Today, August 26, 2021, at the regular meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Procedure for revoking the decision on awarding a degree of higher education and awarding the appropriate qualification was adopted. “The government has made an important decision, namely – the creation of legal conditions that will encourage students to adhere to academic integrity and be held accountable in case of violations. It is important that from now on the procedure for deciding on revoking the degree or qualification of a specialist and the range of subjects authorized for such actions are clearly defined at the state level. We are talking exclusively about higher education institutions. I believe that the decision of the Government will contribute to the formation of responsibility of higher education in Ukraine and increase their competitiveness, “said Minister of Education and Science Serhiy Shkarlet.
The procedure determines:
- the procedure for revoking the decision on awarding a degree of higher education and assigning the appropriate qualification in case of detection of facts of violation of academic integrity by
- the applicant of higher education;
- the procedure for considering a case of violation of academic integrity by a higher education applicant;
- the procedure for considering the issue of voluntary refusal of the applicant for higher education from the degree of higher education and the assignment of appropriate qualifications;
- legal consequences of revocation of the decision and the procedure for its appeal.
This Procedure will apply to the decision to award higher education degrees “junior bachelor”, “bachelor” and “master” and the assignment of appropriate qualifications.
The decision is revoked taking into account the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Education” in case of detection, in particular in the qualification work, academic plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, write-off, deception, bribery.
The system of internal quality assurance of higher education of the university will ensure the observance of academic integrity by the participants of the educational process. Also, by the approved Procedure, the Academic Council of the institution of higher education will approve the procedure for identifying and establishing the facts of violation of academic integrity, which will include:
- the procedure for the formation and operation of the body that conducts the verification of applications (notifications) on the facts of violation of academic integrity;
- grounds for the inspection, terms, grounds, and procedure for appealing the results of the inspection;
- the procedure and terms of study and examination of qualification work of applicants for higher education, applications (notifications) on the facts of violation of academic integrity, as well as the procedure for preparation and requirements for expert opinion;
- qualification requirements for experts;
- the procedure for deciding to revoke the decision and the name of the body authorized to make such a decision;
- the procedure for exercising by a person in respect of whom the issue of violation of his / her academic integrity has been raised the rights provided for in part eight of Article 42 of the Law of Ukraine “On Education”.
The decision will be revoked by the higher education institution that awarded the relevant higher education degree or its successor.
Verification of information on violations of academic integrity and the adoption of an appropriate decision on possible violations of academic integrity by the university will be carried out within two months.
Based on the expert opinion, the higher education institution will make one of the following decisions:
- on cancellation of the decision on awarding the degree of higher education and awarding the appropriate qualification;
- on the lack of grounds for revoking the decision to award a degree of higher education and the assignment of appropriate qualifications.
A person who has a degree of higher education and who has been awarded the appropriate qualification, before submitting an expert opinion, which is prepared based on the results of information verification, will be able to voluntarily abandon the degree of higher education and relevant qualifications.
In case of cancellation of the decision on awarding the degree of higher education and awarding the appropriate qualification, the relevant document on higher education and documents on higher education issued on its basis will be invalid.
Source of publication: website of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
