We are talking with Tatyana Pergler about one of these new educational institutions - the Higher Socio-Economic School.
- We work according to the program and curricula of the National Pedagogical University named after Drahomanov. What specialties do we offer? Management, economics, entrepreneurship, sociology, psychology, political science, pedagogy. Management is very popular in the Czech Republic today. In addition, the school offers a whole range of services, for example, language courses. We teach Slavic languages - Polish, Russian, Ukrainian. We also have a weekend school. On Saturdays and Sundays, students can study these languages in more depth.
- How long does training last for specialties such as management, economics, sociology?
- The duration of study depends on the level of knowledge with which a person comes to us. If he has graduated from a vocational school or technical college, he can be enrolled at the level of junior specialist. A person who already has a higher education, a master's degree, but in a different field - he is, for example, an engineer - can retrain. Moreover, the training period will be minimal - from six months to a year. And the classic full-time study is three years (bachelor's degree) and five years (master's degree). In addition, we have developed a special course for Czech entrepreneurs who want to enter the Ukrainian market.
- Education is paid, as I understand?
- Our education is inexpensive: it's 390 euros per semester for evening and correspondence courses and 850 euros for full-time study. All other expenses, such as using the library or repairing a printer in the reading room, are covered by the university.
Olga Vladimirovna Babkina, professor, doctor of political sciences, teacher of political sciences at the National Pedagogical University named after Drahomanov, explains how the experience of Ukrainian educators can be useful for the Czech Republic:
- A new law on higher education was adopted in Ukraine, which allowed various forms of ownership. This is how universities, academies, schools, and joint ventures emerged. A new system of specialties and specializations appeared, which we did not know about during the Soviet Union. It should be said that our countries developed in unison in the early 1990s, and we created the systems of social and political sciences together. Excellent textbooks were written and translated into various languages. That is, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, new sciences and specialties were created simultaneously. Now we are trying to somehow pass this experience on to the Czech Republic. For this, we created a socio-economic school in Prague.
- Do I understand correctly that graduates will receive a diploma from the Drahomanov Institute?
- Indeed, these will be diplomas from the National Pedagogical University named after Drahomanov plus a diploma from the Higher School of Prague. So our graduate will receive two diplomas.
- Is this educational institution intended for Czechs, Ukrainians, Russians...?
- It is intended for different students; we have various educational programs. These can be Czechs, Russians, and Ukrainians who live and work here. Moreover, when a new educational institution is established, we study the demand: what interests people, what they would like to study...
- Are you satisfied with the interest in your university? Do you have enough students?
- Of course, we always want more. But we are just starting our business, taking the first steps. To make our school known, we hold open days and publish advertisements. But I think the best advertisement for our school is the staff. We take a very serious approach to those we invite to teach. We will have the best teachers from Ukraine who have their own schools and textbooks. I think we will work more in this direction.