Divided Universities: The Postcolonial Experience of Contemporary Ukrainian Higher Education

• Main Author: Denys Svyrydenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Society of Philosophy and Cosmology 2017-07-01
• Series: Future Human Image
• Subjects: divided university; idea of university; Ukrainian higher education; postcolonialism; quasirepublics; Revolution of Dignity; university cloning; university mitosis; Magna Charta Universitatum
• Online Access: http://www.fhijournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/FHI-7_Svyrydenko.pdf

The paper considers the problem of Ukrainian divided universities, which appear at the result of Revolution of Dignity, annexation of Crimea by Russia as well as formation of quasi-republics of the East of Ukraine. Most of educational institutions form these territories were evacuated (students and teaching stuff), but “twin universities” appeared using campus and facilities of migrated ones. Author demonstrates the heuristic potential of using the interdisciplinary approaches for understanding the essence of this situation applying metaphors like “university cloning”, “university mitosis” and so on. This approach is strengthened by the ethical judgment through the basic axiological values of modern “idea of university” (freedom of thinking, academic freedom, institutional autonomy, will of knowledge and truth etc.) collected at Magna Charta Universitatum. From these positions, migrated universities comprehend as an active bearer and translator of “idea of university”. The “twin universities” have a lot of formal arguments to be comprehended as authentic ones, but author stresses on the fact that these institutions don’t fit the universities axiological criteria: these universities rejected ones’ own tradition; teachers are ready to work in censored conditions and manipulate the knowledge; teachers and students risk to became subjects of violence; the autonomy and academic freedom are absent. Author also appeals the historical facts on the example of Cambridge University origination that let make the optimistic conclusion concerning the perspectives of migrated universities