Volumen 3 (2020): Edición 1 (June 2020)

The author wants to talk about a new reality surrounds us, a new atmosphere, a new condition of life in the post-globalization era at the pandemic time of the coronavirus COVID-19. The pandemic, it is said, started from communist China with a centralized and at the same time globalized economy, but today the centre of all the global problems. This it is intended to be a first analysis where economics, politics and communication intertwine and interact with the health problem which has highlighted the weaknesses of a society which has been too busy for a long time to regulate GDP.

In this article, we introduce the Evaluation Board (EB-NdV) task in the AVA system (Accreditamento, Valutazione e Auto-valutazione). The AVA was implemented in 2013 in the Italian University System according to the document called “European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG)”. The ENQA’s guidelines (2005) provide for the construction of a common European area dedicated to university and post-university. In the University, the three main actors involved in the Quality Assurance (QA) system are the Evaluation Board (Nucleo di Valutazione, EB-NdV), the University Quality Board (PQ) and the Joint Student-Teacher Commission (CP). The EB-NdV has documented functions of evaluation and monitoring of the QA system, designed by the PQ following the strategic guidelines of the governing bodies of the university institution. The EB-NdV works as Independent Assessment Body (OIV) too. This task regards the assessment procedures concerning structures and human resources dedicated to the administrative support of the core activities of the universities. The EB-NdV draws up an Annual Report related to the AVA system. In conclusion the EB-NdV evaluates the QA system of the University in its entirety and in all its aspects. Moreover, the EB-NdV evaluates the relationships between the University Quality Board and the Joint Student-Teacher Commission (CP).

The category of education quality in the system of higher professional education acts as providing high competitiveness, optimal organization and management of the educational process, as well as access to the world market of educational services. We can talk about the international legal regulation of the quality of education relatively arbitrarily, bearing in mind the practical absence of normative legal acts regulating the relations of subjects of international educational law in the field of regulating the quality of education. We can talk about the international component of assessing the quality of education in the context of the Bologna Declaration, because the Bologna process strengthens the European emphasis on assessment and quality control, accreditation, takes a course towards convergence of standards and assessment procedures. Among the most important reforms proclaimed by the Bologna Declaration, the development of European cooperation based on developed comparable criteria and methods is named. In a resolution of the Congress of European Rectors of Universities (Salamanca, March 29–30, 2001), quality is defined as the “cornerstone”, the “fundamental condition” of trust, relevance, mobility, compatibility, and attractiveness. Rectors reaffirmed their intentions to seek mutually recognized mechanisms for assessing, controlling and certifying quality.

Educational institutions all over the world realize the importance of promoting international cooperation. In order to stay competitive in such fields like education, research, innovations it is no longer enough to count on only internal resources. Exchange of experience, knowledge sharing, benchmarking provide possibilities for universities to constantly remain updated on modern know-hows.

New opportunities for improving the quality of higher education in Belarus are provided by different international programs and projects. Among them there is the project of the EU Program ERASMUS + CBHE “University Teaching and Learning Enhancement” / UniTeLE, which has been implemented since 2019. The project coordinator is Linnaeus University (Sweden).

In the framework of the ERASMUS + UniTeLE project, a consortium of Belarusian universities has conducted a higher education quality research. The purpose of this research is to identify areas for improving the quality of higher education in Belarus.

The research was carried out on the basis of a sociological survey of a representative sampling of teachers, staff and students of six Belarusian universities (more than 350 respondents from Minsk, Gomel, Brest, Gorki, Polotsk, Grodno were interviewed). Both SWOT analysis of higher education quality in Belarus and focus group of possible improvement were performed. The discussion was attended by work groups of 25 leaders, teachers and students from each of the Belarusian universities of the project consortium.

The following fundamental research results should be noted. Among the strengths of Belarusian universities are: specialization in the regions, the system of additional adult education, and practical experience of teachers (2/3 of respondents). 58% of respondents are confident in the advantages of innovative educational technologies used by teachers, 47% indicated a low intensity of innovation implementation. Respondents noted the high level of Hard Skills competencies of the teaching staff and insufficiently of Soft Skills competencies for both teachers and students. The respondents identified outdated educational technologies and methods and the content of curricula as the fundamental weakness of Belarusian education.

The following areas of quality improvement have been identified as the most important for Belarusian universities: -

the development of Soft Skills competencies of both teachers and students to provide their close interaction;

For the practical improvement in the suggested areas, it is advisable to create Life Long Learning Centres and Centres of Academic Development of teachers in Belarusian universities, as well as a student-oriented quality assessment system. To improve the quality and competitiveness of Belarusian education, it is also advisable to develop international cooperation and networking among universities. The positive experience of such projects as TEMPUS ECOTESY, ERASMUS + UniTeLE, ERASMUS + BELL and others, can contribute to such cooperation and interaction.

In a knowledge-based economy, higher education becomes the most important factor of national competitiveness. It is in the Universities that the most high-performance human capital is formed, knowledge and innovation are produced. Therefore, the last decades are characterized by the growth of global competition in the field of higher education educations. And for the purpose the President of Russian Federation in his plan for 2024 (presidential Decree No. 204 of May 7^th, 2018) has been underlined the global goals and objectives set for the spheres of education and science for the next five years. Among them, in particular, is ensuring the competitiveness of Russian education at the world level and Russia’s entry into the top five countries in the world in research. Another purpose indicated for education is enrolment of foreigner’s students. The Peculiarity of PFUR is that in this University is mainly foreign students

Peoples ‘ Friendship University of Russia is a unique University, a major international-oriented educational and research institution. In the walls of the Peoples ‘ Friendship University of Russia annually are trained citizens from 152 countries.

The article will analyse the System of HEI Quality Assurance in Russia and development in the last years, will be analysed the interview data of VTSIOM in field of Quality of Russian Education. The Quality Assurance System at the PFUR will be illustrated starting from Boards, Procedures and arriving to indicators and how these indicators have been achieved.

Nowadays, politics is undergoing several changes, especially because of the growing use of social media from politicians, who are using these virtual platforms as tools to gain more and more consent. Social media are also leading to extreme democratization of politics, making it possible for non-politicians not only to enter the sphere of politics but even to win major competitions, such as presidential elections. To bring an actual and highly illustrative example, in this article the authors go through a deep analysis of the former actor and recently elected prime minister of Ukraine Volodimir Zelenskij and his strategical use of social media compared to the one carried out by his opponents, leading him to win the presidential elections with an enormous consent.

To this day, Ukraine is still experiencing difficult times both economically and politically. The economic and political crisis at the end of 2014, which led to the dismissal of President Yanukovich, meant that the territory of Crimea and, therefore, the port of Sevastopol as well, remained under Russian control. The new elections of 2019 carried a breath of fresh air and hope also for new relationships with Russia. The paper wants to photograph this situation and analyse the recent 2019 presidential elections.