DETERMINANTS AND DIRECTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY IN UKRAINE: ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYERS' EXPERT OPINION ; ДЕТЕРМІНАНТИ ТА НАПРЯМИ ВДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ ЯКОСТІ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИ УКРАЇНИ: АНАЛІЗ ЕКСПЕРТНОЇ ДУМКИ РОБОТОДАВЦІВ

Abstract

Problem setting. During the recently held parliamentary hearings about «Balanced development of human capital in Ukraine: tasks of education and science», event's participants paid attention to the outstanding role of higher education and its quality in ensuring the development of human capital in Ukraine. It is higher education, as well as connected with it scientific and organizational activities, that is considered at the level of one of the conditions for the effective accumulation of the state's national wealth. Such accumulation cannot be imagined without employers' participation in the relevant process, both at the level of direct production process's participants, and at the level of consultants of the administration of higher educational institutions on the content and practice of implementing educational programs. Taking this fact into account, we can say that employers play a significant role in assessing the higher education quality and adjustment of state policy directions in the higher education sphere .Recent research and publications analysis. The issue of higher education quality ensuring is not a fundamentally new direction in organization of the scientific researches, and therefore the level of their scientific studying is quite high. A significant contribution to solution of relevant issues was made by representatives of pedagogical scientific thought, namely: N.G. Batechko, V.Yu.By`kov, G. P. Klimova, V.G. Kremen`, V.I. Lugovy`j, S.M. Nikolayenko, O.G. Romanovs`ky`j, P.I. Sikors`ky`j and many other researchers. In the framework of the sphere of knowledge «Public Administration and management», the phenomenon of the higher education quality was developed in the works of V.M.Babayev, L.M. Gren`, S.M. Dombrovs`ka, T.O. Lukina, V.M. Moroz, A.V. Ozarovs`ka, V.P. Sadkovy`j, N.A. Syerkova I.M. Xmy`rov, S.O. and other scientists. Among foreign scientists, whose focus of scientific attention was the issues of ensuring the educational activities' and higher education quality by institutions of higher education, we should highlight S. Buka, G. Prakash, D. Silva, R. Ulewicz, К.Hadullo and other researches. Despite the scientists' sufficient attention to the higher education quality, some of its questions still need additional research. Among them those are of great importance, content of which is connected with determining of employers' place and role in ensuring of the higher education quality. Paper objective. Basing on the results of the analysis of employers' opinions on the power of influence of the higher education quality's individual factors on its final level, we suggest ways to improve the content and practice of implementing of state policy in the higher education sphere. Paper main body. The survey of employers was held within the framework of one of the planned tasks of the author's non-grant project «Assessment of the higher education quality». In the period from December 2017 to February 2020, 184 respondents (employers) were interviewed, mainly from Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, as well as controlled by Ukraine parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire method and in-depth interviews with some of the focus group representatives. Among questionnaire's fifteen questions, the focus of direct attention of which was made on one or another aspect of the manifestation of the phenomenon of the higher education quality, there was also one of them, the content of which appealed to the problem of the power of influence of individual determinants on the higher education quality. Among the proposed for respondents' evaluation determinants were also the following ones: material and technical support of the educational process; compliance of the educational programs' content and teaching methods with the requirements of time and labour market demand; the level of internationalization of educational activities; connections of higher education institutions with the real sector of the economy; characteristics of research and teaching staff. The results of the analysis of respondents ' answers to these questions were used as the basis for this publication. Conclusions of the research. Such conclusions were formulated basing on the results of the held research. Importance of each of the higher education quality factors was evaluated by employers on a high level, namely (factors' list is presented in order of reducing strength of their influence on the final level of higher education quality): material and technical support of the educational process-25%; compliance of the educational programs' content and teaching methods with the requirements of time and labour market demand – 22%; the level of educational activities' internationalization – 20%; connections of higher education institutions with the real sector of the economy – 17%; characteristics of research and teaching staff – 16%. In case if we consider proposed for assessment factors through the prism of their actualization at a particular level of assurance of higher education quality, we can talk about the dominance of the organizational level, namely the level of the internal quality assurance system. Actualization of the most of considered by us factors of ensuring of higher education quality is held at the level of the system of ensuring quality of higher education institute's educational activities' and higher education . Taking into account the considerable importance of factor of the internationalization of educational activities, we suggest considering the possibility of its including into the system of criteria for evaluating the educational program quality by the National Agency for higher education quality assurance at the level of a separate (independent) criterion. 4. We consider it appropriate to initiate a discussion on the feasibility of institutionalizing on the first level of higher education of two types of educational programs, namely, educational – professional (such programs are currently typical for The Bachelor's level) and educational-specialized (nowadays existence of such a type of educational programs is not provided by current legislation). The difference between these educational programs can be actualized through the prism of the number foreseen for mastering ECTS credits. We propose to delineate the scope of the varieties of the mentioned above bachelor's degree programs in this form. We propose to distinguish the volumes of the mentioned above varieties of Bachelor's educational programs in the following form: the volume of the Bachelor's program of educational – professional level-240 ECTS credits (4 years of studying); the volume of the Bachelor's program of educational-specialized programs - 180 ECTS credits (3 years of study). ; У статті висвітлено результати опитування роботодавців щодо сили впливу окремих з детермінант якості вищої освіти на її підсумковий рівень. За результатами аналізу відповідей респондентів встановлено, що найбільш значущими серед запропонованих до оцінювання роботодавцями факторів є ті, які пов'язані з матеріально-технічним забезпеченням навчального процесу та відповідністю змісту навчальних програм вимогам ринку праці. Ідентифікована найменша за силою впливу значущість детермінант якості вищої освіти для якісних та кількісних характеристик науково-педагогічних працівників, а також для стану зв'язків закладів вищої освіти (ЗВО) з реальним сектором економіки. Обґрунтовано напрями вдосконалення змісту та практики реалізації державної політики щодо забезпечення ЗВО якості освітньої діяльності та якості вищої освіти.Ключові слова: державна політика у сфері вищої освіти; заклад вищої освіти; якість вищої освіти; фактори впливу на якість вищої освіти; опитування роботодавців; публічне управління якістю вищої освіти.