Effectiveness of the Postgraduate Education Institution in the Context of Comprehensive Regulation of Academic and Teaching Staff Training: the Current Status and Need for New Approaches

Introduction. The significance of assessing scientific skills and their immediate outcome in the form of awarding a degree as an indica­tor of the postgraduate education institution's status is established, highlighting the importance of considering the variables that affect this indicator independently of the postgraduate education quality. The one-sided approach and the selectivity of scientific research in terms of assessment of the reasons for the decrease in the number of theses defended by postgraduate students and the findings pointing out the exclusively negative trend in the defended theses dynamics are critically reviewed. A comprehensive perspective on the efficien­cy of training and certifying academic staff in the postgraduate edu­cation system is proposed. Methods. The quantitative and qualitative analysis methods, comparative method, system approach, situational analysis, legalistic method, modelling, structural and functional anal­ysis as well as statistical methods are used. Results and Discussion. The key factors diminishing the effectiveness of the postgraduate education system in terms of scientific skills assessment are outlined, along with suggestions for improvement of the postgraduate edu­cation institution. Despite the apparent relevance of assessing the effectiveness of the postgraduate education institution based on the number of defended theses, such quantitative measurement alone does not suffice for a comprehensive assessment of the postgrad­uate education efficiency in the knowledge economy; the tools that reflect the state of academic staff replacement, including verifiable indicators related to the demand for highly qualified academic staff replacement with respect to the existing structural organisation of science, need to be refined. Research problem scaling allowed for an investigation into the root causes and the main related factors, tracing the development of the processes that have resulted in the change in the number of defended theses and their correlation with the demographic trends and the number of graduates at the higher education levels preceding the postgraduate one. The scope of the delayed effect caused by a sharp decrease in the number of post­graduate school applicants due to the reduced number of higher ed­ucation programmes' graduates in 2015–2016 is demonstrated. The low effectiveness of the postgraduate education system is linked to a decrease in the number of young people willing to become scien­tists combined with the insufficient motivation to engage in post­graduate programmes, resulting in disruptions in the normal replace­ment of academic staff. Currently, the resources that could enhance performance of the postgraduate education system, are decompos­ing. Addressing this issue requires predictive and planned measures for highly qualified academic staff replacement, including implemen­tation of professional development and career advancement tools. The concept of seamless regulation and coordination of related pro­cesses is established to encompass the staffing, organisational, sci­entific, and educational aspects, procedures for certification of sci­entists, support measures for postgraduate students, their advisors and organisations hosting postgraduate programmes, as well as local regulatory mechanisms. Switching to an improved postgraduate edu­cation model also requires streamlining and enhancing the quality of processes at the intersection of educational relationships and those ensuring expert assessment of scientific skills. The need to consoli­date resources supporting the postgraduate education system within a unified platform solution based on the project management prin­ciple and reengineering the key processes is outlined in terms of re­search and practice, including admission, training, thesis defence, and career support to young scientists.