Oleksandr Spivakovskyi took part in the meeting of the Union of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions of Ukraine

The event took place at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute with the participation of the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Andrii Petrovych Butenko.

Oleksandr Spivakovsky expressed his position on two issues which, at first glance, are different, but in fact share a common philosophical denominator — the agency of the university and the responsibility for its future.

First — the fate of 35 displaced universities of Ukraine.

"I raised the issue of the need for systemic legislative decisions at the level of the Ministry, the Government, and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which would regulate the complex aspects of their activities.

The war has changed the geography of these universities, but has not canceled their mission. They lost buildings, laboratories, dormitories, the usual academic environment, but preserved the most important thing — people, knowledge, values, and responsibility to society.

However, one cannot endlessly demand resilience from universities without creating an appropriate regulatory and institutional basis for this resilience.

The heroism of academic communities should not substitute for systemic state policy.

It is not about special privileges. It is about fair rules for those who are forced to fulfill their mission under fundamentally different conditions", - noted Oleksandr Spivakovsky.

Second — the experiment regarding granting supervisory boards the power to elect rectors.

"My position is that such a model can be justified in certain crisis, exceptional situations when a university requires external institutional intervention.

But should it become a universal rule?

I am convinced that not.

After all, a university by its nature is not just an administrative structure. It is an academic community capable of self-organization, professional judgment, and responsible choice.

If we trust the university to form the nation's intellectual elite, to foster critical thinking, and to prepare future leaders, then can we simultaneously deny its academic community the right to elect its own leader?

Of course, the current model is not ideal. But the imperfection of democracy is not an argument in favor of abandoning it.

The supervisory board, in my conviction, should be an important partner of the university, a source of strategic vision, public trust, and external expertise. However, partnership should not turn into a substitution for academic self-governance.

True autonomy is not freedom from responsibility. It is freedom combined with responsibility for one's own choice.

And here, both issues raised converge.

Displaced universities need not only survival mechanisms but also opportunities for development. Academic communities need not only external control but also trust in their institutional maturity.

Because the future of Ukrainian higher education will be determined not only by how many universities we preserve, but also by whether we preserve the very nature of the university — a space of freedom of thought, self-governance, and responsibility.

This, in my opinion, should be one of the fundamental guidelines of Ukraine's educational policy.

I thank my colleagues from the Union of Rectors and the Minister for the opportunity for an open professional discussion", - summarized Oleksandr Spivakovsky.

KSU Press Center