European Humanities University (EHU) Has Not Passed Accreditation of the Ministr
56 experts participated in the work of the Accreditation Commission of the Ministry of Education. The Commission worked for 17 days. During the final meeting of the Commission most of its members gave positive assessments for the work of the University employees and knowledge of the students.
The Chair of the Commission (Uladzimer Samusevich) had opposite opinion. This official does not see any possibility to give credit to the University this year. The reason for that is that the Department of Economics does not meet the accreditation criteria. During the accreditation test one of five students of this Department got unsatisfactory mark and by this lowered the percentage of the students’ results in all the University making it below the norm. The Chair of the Department of Quality Assurance within the Ministry of Education, Valer Ausiannikau says:
(Ausiannikau: ) “There is a law concerning the accreditation of Higher and Secondary Educational Institutions. According to it even if one specialization within a faculty is not given credit because of the level of knowledge of students than the whole University cannot be given credit as well. We are not interested in the particular percentage. This level is 85% of positive marks. If the indicator at the University is lower than 85% than the specialization is not given credit. In this very situation the percentage is lower the norm and that is why the University cannot pass accreditation”.
Officials also consider that the EHU does not meet the status of University and that its status should be lowered. They think that the realization of experimental programs should be cut down at EHU – taking into account co-operation with foreign Universities. The Head of the Accreditation Commission advises to teachers of the EHU to raise the level of work with students.
EHU Rector’s advisor, Siarhey Pankouski thinks that refusal to give credit to the University is the next step of the authorities to liquidate the University.:
(Pankouski: ) “I think it becomes vivid in the complex of all the rest things done by the authorities recently, the authorities want to close the European Humanities University in the way it is existing now. According to the steps of the authorities they consider EHU to be a threat”.
Several months ago the Minister of Education Aliaksandar Radzkou tried to dismiss Anatol Mikhajlau, the Rector of EHU and stopped that only after the demarche of the ambassadors of the EU countries and the USA. Afterwards the University could not get new license for a long time. EHU Employees do not exclude the situation that it will be forbidden to the University to start the entrance campaign.
The Head of the Department of the Ministry of Education Valer Ausiannikau does not consider the refusal in accreditation to be an attempt of liquidation. According to his words, EHU has 1 year before the next accreditation testing to correct the mistakes in the educational process.