What should higher education and science in Ukraine be like in order to drive the country's development during and after the war? How does the Ministry of Education and Science view reform? What about those directly involved in the sector? What are the requirements for educators and scientists in business today? Answers to these questions were sought by New Country during the discussion panel ‘Higher education and science in the wartime: challenges and opportunities.’
Top speakers in the discussion:
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Oksen Lisovyy
- Ella Libanova, Director of the Institute of Demography and Social Research
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Ella Libanova
- Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of the Kyiv School of Economics
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Tymofiy Mylovanov
- Kyrylo Hovorun, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles (California, USA)
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Kyrylo Hovorun
- Ihor Liski, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of EFI Group
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Ihor Liski
Rectors of the country's leading universities, representatives of the educational and scientific spheres, business, the public, and others also joined the discussion.
"We keep saying that victory in war without the development of education will not be a victory. Because we are fighting for a certain system of values. And this system of values includes human freedom, dignity, the right to self-realisation, and many other aspects. If we do not build a high-quality education system, we will not actually win tomorrow. We will remain in a raw materials-based economic model and face many other negative scenarios," said Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyy, speaking about the changes the ministry plans to implement.
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Ihor Liski, Ella Libanova, Oksen Lisovyy, Kyrylo Hovorun, Tymofiy Mylovanov, and Sonya Koshkina during the discussion
However, KSE head Tymofiy Mylovanov considers the habit of waiting for the ministry to come and implement reforms to be a Soviet paradigm. He advocates personal responsibility for one's own development.
“I understand that the role of the minister is to be accountable, but this expectation that someone in the education sector owes us something is deeply dysfunctional, ingrained in us by Soviet culture to stop us from moving forward,” Mylovanov believes. And the state, in his opinion, shapes and supports these expectations by declaring that it will raise salaries during the war or solve a number of other problems.
According to businessman Ihor Liski, Ukraine has a critical need for fundamental science and solutions on how to develop it.
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Ihor Liski, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of EFI Group
‘The country is at war. I want to talk about fundamental science. Where is it? Where are the lasers we will use to shoot down drones? Where will they come from in the Ukrainian military-industrial complex? Where will the scientists come from? Why are they all leaving?’ Liski appealed.
Ella Libanova, director of the Institute for Demography and Social Studies, considers the trend spreading across the country that we have too many people with higher education and need to train specialists in blue-collar professions to boost the labour market to be extremely negative.
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Ella Libanova and Oksen Lisovyy
“Excuse me, but higher education is not about the labour market at all. Higher education is about human development. The labour market is about skills. ... And it's great that our young people want to get this higher education. No matter how hard I tried to analyse the most basic things — unemployment rates by different levels of education, employment rates by different levels of education, income levels by different levels of education — I couldn't do it. Don't tell me that you can become a billionaire without a higher education. Someone may, but for the vast majority, income is directly proportional to the level of education, employment is directly proportional to the level of education, and unemployment is inversely proportional to the level of education," Libanova noted.
Education is about human development, but also about the development of a society experiencing collective trauma, says Doctor of Philosophy and theologian Kyrylo Hovorun.
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Kyrylo Hovorun and Oksen Lisovyy
"We can allow trauma to swallow us up, to relax, to start forgiving ourselves for being traumatised. And we have the right to do so. We have every right to forgive ourselves and thereby sink lower and lower because of trauma. Many people do just that. Or trauma can help us to regroup, consolidate and make a leap forward," said Hovorun, citing a number of examples, including Colombia, Chile, Congo and others, where countries torn apart by civil war and poverty have developed universities.
‘The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the least developed countries in Africa. It is generally dangerous to go out on the streets there. And yet there are excellent universities there. This is a striking contrast to what is happening on the streets,’ says Hovorun, demonstrating that opportunities for the development of education exist even under the most difficult conditions.
The full discussion on the future of Ukrainian higher education and science, as well as the full speeches of the speakers, will be available soon on LB.ua.
