Doctoral training and merit-based recruitment of researchers

 

The total number of doctors of science and of candidates of sciences is growing in Ukraine. The latter grew from 59,000 in 2000 to 85,000 in 2011, and the number of doctors of sciences from 10,300 to

 

 

147 Kovбcs, Klбra (no year):: the Bologna Process in Ukraine. http://www.academia.edu/3500678/The_Bologna_Process_in_Ukraine

148 Bologna Process Implementation Report 2015.

 

149 Bologna Process Implementation Report 2015.

 

150 Bologna Process Implementation Report 2015.

 

151 Bologna Process Implementation Report 2015.

 

152 These numbers vary; according to https://www.daad.de/medien/bma_ukraine.pdf 38,666 Ukrainians are studying abroad.

 

153 INCO NET EaP Country Report (updated June 2015, source: NIP Ukraine).

 

154 https://www.daad.de/medien/bma_ukraine.pdf 38,666: accessed on 6 May 2016.

 

155 Bologna Process Implementation Report 2015.

 

14,900 during the same period. However, only 20.6% of this growing number of doctors and candidates of science were involved in R&D as their primary job task in 2011.¹⁵⁶

 

Doctoral education in Ukraine is hardly structured along professional research education standards (e.g. doctoral schools). The content of doctoral programmes contains both interdisciplinary subject units (lectures, seminars etc.) and individual research work. Credits can be acquired on the basis of work load and performance. It seems that the doctoral education lags behind the transformation of other levels of higher education.

 

Having PhD degrees from abroad acknowledged in Ukraine was a long and complicated process until recently, which corresponded to a kind of “second defending”. Firstly, a number of documents had to be collected and presented to the independent State Qualifying Commission, and when these were accepted, the Committee appointed another committee consisting of 2-3 experts of the given field, which evaluated the dissertation and gave an opinion on it. On the basis of the candidate’s answers given to the questions of the committee they decided whether to accept or refuse the dissertation¹⁵⁷.This slow and burdensome approval process seems to have been considerably accelerated since the Commission was subordinated to MESU recently.

 

Concerning the recruitment of researchers, new positions are few and the number of researchers is constantly declining in Ukraine since 1990s, which led to an internal and external brain drain. The latter, however, does not seem alarming anymore at first sight: in 2005-2011, less than 50 researchers with scientific degrees (candidates and doctor of sciences) emigrated from the country annually.¹⁵⁸ At the same time, however, approximately 1,000 researchers had long-term visits abroad every year and more than one quarter of them stayed longer than one year in foreign countries. According to Yegorov (2013) this “means that the mode of emigration has changed from permanent migration to a ‘shuttle’ one. ”¹⁵⁹

 

The labour market for researchers in general is not very dynamic since it is difficult to terminate an existing contract with an individual researcher without serious reasons. There is also hardly any influx from foreign researchers. Although foreigners could compete for positions in Ukrainian research institutes and universities, language is often a barrier, because all higher education activities, as a rule, have to be in official state languages. The second reason relates to the general tax regulations for employment of foreigners, which give a clear advantage for the citizens of Ukraine. The third and maybe most important reason is the relatively low salary paid in the research sector in Ukraine.¹⁶⁰

 

To attract young scientists, special state stipends were increased two to four fold in the last couple of years, depending on the type of the stipend. The same holds true for state awards for advancement in science which support the most talented and which should stimulate their work within the country.¹⁶¹ According to Yegorov (2012), young scientists have access to four main types of special support stipends, which in total are less than 1,500 per year: special stipends for young doctors of science; stipends of the President of Ukraine, stipends for young scientists from the presidium of the National Academy of Sciences and regional stipends for young scientists; all of which range between Ђ30 and Ђ200 per month.

 

Although the number of stipends and their financial levels have changed in the last couple of years, their basic structure and principles of provision remained almost the same.¹⁶²

 

The over-ageing of research personnel in Ukraine, could lead to a slightly better labour market for younger researchers in the future, if the system of research funding does not further shrink. A large number of scientists are at pensionable age in Ukraine. The average age of Doctors of Science is more

 

156 Yegorov, I. (2013): ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Ukraine.

 

157 Gabуda – Gabуda 2008; Cited in Kovбcs, Klбra (no year): the Bologna Process in Ukraine. http://www.academia.edu/3500678/The_Bologna_Process_in_Ukraine, p. 10.

 

158 Yegorov, I. (2013): ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Ukraine.

 

159 Yegorov, I. (2013): ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Ukraine, p. 24.

 

160 Yegorov, I. (2013): ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Ukraine.

 

161 Yegorov, I. (2013): ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Ukraine.

 

162 Information provided by Professor Igor Yegorov, Deputy Director of the Institute for Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on 23 May 2016.

 

than 61 years and that of Candidates of Science more than 53.¹⁶³.The average age of researchers has been growing by one year every three years in the last decade.¹⁶⁴