http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vptrn0_xWIQ&feature=youtu.be

We, the Board of Directors of the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation, which supports the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a premier university in Ukraine and one of the oldest in world, are meeting in Chicago in response to a national crisis of academic freedom, of university autonomy and of democracy in Ukraine. We hereby offer this resolution to state our position and call the world’s attention to this critical situation and its likely impact on Ukraine’s nascent democracy.

Whereas, in 2010 Ukraine signed the Bologna Declaration, an agreement signed by 28 European nations, promising to reform their higher education systems in a convergent way and comply with requirements for the integration of higher education into European educational standards, and

Whereas, the President and Prime Minister of Ukraine have instructed the Minister of Education and Sciences, Youth and Sports to “provide real autonomy to the leading institutions of higher learning as a means to improve the quality of higher education”, and stated further that, “the goal of reform of the system of education is to raise the level of competitiveness of Ukrainian education, and the integration of Ukraine’s education system into the European educational space,” and

Whereas, Ukraine has failed to comply with its lawful obligations under the Declaration, and Ukraine’s Minister of Education and Sciences, Youth and Sports has proposed laws aimed at codifying central government control of the nation’s universities, and reversing the move toward European standards, autonomy and transparency in education, and

Whereas, the Minister of Education and Sciences, Youth and Sports, failing to win legislative support for these oppressive measures, has sought to assert control over and limit the academic freedom of many institutions of higher learning by selectively withholding grants and levying other economic hardships, notably singling out the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy for particularly harsh treatment, and

Whereas, the Minister of Education and Sciences, Youth and Sports has actively discouraged the free flow of academic discourse and limited the opportunities of Ukrainian students by refusing to certify foreign academic degrees and credits, even from the world’s best universities, while continuing to promote the Soviet archaic certification system, and

Whereas, the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy has served for centuries as a training ground for the nation’s leaders and seeks to continue its mission of educating Ukrainians for full global citizenship, and

Whereas, we believe a free academic community and university autonomy are critical elements of a vibrant and viable democratic society, and

Whereas, we believe the punitive actions of the current Ukrainian administration toward the country’s institutions of higher education limit the full development of Ukrainian democracy.

Therefore, Be It Resolved, the Board of Directors of the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation calls upon the President, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education and Sciences, Youth and Sports of Ukraine to comply with the letter and spirit of the Bologna Declaration and speed the nation’s academic progress toward the standards set forth therein, and

Be It Further Resolved, that the President of Ukraine instruct the Minister of Education and Sciences, Youth and Sports to allocate funds in a manner consistent with the principles of fairness and progressiveness and devoid of regional or political favoritism, and

Be it Further Resolved, that the President and the Prime Minister of Ukraine implement a policy that supports Ukraine’s intellectual and economic prosperity and provides opportunities for the development of a democratic civil society and the rule of law. 

Certification
The undersigned do hereby certify this resolution this 19th day of March, 2012, in Chicago Illinois, United States of America.

William Green Miller, Board Co-chairman
Borys I. Tarasiuk, Board Co-chairman
David F. Bishop
Vyacheslav S. Bryukhovetsky, PhD
Marta Farion
William Gleason, PhD
Daniel Hryhorczuk, MD, MPH, FACMT
Jaroslawa Zelinsky Johnson
Oksana Khanas
Anna Mostovych, PhD
Michael Radnor, PhD
Ihor I. Wyslotsky