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Ihor Liski, Ella Libanova, Oksen Lisovyy, Kyrylo Hovorun, Tymofiy Mylovanov, and Sonya Koshkina during the discussion
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Ihor Liski, Ella Libanova, Oksen Lisovyy (right)
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Kyrylo Hovorun, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles
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Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of the Kyiv School of Economics, and editor of LB.ua Sonya Koshkina
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Ella Libanova and Oksen Lisovyy
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Kyrylo Hovorun and Oksen Lisovyy
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Sonya Koshkina
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Oksen Lisovyy, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine
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Oksen Lisovyy, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine
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Volodymyr Buhrov, Rector of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
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Nataliya Kryvda, professor at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, chair of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation
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Kyiv City Council Deputy Leonid Yemets and Kyrylo Hovorun, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles
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Oksen Lisovyy, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine
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Photo: Zoryana Stelmakh
Nana Voytenko, Rector of the Dobrobut Academy
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Oleksandr Dovhan, National Cancer Institute
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Head of Mission, World Congress of Ukrainians Andriy Shevchenko
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former Deputy Minister of Education Mykhaylo Vynnytskyy
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Oleksandr Sushko, Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation
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Deputy Editor-in-Chief of LB Maryna Synhayivska
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Kyiv City Council Deputy Leonid Yemets and Kyrylo Hovorun, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles
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Nataliya Kryvda, Sonya Koshkina, and Ella Libanova
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Acting Rector of Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, Oleksandra Olshanska, and Sonya Koshkina
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Rector of the University of Customs and Finance Dmytro Bocharov
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Oleksandr Dovhan, National Cancer Institute
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Sociologist and Rector of the Kyiv School of Economics Tymofiy Brik
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Sonya Koshkina and Ihor Rozkladay
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literary scholar and literary critic Orysya Demska
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Former Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Ihor Shvayka, and Head of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hennadiy Chyzhykov
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Olena Khalik, Editor-in-Chief, NEWS live
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Kyrylo Hovorun, professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and Tetyana Kahanovska, rector of Karazin Kharkiv National University (centre)
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From left to right: Volodymyr Buhrov, Rector of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; Tetyana Kahanovska, Rector of Karazin Kharkiv National University; Sonya Koshkina, Editor-in-Chief of LB.ua; and Ksenya Smyrnova, Vice-Rector for Scientific and Pedagogical Work at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
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Advisor to the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Olena Vdovychenko, specialist in communications for the scientific sector at the Ministry of Education and Science Olha Dmytruk and Volodymyr Birulya, communications manager for higher education and adult education at the Ministry of Education and Science
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Dmytro Vasylyev, Head of the European Green Deal Committee, Ukrainian Business and Trade Association
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Political strategist Oleh Medvedyev (centre) and Kyrylo Hovorun (left)
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Sonya Koshkina and MP Anna Purtova
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Sonya Koshkina and Oleksandra Lyashenko, professor at Luhansk National University named after Shevchenko
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Rector of Karazin Kharkiv National University Tetyana Kahanovska
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MP Roman Hryshchuk
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From left to right: Andriy Kulakov, Programme Director at Internews Ukraine; Andriy Shevchenko, Head of the Mission of the World Congress of Ukrainians in Ukraine; and Ihor Rozkladay, Chief Media Law Expert at the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law.
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From left to right: Volodymyr Buhrov, Rector of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; Yuriy Bondar, Director of the Institute of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; Sonya Koshkina, Editor-in-Chief of LB.ua; and Vyacheslav Ryabichev, Department of Social Communications, Institute of Journalism
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Lawyer Hryhoriy Shverk, Sonya Koshkina, and HR Director of General Chereshnya Andriy Lavrenovych (right)
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Mykola Skyba, education expert (right)
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Kateryna Yablochkova, Acting Head of the Department of Optics, Faculty of Physics, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
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Serhiy Orel, CEO of the Dobrobut medical network
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INL Director Richard Saunders and NABU Deputy Chair Polina Lysenko
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Former First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Kateryna Rozhkova and Editor-in-Chief of LB.ua Sonya Koshkina
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Artur Yurchenko, head of Taykun, and Sonya Koshkina
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Head of the Prayer Breakfast Movement in Ukraine, coordinator of the Christian platform of the Ukrainian-American partnership Pavlo Unhuryan and Sonya Koshkina
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Sonya Koshkina and MP Yevheniya Kravchuk
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Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Oksen Lisovyy and Rector of the University of Customs and Finance Dmytro Bocharov
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Speakers and moderator after the discussion
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Sonya Koshkina and Ihor Liski
