Belarusian Independent Bologna Committee (BIBC) and Ad Hoc Commission of Belarusian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF) continue to monitor the Roadmap implementation and commissioned the analysis of what had been done by Belarusian authorities to fulfill its obligations. This report presents the findings that show where the country stands in terms of the Roadmap implementation.
Final Conclusions
2017 is a crucial year in the context of the implementation of the Roadmap for Belarus Higher Education Reform (Roadmap) and fulfilment of commitments by Belarussian government
In current situation and given that proposed amendments to the Education Code should be approved by the Parliament, no more than 25-28% of the Roadmap obligaitons will beimplemented into Belarusian legislation . This number is based on the education experts’ analysis and evaluation of the state of affairs.
Practically speaking, Belarus will fail to implement its obligations in terms of:
- establishing Independent Quality Assurance Agency;
- introducing changes to the system of mandatory work placement upon graduation for those whose education was financed by public funds;
- abolishing the discrimination in providing financial support to students to fund their first degree;
- implementing academic values.
It can be concluded that there are no positivedevelopments in those areas that initially were of a great concern to the EHEA members. These issues were behind excluding Belarus accession to the EHEA from the agenda in 2012.
The Belarussian government is set to fail to fulfill its commitments on implementing the Roadmap provisions within the agreed time period with respect to incorporation of the social dimension and the EHEA fundamental values into the Belarusian legislation.
In view of the current state of affairs, it is proposed to extend the Roadmap implementation timeline for 2-3 years and to maintain international control over its implementation process.