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The article presents the quality assurance of higher education in France and reveals the system structure peculiar features. The authors characterize the activity of national agencies for external and internal quality assessment. We show that the formation of French quality assurance in higher education has lasted for three decades. The periodization of the quality assurance shaping in higher education is determined based on reforming the principal national agency for quality. The article illustrates the national legislative documents that regulate external and internal French quality assurance. We believe that a specific feature of the French system of quality assurance in higher education is its subordination to agencies (ENQA and EQAR) at the EU level. The article reveals that the French system of quality assurance in higher education is regulated by legal documents («Standards and recommendations for quality assurance in the EHEA»(ESG)) at the European level; a number of national laws, including the Law on Finance (2001), the Law on Freedom and Responsibility of Universities (2007), the Law on Higher Education and Research (2013); national recommendations and handbooks that form the norms and procedures for assessing the quality of universities. Higher education quality assurance is provided through external assessment and internal self-assessment by universities at the national level. The specificity of the French external quality assessment system’s structure lies in the variety of external agencies and their powers. The High Council for Evaluation in Research and Higher Education (Hcéres) is an independent body. The others external agencies are the Inspectorate General for Public Administration of Education and Training (IGAENR), the Commission of Chartered Engineers (CTI), the Commission for the Evaluation of Management Training and Diplomas (CEFDG) and the Advisory National Commission of University Institutes of Technology (CCN-IUT). National external assessment agencies have a sectoral focus and work in a specific segment, relying on internal quality control procedures. Internal self-assessment is mandatory for all French universities that issue state-recognized diplomas.

The study explores higher medical education transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic in the world and Ukraine. It also highlights the current trends – coronavirus quarantine and digitalization of medical education. The article also aims to study international medical students’ needs and perspectives on the eve of quarantine and their attitude to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. The research is based on surveys of first-year international medical students, chosen at random. It allowed students to provide feedback on their country of origin, satisfaction, ways of financing the study, and future career plans, as well as their attitude to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The qualitative data analysis lets advocate that coronavirus has determined a deep transformation in higher medical education and affected international medical student population. First, coronavirus has changed the role of medical students and internship. Second, it has fastened transition from traditional to digitally-based education and brought distance learning and exams worldwide. On the eve of the quarantine, Ukraine is becoming a host country for international students primarily from Asia and Africa. Among the reasons for international students’ choice of Ukraine as a place for study are their country preference, high-quality education, friends’ advice and geographical location. The international medical students consider Ukraine not only as a high-quality medical education provider but as the perspective country for postgraduate employment. Besides, the majority of first-year international medical students find remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic supporting, effective but tiring. The research creates a paradigm for future studies of the international medical students’ phenomenon.

The present study explores current state of play of international medical student population in Ukraine. Their number in national medical universities has been constantly rising since 2006. Ukraine is a country of international medical students’ destination for higher medical or pharmaceutical education. Ukraine is not only one of the biggest suppliers of international students to the European Union in European Higher Education Area, but it is also a host country for international students primarily from Asia and Africa. The survey aimed at studying international medical students’ current needs and perspectives was conducted at Bogomolets National Medical University in 2019. The university is chosen as it is situated in the capital city. Sample was composed of 60 first-year international medical students, chosen at a random. It allowed students to provide feedback on their country of origin, educational background, preferences, satisfaction in quality of educational service in a host country, ways of financing the study and future career plans. Among the reasons of international students’ choice of Ukraine as a place for study are their preference of the country, high quality education, friends’ advice and geographical location. The research results show that international medical students consider Ukraine not only as high quality medical education provider but as perspective country for postgraduate employment. The research results allow us to hypothesise that the current needs and perspectives of international medical students at one medical university are likely to be typical for other national medical universities and for Ukraine in whole. It is concluded, that increasing international students’ population requires regular monitoring and special researches by universities and government. These measures will make benefits in international university strategy and national educational policy coordination

This paper explores the problem of harmonization of educational thesaurus which requires urgent attention in the process of creating European Higher Education Area and developing of common educational standards. All policy documents, the reports of the European Council and guidliances contain key educational terms that require proper understanding and interpretation in both the member states and in countries that are at the stage of European integration. The paper also reviews the issue of the coordination of international educational thesaurus with the national one, what raises the question if it is possible to unify educational terminology in Europe and beyond? Besides, the authors make an overview of the genesis of the competence movement in the EU, the USA, Australia and Ukraine to evaluate this question. It has become evident that there is still considerable misunderstanding of the integrated approach to concepts of competence and competency. These definitions are found to be too broad, abstract and general and not unified for higher education both on international and national levels.

The article analyzes the impact of policies on the development of educational systems in the European Union and Ukraine. The sources are independent reports of the European Commission, and state documents on higher education in Ukraine. A detailed study of the European Commission reports helps to identify internal and external factors, which have different effects on higher education in the European Union. The external factors include global process of internationalization of higher education and its consequences. Under internal factors we concider the Lisbon strategy and the Bologna process. One could argue that education systems in the European Union will develop under the influence of external and internal factors, where the dominant position of the Lisbon Strategy and the Bologna process will win the lead role. Since the signing of the Bologna Convention in 2005, higher education in Ukraine has been in a state of current changes. Analysis of the new Higher Education Law of Ukraine made it possible to outline the major innovations in the reforms of higher education and similar policy trends of higher education in the European Union and Ukraine.

The article presents the current trends in the preparation of students in higher education in the EU and Ukraine. These trends are identified on the basis of the analysis of legal documents (legal acts of primary and secondary law), which reflect the EU response to contemporary global changes in education: globalization and marketization. These processes require from higher education to provide new approaches to the training of students in accordance with labour market demands. The new Law on Higher Education in Ukraine directs the development of national higher education system to integration into the European Higher Education Area. The new law establishes financial principles of higher education system, creates conditions for strengthening cooperation of government agencies and businesses with universities on the principles of autonomy of higher educational institutions. An important goal is to prepare competitive human capital for national high-tech innovation and development, to provide the labour market with skilled workers. The author considers that the legal documents of the EU and Ukraine try to reflect the current trends in training of students in accordance with the processes of globalization and marketization in education.

This paper presents an analysis of labour market outcomes for Ukrainian graduates with higher education in teaching, based on the survey 2015. Besides, the study investigates the issues of the source of tuition fee, transition period and employment sectors in the labour market. The evidence presented in this article indicates that teacher education graduates with national teacher higher education system are much more likely to be employed according to their qualification. They have a higher employment premium and face fewer difficulties in labour market integration. The empirical findings should contribute to understanding a current state of play in national labour market.