Training Programs Accreditation: the View of Experts

On February 22, 2024, experts of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance (NAHEQA) Prof. Boyarchuk O.R., Prof. Terenda N.O., Assoc. Prof. H. Ya. Zahrychuk, representatives of the industry expert council, Prof. Marushchak M.I., Prof. Fedoniuk L. Ya., Guarantor of the training program (TP) “General Medicine” Prof. Oleshchuk O.M. met with teachers and students of the university, representatives of training program support groups within the framework of a series of meetings organized by the Centre for Teachers’ Professional Skills Development. The meeting was dedicated to the issues of training programs accreditation.

At a meeting with research and teaching staff and university applicants, NAHEQA experts analysed in detail the criteria by which the TP accreditation procedure is carried out. As part of the analysis of criteria 1 and 2, the experts drew attention to the importance of matching the objectives of the TP with the mission and the development strategy of the university, as well as the fact that the positions and needs of interested parties, trends in the development of the specialty, the labour market, industry and regional context. The structure and content of TP should ensure the formation of an individual educational pathway.

During the analysis of the requirements of criterion 4, the experts of the industry expert council noted that the forms and methods of training used during the implementation of the TP should ensure the achievement of the goals and program results of training, meet the requirements of a student-centred approach, the principles of academic freedom, and consider the student as a subject of training . They drew the attention of those present to the expediency of wider use of innovative learning methods based on the nature of the logic of cognition, interactive technologies of collective and group learning, which are implemented in the educational process at the university in many departments.

The guarantor of TP “General Medicine” noted that currently the educational process in the specialty “Medicine” is regulated by more than 30 regulations, which are publicly available on the official website of TNMU in the Public Information section, which anyone can read. The meeting participants noted that they are familiar with the documents that regulate the educational process, implementation of control measures, attestation of applicants, the procedure for submitting an appeal, etc.

The rector’s representative on quality matters informed the participants of the meeting that, as part of the analysis of criterion 8, the university has built a 5-level system of internal quality assurance of higher education (IQAHE), within which systemic measures have been developed to counter violations of academic integrity, and a policy of internal quality culture is being formed. At the university, the procedure for developing, approving, monitoring and periodically reviewing educational programs is carried out with the involvement of various groups of stakeholders: research and teaching staff, students, representatives of student self-government bodies, representatives of employers, graduates, etc. Monitoring of education quality assurance is carried out at the faculty and university-wide levels, the results of which are presented on the website of the IQAHE department.

As part of the implementation of training programs, highly educated specialists are trained, whose employment trajectories include work in public and private health care institutions, institutions of the Ministry of Health, the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, etc. The academic community is involved in the procedures of internal quality assurance, creating the university image, the components of which are the culture of the quality of providing educational services, which reflects the history of the university’s development, the presence of scientific schools, corporate culture, the principles of university autonomy, and academic freedom.

Information was provided by Hryhorii Zahrychuk, Rector’s Representative on Quality; Sofia Husak, Head of the Centre for Teachers’ Professional Skills Development.