OREANDA-NEWS. On 13 April 2009 was announced, that SCM supported by Rinat Akhmetov's Foundation for Development of Ukraine is launching the second national university ranking Compass 2009. The project is a part of SCM's corporate social investment programme Contemporary Education.

Compass 2009 will cover 234 Ukrainian universities of the 3-4 levels of state accreditation training bachelors, specialists and masters in five areas: business/economy, law, engineering/technical professions, information technologies (IT) and architecture/construction.

Ad hoc methods have been developed for Compass ranking to include the information delivered by comprehensive polls. Such researches assess whether education services meet demands of the labour market and give the general evaluation of universities by target audiences: employers (big and medium-size businesses), graduates (graduates of Ukrainian universities in 2003-2008), employers - experts (representatives of companies whose operations involve specialists in the mentioned areas). The research will include interviews with 1000 big and medium-size employers and 1200 graduates across Ukraine.

Compass Ranking is an entirely practice-oriented project as it focuses, firstly, on results of education, ie on practical value of the knowledge received by students", said Natalya Yemchenko, Director of Public Relations and Communications at SCM. "In other words, this ranking helps secondary school leavers make an informed choice of a university. Thus, it is an actual compass among higher education institutions in Ukraine".

The pilot project Compass was realized in 2008 and became the first national ranking that reflects the assessment of education quality by potential employers and graduates. The project identified the universities providing the most useful education, which meets demands of the real economy sector, as well as secures the strongest employment opportunities.

Ranking compilation methods were audited by national and international experts in education and labour market. The ranking was developed by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).

The second project stage - Compass 2009 will be implemented in line with improved methods with support of the leading experts representing the Academy of Education of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the World Bank, Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, the State Employment Centre as well as the Foundation for Effective Governance.

"In 2009, we intend to better our ranking by making it more practical and useful, firstly, through a deeper work with employers engaged into the study, the list of which we will publish. We also plan to make big changes in the e-page of the project. In addition, this year we've launched another project about higher education in Ukraine - Discussion Club. Its objective is to ensure continued and constructive cooperation between universities and the biggest employers. The projects Compass University Ranking and Discussion Club will help Ukrainian universities, employers and experts in education hear each other, share experience, and thus find the ways to address the problems in the area of training and further employment of young specialists", added Natalya Yemchenko.

Results of the second national ranking Compass 2009 will be published in May 2009.

For more information about the SCM’s programme Contemporary Education, Compass university ranking and Discussion Club, please visit the corporate website of SCM Group, section SCM's Social Projects/Contemporary Education.