Why study a second time?
Dear readers, departing from the usual forms of news, we offer you a kind of hit-parade of answers for those who in recent years have inquired about higher education from Rector Sergei Ierokhin. It is these questions that reveal the perspective of education in Ukraine. These questions, not as simple and naïve as they might seem at first sight, require separate consideration.
♦ At number 10 on my hit list is a request from a pensioner. A lady of honourable age comes in, she is in her seventies, her educational background is very solid. She shudderingly takes her " crooks" out of her bag and says:
"Here, I want to learn from you". But these are rather isolated cases (precisely in the context of second higher education, not specialised courses). A senior graduate of the Academy is Alexandra Shatokhina, aged 70, who obtained her second higher (legal) education at the Academy and is a manager of Audit Ukraine firm.
♦ In the ninth place, the question "When is the holiday? "To be more precise, is it possible to get a second higher degree without getting the first one? Such an option is institutionally impossible. A second education is acquired solely on the basis of the first (an already acquired Bachelor's, Master's or Specialist's degree). I've already explained so many times: the only way to get two degrees at once is to choose a double diploma programme from the very beginning, studying full-time in one speciality and part-time in the other. In other words, at the end of your studies you have two diplomas, e.g. Law (Master's degree by correspondence) and Finance (Master's degree by correspondence).
♦ The 8th place is steadily occupied by the question of ZNO for the second higher education degree. By 2018, passing the university's internal examinations was sufficient to obtain a second degree. After 2018, unfortunately, the state has complicated the conditions for obtaining a second higher education - now it is mandatory to register in advance and pass the state single entrance exam in a foreign language plus the Academy internal exam (written test in accordance with the chosen specialty) for entry in the specialties: "International Economic Relations", "Marketing", "Finance, Banking and Insurance", "Accounting and Taxation", "System Analysis". Pay attention to the specialty "Law": here the entrance is possible only on the basis of two state exams: unified entrance examination from a foreign language (UEI) and unified entrance examination in the specialty "Law" (UEFA).
♦I would give the 7th place to the opinion of a sceptic: "It would be better to work normally instead of collecting diplomas. We have half a country with a "higher" degree, many with two, but no one to get to the machine and to sit on the tractor. So the country turned out". My answer: in the Academy's understanding a second higher education provides for the gain not only of new theoretical knowledge but also of specific practical skills which are required in a modern society oriented towards the production of services rather than goods. So forgive me for such a dry but honest answer.
♦The 6th spot on my hit list is the question of the education of "desperate housewives". A whole category of people have emerged, and there are quite a few of them, and these people are usually women housewives who are studying to be... educated women for their men. I think that's great. After all, a woman is known to be able to raise or lower her husband to her level. Besides, women are not only wives but also mothers and grandmothers and they need to learn to keep up with their children or grandchildren. However, the thesis that you need more intelligence for family life is quite controversial, and so far there has been no mass influx of willing housewives in our Academy.
♦In 5th place is the question of the duration of training. They put a question: "You want to say that for the first education it is enough to sit for five years, make sessions, pass exams, study conscientiously, etc., but for the second one only two months are enough. Why such injustice? "Higher education, in particular a friend, which is received, by the way, one and a half years, is not simply knowledge, but an asset of a new style of thinking (pedagogical, economic, legal), which one acquires in two months on any, even the most modern and the most fashionable courses. It is a person's ability to process information in a new way, to operate with new categories.
♦ 4th place for the questions: "Why do you need a second or even a third education, if all the same in the final result is a pension of 2000 hryvnias, what to a workman, to a triple professor?" The level of pension is not related to education (the obvious shortcomings of the Ukrainian pension reform I would not like to discuss). In addition, statistics gives the opposite data and claims that it is people with higher education that have higher incomes.
♦ The 3rd place is occupied by a frequently discussed topic: "Is it really necessary to have a second higher education or scientific degree in the current life? "It is asked if any research has been conducted on the prestige of the second higher and PhD degrees now? How relevant is it to defend a PhD nowadays? Why do people choose the second higher education which is not similar to the first one? A second higher degree is just that, it expands the range of your professional opportunities. As a rule, our specialties (economics, law) come engineers, teachers, doctors working in business or public administration. The second above is an opportunity for them to change their field of work, get a promotion or consolidate their position by getting a second degree in their field of study (as opposed to a first degree). Let me give you some advice from my own experience: if you work for an international company, it doesn't matter how old you are, you should definitely consider a degree in management, if, of course, you intend to continue to build a career in this field. If you are self-employed and already have a university degree, a second degree in law or finance may also be helpful. If you are a freelancer (and freelancing is what people usually do when they change careers), a degree is not unreasonable, even if you intend to spend your whole life in Bali. We issue a universal degree.
♦ In second place are two questions. Among the burning ones are a request for assurance of entry and a question about a complete change of image. I'll start with the other. Asked to name a striking case, which for almost 30 years is remembered, exactly the opposite of education that has been extracted. From ballerina to turner, of course not. But our graduate with a master's degree in hairdressing changed first to a master of law and then became a candidate of law. That is why I ask you affectionately. Now for the answer to the tough question.
In 2019, admission to the second higher education (it does not matter whether it is budget or contract, it does not matter how long ago the first degree Bachelor / Specialist / Master) is possible only with the preparation of a single state diploma from a foreign language (EVI from English) and the internal entrance exam of the Academy on the chosen specialty (the content of our internal entrance exam at the Academy we define ourselves). This is relevant for all specialties except Law, where to be admitted we need a certificate of two state tests - in a foreign language and in the law (the EEFA is the only professional entrance test).
It is very important that you have to pre-register for both the EBE and the EHEF (this year it takes place from May 14 to June 5 at 18.00). The Academy has a counselling centre on the base of the Admission Board where we can answer all the questions, prepare all the documents and register you for the EEE and EBET.
♦ And to conclude. The leader of my personal hit-parade of questions steadily adheres to the question-parable: one student, who entered Harvard in 1973, was expelled two years later. And 32 years after his expulsion, he was ceremonially invited to Harvard to present his law school diploma - the administration had decided to make him their alumnus in absentia. This story probably demonstrates very vividly a simple idea: education alone does not make a career, or a name, or a destiny. Not a first education, not a second, and not even a third. The name of the man in question is Bill Gates.
But Bill Gates is rather the exception that proves the rule. After all, studying at university will help in building a successful career, and in no way hinders it. In addition, during the studies there is an opportunity to make useful connections, acquaintances and start a career (as an example, many of our students who were hired immediately after the internship at the Academy). Studying at the university is often a "lucky ticket" for many future entrants from the provinces.
Sergei IEROKHIN ,
Rector of the National Academy of Management,
Doctor of Economics, Professor
