INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND INDICES OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN UKRAINE: HISTORICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS

It has been established that the origins of international cooperation standards in higher education trace back to the 1950 Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Materials. Over time, fostering collaboration among states in the field of higher education became a core focus of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO initiated the drafting and adoption of multilateral agreements concerning the mutual recognition of qualifications and academic experiences within higher education. These regional and global conventions highlight several key principles: higher education is recognized as a public good and a public responsibility; state oversight remains central, while private higher education and academic autonomy are also upheld. Additionally, the conventions emphasize the importance of academic mobility across all educational levels. The mechanisms for recognizing higher education qualifications, as set out in these conventions, are based on reciprocity and nondiscrimination. They also reflect the diversity of national higher education systems, alongside the need for greater standardization, transparency, and harmonization. The implementation of the Council of Europe’s legal standards in higher education is characterized by the application of the 1950 Convention and its Protocol’s Article 2, as interpreted by the European Commission and the European Court of Human Rights. European legal practice generally does not impose positive obligations on states to expand higher education to meet individual demands. It allows for restrictions on access to higher education, provided they comply with nondiscrimination principles. Ukraine’s bilateral education agreements typically cover academic exchange programs, study conditions for nationals of partner countries, exchange of information on higher education governance, and implementation of inter-university cooperation. These agreements, especially those at the university level, serve as practical tools for applying and advancing international legal standards in higher education, widely used by both public and private Ukrainian universities. A notable portion of these inter-university agreements focus on cooperation between specific departments or laboratories. Such agreements are often concluded for two to five years or indefinitely, usually with provisions for automatic renewal or renegotiation. Their content frequently mirrors the terms found in bilateral agreements between government departments overseeing higher education. Ukrainian law holds the aggressor state accountable for human rights violations in occupied territories. While it acknowledges the continued pursuit of secondary and higher education by residents of these regions, it does not recognize the academic credentials issued by occupation authorities. Instead, Ukrainian legislation provides mechanisms for validating qualifications earned in the occupied territories and offers affected residents preferential access to state-funded higher education.