In the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), a School of Public Management is being opened in order to prepare highly qualified managers for positions in the central and regional organs of government and local self-government. The School will be headed by Pavlo Sheremeta, head of the Advisory Council of UCU Lviv Business School.
UCU School of Public Management will work in three directions. Therefore, in September 2015, there is planned the beginning of a year and a half long Master’s Program in Public Administration (MPA). There will also be offered short-term and average-term programs for state managers. The creation of a Research-Analysis Center is also foreseen.
“The School of Public Administration is today’s proposal from UCU for tomorrow’s leaders in state management, local self-government, and the community sectors. This is a proposal to prepare oneself and one’s team for an effective ‘service, witnessing, and interaction’ for the development of our country,” comments the director of the newly-created School, Pavlo Sheremeta.
The goal of UCU School of Public Management is to raise to the level of current international standards of professional knowledge, abilities, and skills of those individuals who already have positions in government services, and the appropriate preparation of professionals who plan to work in governmental structures. The organizers themselves sketch out the goal of the School as: to raise in government servants such values as service to the Ukrainian people, a guarantee of justice, and the preservation of human rights and freedoms, which should enable an effective transformation into a social, legal, and democratic state and its integration into the European Community.
The creation of the School followed the examples of the best schools in the world, such as Harvard Kennedy School, Fels Institute of Government at Yale University with adaptations to the Ukrainian context. The program was developed by UCU lecturers, together with Terry Anderson, professor at Troy University in Public Administration, she came to Ukraine within the Fulbright Program.
The rector of Ukrainian Catholic University, Rev. Bohdan Prach, explains this step of UCU as: “In order that there take place in Ukraine quality changes, it is important that there appear new faces in responsible positions. New managers who will work in government institutions should master appropriate knowledge and competencies. UCU School of Public Management will become that platform where managers will be able to gain the necessary qualifications and the instruments for implementing effective reforms in Ukraine. Faith, persistency, and insistence are the key factors in carrying out reforms. Therefore, we believe that together, with one front, we will be able to change the system and make society better. We were able to involve people in UCU School of Public Administration who have a very extensive netwok of contacts, experience in working in varying areas, understand today’s challenges, and know how to search for solutions that are related to these challanges.”
