Quality over quantity
The date 24 December 2019 marked the approval of the performance funding formula for higher education in Ukraine. The formula will allocate public funding to higher education institutions based on their teaching, research and international performance.
Following good practice for performance-based funding mechanisms, the formula is based on the three-pillar model. The stable funding pillar covers universities’ operational costs and allows them to function in a relatively safe environment. The performance component rewards higher education institutions’ actual achievements in their core activities. The third pillar acts as an emergency fund to support targeted institutional capacity building and cover unpredictable costs.
While the student body remains one element of the formula, its relative share is cut substantially, meaning it no longer holds sway over public funding allocation in Ukraine. Since last month state resources for higher education institutions have been allocated based on a number of output-oriented indicators. These include, among other factors, the amount of third-party research funding universities attract and their presence in international rankings.
Diversified institutional funds that come from international research projects, commercial contacts and scientific expertise will be treated as a valid proxy of the trust in which Ukrainian higher education is held.
Putting this measure into the new public funding set-up is also expected to facilitate university-business collaboration. As is evident from the recent Global University Engagement Monitor national report, the latter is positively perceived by higher education managers and knowledge transfer professionals.
Universities are likewise to be rewarded for getting into the Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities or reaching the top 1,000 positions in the QS World University Rankings or the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Currently, six Ukrainian universities are high international performers and will, therefore, be incentivised in this way due to their exceptional quality.
These indicators will be supplemented by the institutional graduate employment indicator, following the launch of the graduate national tracking system later this year. Should university graduates be employed in positions that require a higher education qualification, their alma mater will get a bigger portion of public funding than those institutions whose educational programmes poorly correlate with labour market needs.
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