Concept of legal education reform is approved
On Wednesday, September 11, the working group on the reform of legal education approved the concept of the draft Law of Ukraine “On High Legal Education and General Access to the Legal Profession.”
What important provisions are established in the Concept?
- The necessity of adopting the Law “On High Legal Education and General Access to the Legal Profession.”
- Institutional delineation of legal education from the training of law enforcement agencies. In other words, future legal professionals will be trained only in unniversities subordinate to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, while law enforcement officers will be trained exclusively in high education institutions subordinate to security agencies.
- The introduction of an integrated Master’s program, meaning the training of legal professionals without division into bachelor’s and master’s levels.
- Abolition of legal programs in colleges and extramural study (transforming it into a blended form: full-time and distance learning).
- Strengthening licensing requirements for universities wishing to educate law students.
- Implementation of a transparent system for allocating state funding for the education of legal professionals.
- Raising admission requirements for law programs.
- Mandatory Unified State Qualification Exam as a prerequisite for obtaining access to the legal profession.
- Abolition of the requirement for legal education for leaders of government agencies where it is not necessary.
The text of the Concept has already been published on the website of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy for public discussion, which will take place over the course of one month. Meanwhile, experts who developed the Concept will begin working on drafting the text of the bill in the coming days.
DEJURE Foundation commends the developed Concept, which takes into account the main recommendations of the European Commission and the G7 Ambassadors regarding the reform of legal education in Ukraine.
