Establishing research universities in Ukrainian higher education: the incomplete journey of a structural reform

Abstract

The idea of the research university as a key institution for social and economic development in knowledge-intensive societies has been adopted by the Ukrainian government after the fall of the communist regime. Establishing research universities is a long journey during which many things might happen. To understand this journey better in the case of Ukrainian research universities, we applied an analytical framework derived from the concept of travel and translation of ideas. This concept analyses reform through three types of editing rules: the rules of context, logic and formulation. These editing rules have guided our analysis of data gathered from policy documents complemented by face-toface interviews. We conclude that the idea as introduced came to little, as the turbulent political context precluded long-term planning and universities were faced with conflicting policies.

Global education models in national contexts: the establishment of research universities in Ukraine

“…Data relating to each research university were collected for the period 2000-2014 because in 2014 a new Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine abolished the prior resolutions about the research universities (Hladchenko et al, 2016). Two sources of data were used: official documents were supplemented with semistructured interviews with 11 top managers of the three universities (rectors, vice-rectors, heads of administrative departments and of science parks).…”

“…Like during the prior critical juncture, changes after 1991 affected both organisational forms and organisational tasks. Concerning the former, Ukraine maintained the division between primarily teaching-oriented HE institutions and research-oriented institutes of the Academy of Sciences (Hladchenko, de Boer & Westerheijden, 2016;Osipian, 2014). Unlike other more rapidly westernised post-communist countries (e.g., the Baltics or Czech Republic), many of which quickly developed a binary HE system differentiating between professional HE institutions and universities, Ukraine preserved a unitary system.…”

“…However, as economic reforms stalled, the new research universities were instead converted from their intended mission of promoting a knowledge-based economy toward being a reward for loyal rectors. Specifically, powerful governmental actors, in particular the Prime Minister at that time, rewarded the status of ''research university'' to potential academic allies before presidential elections (Hladchenko et al, 2016). The rectors, in turn, hoped that the new status would enhance their funding and prestige.…”

“…He voiced the necessity of establishing research universities in Ukraine. The government supported this initiative and in 2009, it began to confer the status of a research university on higher education institutions (Hladchenko, de Boer & Westerheijden, 2016). The enactment of the global model of the research university, however, turned into means-ends decoupling at the state level because the means applied by the Ukrainian state under its declared aim to make several universities more research-oriented led neither to the development of the Ukrainian science sector nor to the development of a knowledge economy.…”

“…This bleak picture describes numerous post-communist countries (Hellman, 1998). One of these countries is Ukraine (Yurchenko 2018), in which the designation of the research universities in 2007-2014 also turned into means-ends decoupling at the state level (Hladchenko et al, 2016) because the means applied by the Ukrainian state under its declared aim to make several universities more research-oriented led neither to the development of the Ukrainian science sector nor to the development of a knowledge economy.…”