KYIV – The School of Management at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) has launched the scholarship program MPA Honor Scholarship, which is designed for demobilized veterans of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) who wish to take up the master of public administration program. It is to be integrated into the actual scholarship program launched in 2015.
The project is organized by UCU and the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF).
“We believe that investment accessibility of education may best prepare our veterans who would like to contribute to development of the Ukrainian state,” said Jaroslawa Johnson, president and chief executive officer at WNISEF, at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
“The scholarship will cover up to 100 percent of education costs, including accommodation, meals and logistics. The scholarship amount will be defined after the selection and interview stage,” noted Andriy Sorokhan, program coordinator at WNISEF.
The particular value of the MPA Honor Scholarship is that it will allow the demobilized veterans to reintegrate into social life and join the country’s transformation from the inside, said Taras Kovalyk, a former soldier of the Aidar Battalion and trainer at Pobratymy project, who has been a student of the MPA course for one year.
“Brothers-in-arms often get frustrated as they see no actual changes. They were able to restrain the enemy on the front, but cannot do anything here. Over nine months of my studies I saw that constant changes are taking place in the country and I realized in what way I and everyone else can join them. Who has got the actual power and the will to implement the changes – there is a platform for them in the management school so that they can get the necessary knowledge, skills and contacts,” noted Mr. Kovalyk. “There is actually a huge lack of staff. In all the regions where we go, we are invited to work and people are complaining that there is a very small number of people who are willing to change the country with their everyday work.”
“We need a much bigger number of civil servants and state leaders who have European vision, values and are in possession of modern managerial instruments and skills,” confirmed Pavlo Sheremeta, director of the School of Public Management at the Ukrainian Catholic University, who is a former minister for economic development and trade of Ukraine.
In the 2016-2017 academic year, 25 to 30 students are to be enrolled in the course of study, and five of them, it is planned, will be ATO veterans. Participation in the program is open to Ukraine citizens in possession of ATO veteran status, a higher education diploma (bachelor’s degree), managerial skills and intentions to work in public administration. English language skills sufficient for taking up the program are required.
The academic course will start in September 2016 and will last for 18 months. “We do not want to produce dreamers-theoreticians. Course implementation is synchronized with authorities and business in a very practical manner,” noted Mr. Sheremeta. Students will learn a series of modules (themes), each of which will be supported by the necessary theoretical basis. Actual learning will take place only three days a month. The rest of the time, students will be using the theory in practice in particular cases from a certain city, region or company by communicating with representatives of the city, regional authorities and business representatives. Thanks to this form of learning, some students immediately find a job.
“Three persons from the actual group that is currently studying started working for the department charged with attracting investment at the Lviv Regional State Administration. One of the course participants even became the best employee of the Lviv regional state administration in the first quarter of 2016,” noted Mr. Sheremeta.