlling the achievement of learning outcomes as defined by the higher education standard and assessing such outcomes. USQEs can be conducted as external independent evaluations and include various types of tasks (multiple-choice questions, extended response, situational tasks, etc.) according to the qualification exam programmes.

The UPEE is a form of entrance examination for admission to a master's degree programme. It assesses the applicant’s level of preparation in a specific field.

The UEE is another entrance examination for master’s degree admission. It combines a general academic competence test and a foreign language test (English, German, French or Spanish, at the applicant’s choice) (Основне про магістерські випробування).

The integrated test exam ‘Krok’ is a test component of the USQE for master’s degree students in the field of knowledge 22 ‘Healthcare’. The exam takes place in one or two testing stages: ‘Krok 1’ and ‘Krok 2’(Центр тестування).