Concept of Educational Activity

The mission of the Odesa Technical Professional College of the Odesa National University of Technology is to meet, to a high standard, the population’s need for high-level educational services, to provide enterprises and organisations with qualified personnel, and to ensure the comprehensive development of the individual as a person, through the systematic use of advanced educational technologies in the teaching and upbringing process.

The Concept of Educational Activity (hereinafter – the Concept) is the basis for drawing up the development programme of the Odesa Technical Professional College of the Odesa National University of Technology (hereinafter – the College) and the measures for its implementation. The legal basis for the Concept consists of the Laws of Ukraine “On Higher Education”, “On Professional Pre-Higher Education”, “On Education”, “On General Secondary Education”, “On Professional Development of Employees”, and other regulatory legal acts in the fields of education, employment and social and labour relations.

The Concept of Educational Activity of the College sets out goals and provides for the modernisation of the educational process in line with the principles of the College’s educational activity, which are aimed at ensuring, through the educational process, the comprehensive development of the individual as a person and as the highest value of society, the individual’s capacity for lifelong learning, and the cultivation of high moral qualities.

The Concept is aimed at addressing the problems arising from globalisation, growing competition, labour mobility, and rapid economic and technological change.

The main aim of the College’s educational activity is to train highly qualified specialists who are competitive in the labour market. In addition to professional training at a high specialist level, the content of the educational programmes offered by the College must ensure the development of the key competences necessary for self-fulfilment, an active civic position, social harmony and employability in society, in particular:

1. the formation of spiritual and moral values at a level that will promote their integration into civil society and the development of an active civic position within it;

2. the formation of basic competences;

3. communicative competence and cultural literacy;

4. the promotion of the versatile development of the individual, in particular the ability to learn independently, to think critically, to approach professional duties creatively, as well as initiative, the ability to solve problems, the ability to assess risks, determination and enterprise.

The main goals of implementing the Concept:

1. ensuring, taking into account the evolving requirements of the labour market, that the College’s educational (educational and professional) programmes meet the needs of the state and society;

2. intensification of the educational process through the widespread introduction of innovative technologies;

3. introduction of a system of motivation for employees to improve educational (educational and professional) programmes and ensure the quality of education;

4. diversification of the sources of funding for the College’s educational activity as the basis of genuine academic autonomy and a necessary condition for renewing its material and technical base;

5. creation of the most effective system for selecting talented young people for study at the College;

6. building a stable, positive academic reputation of the College;

7. ensuring the labour market’s trust in the qualifications awarded by the College;

8. formation of social values and spiritual guidelines in the educational process.

The Concept is implemented on the following main principles:

1. systematic approach;

2. scientific basis;

3. innovation;

4. transparency;

5. impartiality;

6. professionalism;

7. corporate partnership;

8. use of the state standards of professional pre-higher and higher education as the mandatory minimum content of education and of teaching;

9. compatibility of educational (educational and professional) programmes with international classifications and standards of pre-higher and higher education;

10. person-centred education and ensuring access to the College’s educational programmes for people with special physical needs;

11. involvement of all categories of College employees and students in measures to ensure the quality of educational programmes, and strengthening of feedback between participants in the educational process.

The main ways and means of implementing the Concept are:

1. developing educational (educational and professional) programmes on a competence basis and moving towards a pan-European understanding of the content of education;

2. expanding the range of educational services by opening training in new specialties at the College;

3. creating and implementing intensive, person-centred teaching technologies;

4. introducing distance learning technologies into the educational process;

5. creating conditions for obtaining a quality education for persons with disabilities, orphans and children deprived of parental care;

6. helping students of all specialties to acquire communicative competence in a foreign language at the required professional level;

7. involving employer representatives and practising specialists in shaping the content of educational programmes, in the educational process and in final assessment;

8. improving the employability of College graduates by ensuring proper conditions for practical training at their future workplace;

9. building a coherent system for monitoring and ensuring the quality of education at the College;

10. introducing measures aimed at increasing the objectivity of the assessment of students’ educational achievements at the College;

11. creating procedures for feedback between participants in the educational process;

12. introducing electronic document management into educational activity and creating a centre for managing the information and educational environment at the College;

13. introducing a system for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching staff in implementing educational programmes;

14. creating a system of measures to motivate teaching staff to develop and implement educational (educational and professional) programmes, to raise the standard of teaching, to take part in measures to ensure the quality of educational services, etc.;

15. launching large-scale information, image-building and career guidance activities in order to attract the most gifted young people as applicants to study at the College;

16. ensuring the transparency and accessibility of information about the educational process at the College.

The regulatory, legal and organisational support for implementing the Concept will be provided by developing and adopting, in the established manner, appropriate plans and measures aimed at implementing the provisions of the Concept, and by monitoring the status of their implementation.

The financial support for implementing the Concept will be provided in accordance with legislation from budget funds (general and special funds), with the involvement of funds from business entities and public organisations, investment programmes and other sources not prohibited by law.