AREAS OF FOCUS AND WAYS OF OPTIMIZING THE SYSTEM OF STATE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF THE QUALITY OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN UKRAINIAN REALIA

Abstract

The paper analyses quality in education as a social phenomenon, its impact on production, business, society and man. It is necessary to involve society and business to enhance quality in education. There are three factors which depend on quality in higher education. They are education – science – innovations. The article also presents national system of quality assurance in higher education which is approved by the Legislature. We find out mechanisms which can provide the efficiency of this system and the role and mechanisms of National agency of quality assurance in higher education. We emphasize the importance of an integrated approach of evaluating quality in higher education and offer to consider it from two points of view. The first is an external factor that is quality of the result of an educational process. Modern graduate training should meet the demands and requirements driven by employers (standard requirements). The second is an internal factor that is the characteristics of the system which provides quality in education. Here it is necessary to speak about the level of preparation of freshmen applicants, students, faculty staff, equipment and facilities, information and methodical resources, educational technologies, research activity, etc. We underline that the main component of state and public administration is managing quality in education which can be presented as a two-vector process. On the one hand, it should provide quality of internal steps of the process and the outcomes of students’ learning and to meet their educational needs and expectations of obtaining a relevant competency. On the other hand, it can provide the better use of resources to ensure quality in education and enhance the efficiency of the functioning of education system on the whole (external features of social system).