The national system of quality assurance (QA) in Ukraine is realized by means of licensing and accreditation procedures carried out by the Department for Licensing, Accreditation and Nostrification of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, through the State Accreditation Commission, the State Inspectorate of HEIs, and the Higher (Supreme) Attestation Board.
Licensing
The Law on Higher Education (2002) stipulates that educational establishments in Ukraine including those owned privately must be licensed before they can offer tertiary level educational programmes. To be granted a licence a HEI must meet the required standards set by the Ministry of Education and Science for higher education status at a certain level. These standards refer to: physical infrastructure, equipment and facilities, the learning resources (library and other media materials), the logistical, scientific-methodological and information base, and the number and qualification level of its staff, appropriate to the area of education and research in which it intends to offer programmes of study. The licence process assesses the list of subjects, the content of the educational programme of these subjects and the assessment tools used to examine students.
Licensed HEIs are listed in the Ministry's Public Register of HEIs.
Accreditation
In Ukraine accreditation procedures include both accreditation of the programmes of study in a certain field of study and speciality offered by HEIs, and institutional accreditation of HEIs.
Accreditation of programmes of study
To have a study programme accredited in a certain field of study and speciality a HEI must meet the demands of the higher education standards in terms of educational and professional provision offered by it. Programmes of study are accredited in relation to the relevant qualification associated with a certain educational-proficiency level, and thus at a certain level of accreditation.
Institutional accreditation of HEIs
The status of a HEI is determined by the proportion of programmes that it has accredited at particular levels. A higher education institution may receive institutional accreditation at a certain level, if at least two thirds of its specialities (specialisms) have already received accreditation at this level.
The Law of Ukraine On Higher Education (2002) establishes four levels of accreditation of higher education institutions.
Higher education institutions of the first accreditation level train Junior specialists;
Higher education institutions of the second accreditation level train Junior specialists and/or Bachelors;
Higher education institutions of the third accreditation level train Bachelors, Specialists and, in certain professions (specialities), Masters;
Higher education institutions of the fourth accreditation level train Bachelors, Masters and Specialists. Additional criteria for the institutions of the fourth accreditation level include postgraduate and Doctoral courses, high-level research and publications activities.