Experts of the Pravo-Justice Project and RJRC Members Discussed the Development of Legal Education in Ukraine
11 June 2021, the interregional expert discussion of the implementation of higher education standards for the Bachelor of Law and the Master of Law majors was held. The event was organized by the EU Project Pravo-Justice together with the USAID New Justice Program brought together, among others, members of the regional justice reform councils (RJRCs).
Following the discussions and based on the identified problems, the experts of both projects will prepare Guidelines for the implementation of higher education standards for the Bachelor of Law and the Master of Law majors.
When delivering his intro, Andrii Boiko, Chairman of the Legal Subcommittee of the Scientific and Methodological Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, National Expert of the EU Project Pravo-Justice, noted the need for constant updating of educational standards: “In order to make sure that the Guidelines are in line with the needs of HEIs, we want to hear from you which provisions of the standard need clarification or greater details. The standard should be a “living document” that takes into account peculiarities of the formation of educational programs in HEIs, and, of course, it should evolve.”
Marta Mochulska, Deputy Dean of the Law Department at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Coordinator of Lviv RJRC spoke about the challenges the law schools faced when implementing the standards for the bachelor and master degrees, including: developing the training curriculum, ensuring real selectivity of educational components, shaping the culture of internal quality assurance, organization of internships, lack of significant difference between the training of Bachelor and Master degree students, as well as different understanding of individual competencies, which sometimes have general wording.
“It is important not just to formally approach the introduction and implementation of educational standards, but to develop a proper culture of their application. And here communication measures and explanations are needed in order to explain to HEIs what their interest in having an internal quality assurance system is,” said Marta Mochulska.
Andrii Boiko, among other things, stressed the need to form practical skills and knowledge among the students: “The graduate’s ability to carry out professional activities should be the cornerstone of the training curricula.”
For her part, Oksana Melenko, Associate Professor of Public Law at Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, focused on internships for Master degree students, admission to HEIs for Junior Bachelors, implementation of the standard for extra-mural education, and internal education quality assurance.
Iryna Butyrska, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor of Procedural Law at Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Managing Partner of Lex Advance Law Firm, and Coordinator of the Chernivtsi RJRC, stressed the need to develop students’ practical and communication skills: “A lawyer should not only work well, but also to convey information to their clients, to be able to explain in simple language some complex legal issues, and even sell their services, therefore soft skills are also important in the work of future lawyers.”
Gintaras Švedas, International Expert of the EU Project Pravo-Justice, Professor at Vilnius University and former Deputy Minister of Justice of Lithuania, pointed out the importance of proper academic training of masters: “The Master Degree is the first academic degree. Therefore, when it comes to Master, we need to also think about academic skills and a student`s ability to conduct research.”
The participants also discussed the staffing and logistics support of law schools. In conclusion, Andriy Boyko assured the participants that the most complex provisions which are not reflected in the standards or are not clear enough would be covered by the Guidelines. They are expected to be completed and spread among HEIs by September.
Background:
Regional Justice Reform Councils (RJRCs) have been established with support of the EU Project Pravo-Justice and function in Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa regions and Donbas. To date, Councils members have been actively participating in drafting a bill on mediation, amendments to the Bankruptcy Code, proposals to improve legislation on enforcement proceedings, introducing e-court and discussing the concept of transitional justice.
RJRCs act as permanent working groups to promote bottom-up reforms: bringing region-specific challenges and potential solutions thereof to the level of central government.