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PROFESSIONAL JUNIOR BACHELOR DEGREE

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Published on Wednesday, 24 November 2021 12:04

Written by Макаревич Евгения

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In 2019, the Law on Professional Pre-higher Education was adopted in Ukraine, according to which the Professional Junior Bachelor’s Degree has been implemented. The first enrollment to these programs took place in 2020. Currently, the system of pre-higher professional education and its quality assurance tools are being further developed and implemented.

Professional Junior Bachelor’s diploma is obtained at the level of professional pre-higher education and awarded by an educational institution after successful completion of the program requirements.

Professional pre-higher education may be obtained after basic secondary education, complete general secondary education, technical and vocational education, professional pre-higher education and higher education. Persons who go for the professional pre-higher education after the basic secondary education are obliged to simultaneously complete the upper secondary program.

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Program load

The Professional Junior Bachelor’s program load is 120-180 ECTS credits if obtained after complete general secondary education, of which up to 60 ECTS can be transferred based on the recognition of learning outcomes of the profile secondary education of corresponding field and/or specialty.

The load of the Professional Junior Bachelor’s programs after basic secondary education is up to 240 ECTS credits, including 120 ECTS for the integrated upper secondary program of corresponding field and/or specialty.

The load of the Professional Junior Bachelor’s programs after technical and vocational education, other programs of the professional pre-higher education or higher education is determined by admitting institutions, based on the amount of the recognised previous studies, which may be up to 50 percent of the total program.

The Professional Junior Bachelor’s programs are offered according to the list of approved higher education specialties.

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National Qualifications Framework Level

Professional Junior Bachelor qualification refers to the 5^th level of the National Qualification Framework and can be correlated with the 5th level of the European Qualifications Framework.

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Academic rights (access to further education)

The Professional Junior Bachelor’s qualification gives access to continue education at the level of Junior Bachelor, Bachelor and integrated Master of medical, pharmaceutical or veterinary fields. The admitting higher education institutions may transfer the ECTS credits obtained at the Professional Junior Bachelor's program, the maximum amount of which is determined by the relevant higher education standard.

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Quality assurance system

The quality assurance system of professional pre-higher education in Ukraine consists of:

1) quality assurance systems of institutions and their educational activities (internal quality assurance systems);

2) external quality assurance systems of institutions and their educational activities;

3) quality assurance systems for the operations of the State Education Quality Service and independent institutions of assessment and quality assurance.

The system of external quality assurance systems of the professional pre-higher education includes the following tools, procedures and measures:

1) standards of professional pre-higher education;

2) licensing of educational activities;

3) accreditation of programs;

4) external independent assessment of learning outcomes;

5) unified state qualification exam;

6) institutional audit;

7) monitoring of the education quality;

8) attestation of pedagogical (scientific and pedagogical) faculty;

9) certification of faculty;

10) public supervision.

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Licensing

The educational institutions shall operate and offer pre-higher education programs exclusively based on licenses issued by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

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Accreditation

Accreditation of programs is the assessment of the professional pre-higher education programs and educational activities of institutions with the purpose of ensuring and improving the quality of education. Accreditation of programs is carried out by the State Education Quality Service of Ukraine at the request of an institution. The first accreditation of a program is carried during the graduation year of the first cohort of students of the relevant program. Second and subsequent accreditations are carried out during the last year of validity of the previous accreditation certificate.

Professional pre-higher education programs can also be accredited by independent quality assurance establishments, approved by the State Education Quality Service of Ukraine.

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Specialized professional pre-higher education: arts, sport and military

Professional pre-higher education programs also include specialized arts, sport or military programs.

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Professional pre-higher art education

Professional pre-higher art education involves the acquisition of professional (including performing) competencies and is aimed at professional artistic and creative self-realization of students, obtaining qualifications in various arts, including training of teachers for primary art education. The professional pre-higher art education is offered to the graduates of primary and basic secondary education in arts and includes complete general secondary program, or it may be offered to upper secondary graduates and provides studies in a particular artistic specialty.

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Professional pre-higher sport education

Professional pre-higher sport education leads to acquisition of professional competencies in the field of physical culture and sports, formation and development of individual abilities, in-depth mastery of specialization in the chosen sport. Professional pre-higher sport education is offered to the graduates of both basic secondary education in sports and in such cases includes upper secondary program, and to upper secondary graduates. These programs may be also developed to primary school graduates. Sport programs in different sports are developed by all-Ukrainian sports federations and approved by the central executive body in the field of physical culture and sports.

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Professional pre-higher military education

Professional pre-higher military education involves military training and leads to acquisition of the professional competencies, formation and development of individual abilities and in-depth mastery of military specialization. These programs are open to graduates of upper secondary education. Professional pre-higher military training programs are developed by institutions of specialized military education (including military and sport) and approved by the relevant state bodies.

