About USETI

The Ukrainian Standardized External Testing Initiative (USETI )

The Government of Ukraine has acknowledged that corruption has become a serious impediment to the country’s economic, political and social development.  According to the 2005 Corruption Perception Index (Transparency International) Ukraine ranks 107^th out of 159 countries in its control of corruption.  In an effort to address this challenge, the Government of Ukraine is implementing a Millennium Challenge Corporation (www.mcc.gov) Threshold Country Plan (TCP) with a single Strategic Objective of Reduction of Corruption in the Public Sector.  The two-year Plan contains five components of which one addresses combating corruption in higher education, through the Ukrainian Standardized External Testing Initiative (the Initiative). The United States Agency for International Development (USAID, www.usaid.gov ) acting within the Threshold Country Plan approved by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, is providing funding for the initiative.

The TCP targets corrupt practices associated with admissions to institutions of higher education by introducing standardized external testing as a mandatory criterion for university admissions.  This process will replace the entry examinations currently administered by individual universities. The current initiative will build on the experience of previous efforts.

The newly created state institution, the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment (UCEQA, www.testportal.com.ua), is responsible for developing and implementing the Government of Ukraine’s testing initiative.  The UCEQA is the primary partner and the beneficiary of the technical assistance under this Initiative. The UCEQA is working with nine regional testing centers to strengthen their capacity to perform their core functions. Plans call for a roll out of these centers to some 25 units, one in every oblast of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Standardized External Testing Initiative will be a complement to the activities supported by the GOU and by international donors to build the UCEQA’s capacity for carrying out activities connected with test development, administration, and implementation, and to institutionalize a testing system protected from corruption. 

Besides reducing corruption in higher education, the Ukrainian Standardized External Testing Initiative will facilitate broader educational reform in Ukraine.

The initiative will enable training of Ukrainian professionals in independent exams and further development of the necessary testing infrastructure.

The Initiative will also enhance public involvement in the creation of a knowledge assessment system that would be reliable for every citizen.

Finally, the Ukrainian Standardized External Testing Initiative will help lay the legislative foundation for implementation of unified exams for all higher education institutions. 

The USETI program consists of the following components:

1.Collaboration with UCEQA to support test development and administration, as well as provide basic information to the university departments which deal with psychometrics. This component presupposes direct and large scale consultations by international experts.

2. Improvement of security for all testing processes. Development of the necessary tools and procedures to prevent corruption at all levels, internally as well as externally.

3. Development of legal and normative bases necessary for creating and protecting testing materials; sanctions for those violating testing security will be an important element of the legislative foundation.           

4. Increase of public awareness. Timely provision of information to students, parents and educators in order to better integrate the testing process and its various participants and stakeholders.   

5. Collaboration with the UCEQA to develop testing preparation materials and a private initiative system in this area.

6. Encouragement of the use of standardized external testing in the admission process and definition of the role of standardized external testing in the admission process. Collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, UCEQA, higher educational institutions and other governmental institutions is central to development and promulgation of relevant policy.