Odesa Students Protest Maritime University Merger Over Accreditation Concerns

In Odesa, students of the Odesa National Maritime University held a peaceful protest against plans to merge their institution with the Odesa Maritime Academy.

This was reported by Suspilne.

The young people fear that after the reorganization, the university will lose its "national" status and their diplomas will lose international recognition.

Photo: Suspilne.

The students emphasize that they do not want to be part of an educational experiment, the consequences of which are not yet clear.

The students were holding posters with inscriptions: "ONMU is more than a name. It is our pride!", "Do not touch our future - leave the status of National University!" and "We are not statistics. We are students fighting for knowledge!"

Earlier, the rector of the National University of Odesa Maritime Academy Mykhailo Miyusov announced the creation of a single institution of higher maritime education, which may appear on the basis of two existing ones.

An important meeting was held at the National University "Odesa Maritime Academy" between the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Mykhailo Vynnytskyi and representatives of the rectorates of two leading maritime universities - Odesa Maritime Academy and Odesa National Maritime University.

The main topic of discussion was the optimization of the network of maritime higher education institutions, in particular, the creation of a single powerful maritime educational center in Odesa.
During the discussion, the parties agreed on the need to merge the two universities into a new legal entity. They discussed the key stages and mechanisms of the process, the determination of the governing bodies of the future merged university, as well as other important organizational issues related to the functioning of the institution.

It should be noted that Ukraine has reduced the network of higher education institutions by ten universities over the past year. The goal of the Ministry of Education and Science is to have 100 state universities by the time Ukraine joins the EU. Currently, there are about 150 universities in Ukraine, of which 120 are in the system of the Ministry of Education.

Earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to transfer the Odesa Law Academy to the Technikov National University. The Ministry of Education and Science explained that this is part of the modernization of education and assured that students will continue their studies without changes.

Ірина Глухова