The Ministry of Education has developed and approved the requirements for interdisciplinary educational (scientific) programmes of higher education. The document has already passed the state registration procedure at the Ministry of Justice and entered into force on 16 April 2021.
According to the Ministry, the development of such programmes in Ukraine will open up new professional and academic rights for future specialists and will help to increase the competitiveness of the national higher education system as a whole.
An educational (research) programme is considered interdisciplinary if the volume of educational components in credits of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, which can be correlated with the relevant specialities (fields) that define its subject area, is approximately the same.
Such a programme involves the acquisition of knowledge that lies on the borderline of fields of knowledge, specialties or belongs to several specialties, which define its subject area.
The requirements have been developed taking into account the specifics of interdisciplinary (extended) entry-level (short-cycle) higher education programmes and interdisciplinary educational and research programmes of the second (master's) and third (educational and research) levels.
At the initial level (short cycle) of higher education, interdisciplinary - extended - educational programmes can be developed. They are introduced with the aim of forming learning outcomes common to a group of majors belonging to one or two fields of knowledge, as well as promoting the conscious further choice of a major by the student for further education.
At the second (master's) and third (educational and scientific) levels of higher education, interdisciplinary educational and scientific programmes can be developed in two or three specialities belonging to the same or different fields of knowledge. Their purpose is to train specialists who are able to solve complex problems under conditions of uncertainty and ensure the further development of scientific knowledge.
These requirements are to be taken into account by educational and research institutions that prepare and implement educational programmes, the NAQA and independent higher education assessment and quality assurance institutions that accredit interdisciplinary educational and research programmes.
