Rector Tetyana Kaganovska in an Interview with Times Higher Education: “Ukraine Is Demonstrating Significant Progress in Higher Education Reform”

The Rector of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Professor Tetyana Kaganovska, shared her vision of the transformation of Ukrainian higher education in a feature published by the prestigious international outlet Times Higher Education.

Times Higher Education (THE) is a British weekly magazine specializing in news and issues related to higher education. It publishes the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, an annual ranking of universities based on its own methodology.

In her comments, Ms. Kaganovska highlighted key positive changes achieved in recent years: the strengthening of universities’ academic autonomy, higher standards for educational program quality, and improvements in the accreditation system. She emphasized that the law on individual educational trajectories, introduced in 2024, brings the Ukrainian higher education system significantly closer to European standards: “This step was not easy and brought us certain challenges, but it was necessary.”

At the same time, she openly outlined the difficulties universities face under martial law: lack of funding for new initiatives, a decrease in the number of international students, and increased workloads for university staff. Despite these challenges, Tetyana Kaganovska expressed confidence that Ukraine has strong scientific potential, which deserves financial support and modern infrastructure.

“I would like to see systemic, consistent, and well-coordinated reforms, including financial reform, increased state investment in science and higher education, encouragement of grant applications, public-private partnerships, and support from donors,” she noted.

The high level of expertise and strategic vision of the Karazin University rector has been recognized within the framework of the international discussion on the future of education in Ukraine. The publication of the interview in the leading global educational outlet Times Higher Education testifies to the university’s authority at the international academic level.

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