Over four thousand people from Luhansk and Donetsk regions register for a pilot session of university matriculation examinations

WATCH IN ENGLISH

Kyiv, February 2, 2016. “Over four thousand people from Luhansk and Donetsk regions have registered for a pilot session of the External Independent Testing,” said representative of the Donetsk Regional Center for Education Quality Assessment Volodymyr Vlasov speaking at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center (UCMC) in the framework of the UCMC pilot project “Spokesperson of peaceful life”. (External Independent Testing is the examination that high school students pass, based on its results they are accepted to universities – UCMC). He said it is expected that over six and a half thousand persons are to undergo the pilot testing session – 40% of all high school graduates.

Vlasov said that in order to get registered for the External Independent Testing the following documents are required. “Registration card filled out through the web site of Ukrainian regional education centers; a copy of passport or of the birth certificate; a copy of the certificate – appeal for protection in Ukraine. For those who are currently based on the territories that the Ukrainian government does not control and thus cannot be issued a Ukrainian passport, a birth certificate is the alternative; certificate with photo from school if a person from the territory not controlled by the Ukrainian government has registered as a non-resident or has no opportunity to restore the lost document,” said Vlasov. High school students may collect all the documents requested and send them through the school. High school students based on uncontrolled territories are “nonresidents” at schools on Ukraine-controlled territory may submit documents in the similar way. Graduates of past years can submit the documents themselves to regional centers by sending them through the Ukrainian Postal Service or via e-mail if they are based on the temporary occupied territories, noted representative of the Donetsk Regional Center for Education Quality Assessment.

Regional centers will send registration confirmation to high school students in the same way that they submitted the information. “Scanned copy of the registration confirmation will be e-mailed to the students from uncontrolled territories, original document they will get at the testing center during the testing on the first subject,” explained Vlasov. A page is being created on the website of the testing center that may be accessed with the personal certificate number and a PIN code.

All detailed information on the External Independent Testing is available on the web site of the Donetsk Regional Education Center as well as on the web site of the Ukrainian Center for Education Quality Assessment, the speaker said. “All queries on registration are to be addressed to the registration points in government-controlled parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Nine registration centers were set up at universities: three of them in Luhansk region and six in Donetsk region,” said Vlasov. He also advised the high school students who are to undergo the testing to make sure they obtain the pass in advance for crossing the contact line. Vlasov emphasized that all the applicants even those ones who study at schools on uncontrolled territories of Ukraine have to pass the exams in advance based on the programs of Ukrainian schools.

Maksym Kyrpenko, director of the Kherson Regional Center for Education Quality Assessment said that graduates of Crimean schools who remained in temporary occupied Crimea did not actually get the Ukrainian high school certificate in 2014. “Our current situation is as follows: graduates of 2014-2015 are graduates of past years, children from uncontrolled territories received the graduation documents issued there, where they are based and thus are also considered to have not passed the final state attestation […] and have to undergo the attestation procedure,” noted the director of Kherson Regional Center for Education Quality Assessment. In practice it means the high school student has to register at one of the 19 thousand schools in Ukraine to get the Ukrainian high school certificate, pass all the sessions of the External Independent Testing and be able to apply to universities,” explained Kyrpenko.

“As of today the Kherson Regional Center has registered over five thousand applicants for pilot session of the External Independent Testing. Majority of the applicants are from Mykolayiv and Kherson regions, there are also 15 persons from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” noted Kyrpenko.

Spokesman of UCMC pilot project “Spokesperson of peaceful life” Valentyn Pugachov quoted statistics by the Ukrainian Center for Education Quality Assessment according to which 288,977 high school students took part in the testing last year, over 220 thousand of which are high school graduates. “Almost four thousand persons passed the External Independent Testing in Luhansk region, the figure is considerably higher in Donetsk region – over 10 thousand persons. Last year fourteen thousand high school graduates in Crimea expressed willingness to study at the universities on Ukraine-controlled territories,” noted Pugachov. He reminded that this year the Ukrainian Center for Education Quality Assessment accepts applications for testing from February 1 till March 4. Main testing session will take place on June 5-17, and an additional one from June 14 till July 4.