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HIGHER EDUCATION 
AND EDUCATIONAL 
MIGRATION 
 
 
 
The need for reforming Ukrainian education system has been on the 
front burner since 1991, and the events of 2013-2014 created additional 
prerequisites for that: society matured, the state authorities have 
changed, and a new version of the Law on Higher Education was 
adopted. It is important to investigate the development trends of 
education quality sustaining system, certain issues of academic and 
financial autonomy of Ukrainian HEIs as means for improving their 
competitiveness as well as that of national educational system in 
general. Since Ukraine has adopted pro-EU orientation, there is also a 
need for studying and applying European experience and best practices 
in order to access the European educational and scientific space. It is 
also crucial to analyze the problem of educational emigration from 
Ukraine. Determining the benefits of studying abroad and the 
disadvantages of the Ukrainian educational system should serve 
understanding the changes that could stimulate development of 
Ukrainian HEIs and the educational system. 
In the context of Euro integration prospects of the Ukrainian HE 
became the subject of analysis by many scientists. Features of the 
Ukrainian HE system are systematized in [16] while its current state and 

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the level of financing are analyzed by Vlasyuk T. [22]. 
Analysis of the new Higher Education Law (2014), description of 
defeats, successes, and prospects for the higher education development 
in Ukraine are highlighted in [12]. The reform of the higher education 
system in Ukraine is analyzed by Nikolaev E. and Dluhopolskij O. [13]. 
Shandruk S. and Shatrova Zh. [17] investigate challenges detaining the 
education reforms in Ukraine. They consider alignment of the Higher 
Education Law of Ukraine with the Bologna Process as a way of 
integration into the European HE Area. 
Averianova I. and Chochlova T. [1] argue that although the first 
stage of Ukrainian HE integration into the EU educational system is 
complete, it brought mostly negative results and has not provided 
expected improvement of education quality. They state that HEIs should 
modernize content and methods of education. Hrynkevych O. and 
Lutchyn N. [9] investigate the problems of internationalization in 
Ukrainian HE in the context of innovative development. 
Bąk M. [2] suggests that in Eastern Europe declining status and 
prestige of the teaching profession and still existing huge hierarchic and 
administrative educational structures hold back progress in education. 
Still he recommends using Polish and Czech experience for modernizing 
Ukrainian HE and states that high quality education is crucial from the 
perspective of demography, unemployment and migration problems in 
the country. Furiv U. [6] investigates how the Ukrainian HEIs have been 
impacted by and coping with the political and economic crisis the 
country has been undergoing since 2014. 
Majority of foreign scientists believe that corruption in the Ukrainian 
HE is the biggest obstacle for its development. Osipian Ar. [14] affirms 
that corruption in Ukrainian HE undermines quality and credentials of 
academic degrees received and constrains country‟s sustainable 
economic growth, but modernization of modes of teaching, and 
curriculum, and development of university autonomy may help to 
restrain corruption. In his later work [15] he states that it is difficult for 
Ukrainian HE to adapt to recent free market challenges because of 
corruption and lack of university autonomy, even though internal 
pressures, financial integrity and marketization of educational services, 
changing organizational and managerial structures of HEIs are forcing 
the system to change. Vasylyeva A. and Merkle Or. [21] show the grave 
extent of corruption in Ukrainian HEI and identifies three most 
prevalent corruption schemes: at the stage of entering a university, in 
grade attainment throughout all years of education, and administrative 

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corruption. For combating corruption they propose: further research; 
increasing transparency in the HEIs; information campaigns and