International conference on combating corruption in education held at UCU

Wednesday, 14 November 2012, 13:06
On November 9-10 at the Ukrainian Catholic University, an international conference “From a New Academic Culture to Civil Society Free from Corruption,” the main theme of which was to analyze and summarize the best anti-corruption practices in Ukrainian higher education and discuss techniques for fighting corruption.

Among the participants were Ukrainian and Polish experts, heads of universities, and public figures who work with education – people who, as noted by the president of the International Foundation for Education Policy Research Taras Finikov, have experience in fighting corruption.

The conference was divided into separate panel discussions. One of the main topics was the successful fight against corruption in Ukrainian universities. During the discussion, sociological studies on this subject, as well as expert opinions from leaders of institutions and university students, were presented. Interesting were the experts’ reports on measures that prevent corruption during admission, developed by the Ministry of Education during the leadership of Ivan Vakarchuk, as well as control over the process by NGOs.

Heads of educational institutions from all over Ukraine also shared their practical achievements against corruption and the creation of a new academic culture.

“When developed countries talk about issues of academic ethics, they have in mind plagiarism in research papers. We have to fight against corruption,” said Taras Finikov.

Using the example of the Ukrainian Catholic University, the experts discussed the possibility of creating new academic ethics that prevent corruption. “UCU is based on interpersonal relationships, thus creating in the university an environment of trust,” said the rector of UCU’s strategic planning Volodymyr Turchynovsky.

According to experts, academic ethics cannot be formed without such factors as the quality of education. “A university has a task and must adhere to standards,” said the Consul General of Poland in Lviv Jaroslaw Drozd. In this regard, the first rector of UCU Taras Dobko added: “The content of the values of the University should be bigger than the traditional ‘gentleman’ set, and include a goal. Academic culture cannot be borrowed, but only established.”

Polish experts actively participated in the conference. Not only did they summarize the reports of Ukrainian representatives, but they also gave their own advice.

“The project ‘From University Autonomy and Academic Ethics to a Society Free from Corruption’ is important for both countries. After all, what is happening in Ukraine is important for Poland and what is happening in Poland, I hope, is important for Ukraine,” said the project coordinator, Robert Suharski.

This not the first conference related to anti-corruption issues held at UCU. Ten years ago, in November 2002, the national conference “Transparency and Corruption in Higher Education” took place at the university.

Photo


The international conference “From a New Academic Culture to Civil Society Free from Corruption” was part of the project “From University Autonomy and Academic Ethics to a Society Free from Corruption” in collaboration with the International Foundation for Education Policy Research (Kyiv) and the Artes Liberales Institute Foundation (Warsaw) with assistance from the Support for Democracy program of the Polish Solidarity Foundation.

UCU Press Service

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