Elite Ukrainian university does not want to “turn into a circus” and protests against the language law
The honorary president of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), the first deputy head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine, Timofey Milovanov, criticized the new law on the Ukrainian language because of the requirement to teach exclusively in the Ukrainian language, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
On his Facebook page, Milovanov explained that studies at KSE are conducted only in English, and the school will be forced to choose - to close, go into the shadows or move to another country.
“We will pay fines, give up our license, move to another country... The school taught illegally for twenty years. In 2016, I received licenses and began logging into the system. We'll go back underground. The quality of education is more important,” he wrote.
Milovanov emphasized that modern economic education in the world is conducted in English.
“If Ukraine does not need modern economists, then this is Ukraine’s right. But we will not turn economic education at the Kyiv School of Economics into a circus... no one in the world or in Ukraine needs economists studying in Ukrainian,” he said.
The honorary president of the school admits that, subject to budget funding, the state can require education in Ukrainian, but KSE receives money from donors and has limited resources.
Milovanov is also against a compromise in the form of introducing several courses in Ukrainian. In his opinion, in the current situation it is necessary to change the rules of the law.
The Kiev School of Economics was founded in 1996 by the Economic Education and Research Consortium and the Eurasia Foundation. In 2017, the school's master's programs received a license from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and in 2018 - state accreditation.
In 2018, KSE’s educational programs also added an MBA in artificial intelligence and data analytics and a bachelor’s program in economics and entrepreneurship in collaboration with the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.
First assistant to President Vladimir Zelensky, Sergei Shefir, called for the laws on language and language quotas on radio and TV previously adopted by the Rada to be repealed as unconstitutional.
Let us remind you that ex-President Petro Poroshenko signed the law adopted by the Rada under the leadership of Andriy Parubiy on the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language on May 15. The law is due to come into force on July 15, two months after its adoption. However, there is already a lot of criticism both inside Ukraine and outside its borders. In particular, the law was criticized by Hungary and the EU Venice Commission, and Opposition Bloc deputies intend to appeal the law in the Constitutional Court. President Vladimir Zelensky promised the same thing, declaring that he would review the law if controversial issues are discovered in it.
At the same time, Andrei Parubiy said that the forces of the old regime “will not allow the abolition of either the language law, quotas, or decommunization.”
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