Specialized professional pre-higher education can be obtained also in institutions of specialized professional pre-higher education. Such institutions may also offer secondary programs which cover several level of complete general secondary education. The programs may be developed by educational institutions or in accordance with the typical programs.

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Educational and professional programs and curricula of professional pre-higher education

Within the licensed specialty, an institution of professional pre-higher education develops and approves programs in accordance with the relevant institutional regulations. The requirements for programs are formulated in the state standard of professional pre-higher education in the relevant specialty. The state standards of professional pre-higher education are developed for each specialty in accordance with the National Qualifications Framework and are used to develop content and assessment of learning outcomes.

The standard of professional pre-higher education defines the following program requirements:

• list of mandatory general and special competencies and learning outcomes
• program admission requirements
• the amount of ECTS credits required for the relevant specialty
• assessment forms
• requirements to the system of internal quality assurance
• requirements of professional standards (if applicable).

Standards of professional pre-higher education of specialties giving access to professions with the additional state regulation may contain additional admission requirements, requirements to the program structure, content of education, organization of the educational process and attestation of graduates. The normative content for the relevant program is formulated based on the learning outcomes and includes:

• admission requirements
• the program content formulated in terms of learning outcomes
• ECTS volume
• list of educational components and logical sequence of their implementation
• requirements of professional standards (if available)
• attestation forms
• requirements to the system of internal quality assurance
• list of graduates’ competencies.

On the basis of the relevant program requirements, the institutions develop curriculum with lists and ECTS load of subjects, their logical sequence, forms of organization of teaching process, types of classes and schedule, forms of current and final assessments, ensuring the achievement of the program learning outcomes.

On the basis of the curriculum, the institutions develop individual curriculums, that are approved for each student for each academic year. The individual curriculum is based on the student’s choice within the limits established by legislation, taking into account the mandatory components and requirements of the program. The individual curriculum is mandatory for completion.

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Types of institutions of professional pre-higher education:

Types of institutions of professional pre-higher education:

• professional college
• sergeant military college
• professional college with specific learning conditions

Professional college is a separate institution or structural division of a higher education institution, or another legal entity that offers professional pre-higher education programs, may conduct research and/or creative artistic and/or sports activities, provide a combination of theoretical studies with on-the-job training. The professional college has also the right, in accordance with its license(s), to offer upper secondary education, technical and vocational education, short-cycle higher education, and/or bachelor level of higher education. Professional colleges that offer specialized pre-higher education, may get the license(s) to offer two levels of general secondary education: basic and upper secondary.

Sergeant military college is a separate institution of advanced military education or a structural unit of a higher military educational institution that offers advanced military programs, that may be combined with applied scientific research or practical military training.

Professional college with specific learning conditions is a separate institution or a structural unit of a higher education institution with specific conditions of study, which offers pre-higher education programs, that may be combined with applied scientific research and practical training for the needs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine, other central bodies of executive power implementing state policy for the state border protection, civil protection, and law-enforcement system.

Higher educational institutions of I-II levels of accreditation, which offered Junior Specialist programs up to 2020, and did not receive the status of a college in accordance with the Law of Ukraine On Higher Education, get the status of an institution of professional pre-higher education.

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Educational documents on professional pre-higher education

A document on professional pre-higher education – Professional Junior Bachelor diploma (with diploma supplement) is issued to a person who has successfully completed the requirements of the relevant program. Documents on professional higher education are issued by institutions of professional pre-higher education where the studies take place.

The Professional Junior Bachelor diploma includes the following: the name of the issuing institution (or structural unit of a higher education institution, branch or campus); information on qualification, degree, specialty, specialization, educational and professional program; professional qualification (if applicable).

An integral part of the Professional Junior Bachelor diploma is a diploma supplement which contains structured information about the completed studies. The diploma supplement contains information on the learning outcomes with the list of subjects, grades and ECTS credits obtained, as well as information on the education system of Ukraine.

The Professional Junior Bachelor diploma shall indicate information about the program accreditation body (bodies), and diploma supplement shall have information about the relevant accreditation certificates and decisions issued by them.

Information on issued educational documents is added by institutions of professional pre-higher education (except for institutions of professional pre-higher military (and specialized military) education) into the Unified State Electronic Database on Education.

Information on all recognized institutions of professional pre-higher education (except for institutions of professional pre-higher military (and specialized military) education) is added into the Unified State Electronic Database on Education.

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Historical profile:

Professional prehigher education up to 2023

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This information has been produced with the financial assistance of the Council of Europe. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the Council of Europe.