ʺLegal limits of the autonomy of institutions of higher education in the formation of educational programsʺ

Abstract

The paper considers the issues of formalization of legal norms aimed at regulating the internal quality
assurance system of higher education through a system of local acts of specific higher education institutions.
In particular, the normative legal acts of general nature concerning the regulation of this issue are analyzed,
namely the Law “On Education”, the Law “On Higher Education”, the Regulations on Accreditation of
Educational Programs for Training Higher Education Applicants, the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers
“On Approval of the License Conditions for Educational Activities”.
Significant attention is paid to studying the role of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in
Higher Education in the process of forming a quality assurance system for higher education, in particular
through the adoption of relevant regulations, the need for approval of which is clearly stated in the laws on education. An analysis of the gaps in normative regulations at the level of realization of powers of the
Agency (NAZYAVO) is provided.
Issues of local regulation of the internal quality assurance system of higher education are considered in
more detail. First, the components of the system (VSZYAVO), which are set out in the law “On Higher
Education”, are analyzed. There are some differences between the terminological expression of the
components of the internal quality assurance system of higher education and the practice of organizing the
educational process in higher education institutions. There is a discrepancy between certain legal categories,
which leads to inaccuracies in their expression and ambiguous understanding at the level of specific higher
education institutions. Secondly, the legal approaches of specific education institutions to the process of
normative regulation of this group of public relations at the local level are considered in detail. Within each
component of the internal quality assurance system (VSZYAVO) specific types of normative-legal acts,
which fix legal norms, are allocated. Certain problems of substantive nature of local NLAs are revealed, as
well as their inconsistency with each other, and the existence of quite a lot of them to regulate one and the
same issue. The key problems in the process of application of legal technologies are analyzed, namely the
lack of a systematic approach to the creation of local regulations, the lack of highly qualified professionals
who are competent enough to develop legal acts.