Why Quality Legal Education is Essential for the Successful European Integration of Ukraine

Currently, Ukraine has a wide range of educational institutions providing legal education. It comprises 164 higher education institutions and 117 institutions of professional pre-higher education. In 2023, a total of 2,408 professional junior bachelors, 2,143 junior specialists, 55 junior bachelors, 15,932 bachelors and 7,539 masters with a degree in 081 “Law”. These indicators – the number of specialised educational institutions and the number of graduates – are significantly higher than the average in the European Union Member States. For example, in Austria, only 6 universities provide legal education, in Spain – 14, and in Poland – 19. Meanwhile, in Germany, with 57 specialised institutions, an average of 8-10 thousand graduates obtain the legal profession every year.

Unfortunately, besides the excessive number of law schools and graduates in Ukraine, the quality of legal education in general does not meet modern requirements, as evidenced by the not-too-encouraging results of the Unified State Qualification Examination (USQE).

High-quality and corruption-free legal education remains crucial for strengthening the rule of law in Ukraine. Therefore, the European Commission’s Enlargement Package report published in November 2023, lists the following unresolved problems and, accordingly, tasks for Ukraine in the field of legal education:

• creating a clear institutional delineation of legal education and law enforcement training;
• to strengthen the requirements for access to legal education;
• strengthening the law school admission and licencing standards;
• ensuring a transparent and merit-based allocation of public funds for training future legal professionals;
• modernising curricula focusing on ethics, practical training, EU law and international exchanges, implementing a unified state qualifications exam, and fighting against corruption and plagiarism.

The fact that the European Commission has identified these areas for legal education reform is in line with EU requirements regarding the stability of democratic processes, independence of the judiciary and fight against corruption, which are critical conditions for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. After all, the quality of legal education largely determines the quality of the legal professional community. If Ukraine wants to have competent judges, prosecutors and lawyers with integrity, it must have high-quality legal education.

In recent years, several interventions have been implemented in Ukraine, particularly with the support of international partners, to improve legal education. The main innovations include:

• Approval of educational standards for all three levels of higher education – Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, Doctor of Philosophy in Law;
• introduction of the Unified State Qualification Examination, which, if conducted consistently, is expected to improve the quality of education and eliminate corruption risks during state examinations at law schools (December 2013);
• updated and expanded USQE Curriculum via including EU law, which should motivate law schools to improve the education in this area (April 2014);
• Approval of the USQE Specification for 2024 to address the shortcomings that occurred during the examination in 2023 (July 2024);
• developing model internship curricula for courts, prosecutors and justice sector institutions (July 2024).

Also, this year, to enter law schools to obtain a bachelor’s degree, the applicant must score at least 150 points in competitive selection, significantly contributing to better student selection.

Despite some progress, the key challenges of legal education in Ukraine remain unresolved. As a result, many law school graduates lack theoretical and applied knowledge and practical skills. Many of them do not have a comprehensive view of the lawyer as a bearer of the principles of the rule of law, who has a mission to promote democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms in society.

In Ukraine, there are still two different systems for access to higher legal education and training of lawyers depending on the subordination of the higher education establishment, namely in higher military education establishments and higher education establishments with specific conditions of study (1), as well as in higher education establishments that meet general requirements (2).

At the same time, this approach violates the constitutional principle of equal access to higher education. Article 4 of the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education”, which guarantees equal rights of access to higher education, allows setting restrictions and privileges, but only if they are based on specific conditions of obtaining higher education due to the peculiarities of acquiring professional qualification (military specialities, police specialities, etc.). By contrast, higher legal education does not and cannot foresee specific conditions for obtaining education because it is a civilian speciality.

Lawyers in Ukraine are trained in two program subject areas: 081 “Law” and 293 “International Law”, which does not meet the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education” and international standards since graduates in both program subject areas have the same academic and professional rights. Therefore, it is wrong to have different program subject areas (and, accordingly, different educational standards) for the same academic field (professional activity in the field of law), which falls under different fields of knowledge in the List of Fields of Knowledge and Program Subject Areas.

The problem of high-quality selection for legal education programmes remains acute. Currently, there are no reasonable criteria for determining applicants’ potential for obtaining higher legal education. Interpretation and application of law, as well as expert input into lawmaking, are highly intellectual activities. Therefore, a lawyer must possess a wide range of competencies, which can be mastered by those who have demonstrated the respective aptitude for obtaining this education. Today, access to legal education for bachelor’s degree programmes should include a sufficiently strong performance (at least 150 points) in the Ukrainian language, a foreign language, and in disciplines that determine the logical and critical thinking skills ( mathematics or a general competence test).

The inefficient and non-transparent system of allocating and distributing public funds for legal education also leads to the poor quality of legal education in Ukraine. In recent years, the state-commissioned quota for legal education in higher military educational establishments and educational establishments with specific conditions of study significantly exceeds the higher education establishments under the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. In particular, in 2024, for bachelor’s degree in higher education establishments of the MIA system, there were 878 government-commissioned academic placements, and in higher education establishments under the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, there were 750 government-commissioned academic placements. It should also be noted that the average score of applicants enrolled in government-commissioned academic placements in higher education establishments of the MIA system is significantly lower than the average score in higher education establishments subordinated to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Moreover, the quality control of educational programmes in program subject area 081 “Law” demands further improvement. Unfortunately, the external quality assurance system of higher education does not take into account the results of the USQE taken by students who complete their studies in master’s degree programmes and the employment rate of graduates of higher education institutions with a degree in law. These indicators are currently the most objective confirmation of the quality of legal education programmes provided by higher education establishments.

One of the main challenges of legal education in Ukraine is also the poor quality of legal education provided in correspondence courses. This trend has been observed for many years. It shows that correspondence courses in higher education currently do not meet the requirements and standards of higher education in program subject area 081 “Law”. Another challenge is students’ poor practical skills, which is confirmed by the professional community.

In December 2023, the Parliamentary Legal Policy Committee established a working group on legal education reform to address a range of the above-mentioned and other issues in the system of higher legal education through legislation. The working group includes lawmakers, judges, government officials, academics, and representatives of civil society and international technical assistance projects, including EU Project Pravo-Justice. The working group is expected to develop legislative changes to improve legal education in Ukraine. So, let’s hope to get the desired result.

The text was first published in the regular blog of EU Project Pravo-Justice on LB.ua.