The role of a garantor in the quality assurence processes at the stage of educational program formation

Abstract

The article explores specific aspects of involving the guarantor of the educational program in its formation. The urgency is due to intensive changes in the quality assurance system of higher education, which require performing related new functions by research and teaching staff. That is why the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education has proposed a separate functional – the guarantor of the educational program – who coordinates the design, updating and implementation of the educational program. Correct involvement of the guarantor at the stage of the educational program formation will help to avoid the shortcomings caused by violation of logic and the formal attitude to the maintenance of educational programs.
 A survey of educational program guarantors was developed and conducted, thanks to which it was established that the vast majority of them were deliberately involved at all major stages of the educational program formation. It is rather positive that even at the stage of initiation, which is primarily the preference of collective and / or administrative bodies of higher education institutions, guarantors are informed about the possibility of opening an educational program. Guarantors are actively involved in studying the experience of foreign and Ukrainian educational programs, primarily determining which of them deserve attention. However, it should be emphasized that both in the development of best practices and in the development of the curriculum as part of the educational program guarantors recognize the most important parameter of educational components that is logical, because it is based on the educational process implementation.
 It can be stated that the lack of sufficient practical experience, the process of accumulation and analysis of pros and cons in the educational process formation, which is still ongoing, currently do not allow to draw an unambiguous conclusion about the conclusive creation and certainty of the guarantor’s functionality. Therefore, it is important, on the one hand, to conduct further research and outreach on the guarantor’s functionality and participation in the educational program formation, and on the other – to promote the development and improvement of the local regulatory framework of higher education institutions on this issue.