On February 11, 2021 a regular meeting was held  of the Scientific Council of the Faculty No. 3 of the Donetsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Lyudmila Nikolenko, Head of the Department of Economic and Legal Disciplines and Economic Security, Doctor of Science in Law, Professor, introduced into the discussion of the Scientific Council questions on improving the quality of education at the Institute through the modernization of educational programs in accordance with the needs of external stakeholders.

Ludmila Nikolenko informed the participants on the results of the expert survey “Business and Community demand on educational products of higher educational institutions of Mariupol” conducted in the frames of EduSpace project which is realized by the consortium comprising Donetsk State University of Management, Donetsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, University of Genoa (Italy) and Mariupol City Council Executive Committee in partnership with Mariupol Development Fund and Green Center Metinvest within the framework of the “EU Support to Displaced Higher Education Institutions in East of Ukraine”.

In this survey 53 experts took part representing Mariupol City Council, one of the district Department of Social Security of the Mariupol City Council and Mariupol Infrastructural Development Center enterprise several communal enterprises: Commercial Communal Enterprise “Mariupolteploset”; Communal Enterprise “Komunalnik”; Communal Enterprise “Mariupol Production Water and Sewage Directorate”; industrial enterprises: “Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol”; “Azovstal Iron & Steel Works”; “Metinvest-Promservice, LLC”; Private Enterprise “PROMTEKHAZOV”; commercial network “SILPO”; Joint-Stock Company Commercial Bank “PrivatBank”; LLC Transport and travel company “Onyx Tour”; LLC Travel agency “Costa Rica”; advertising agency “Kraboff”; 5 NGOs: Mariupol Development Fund; “Caritas Mariupol”; “Council of Women of the Donetsk Region”; “Dovira”; :Za Prava”; as well as a number of private individuals.

Stakeholders emphasized the need to train qualified lawyers. They noted the need for graduates who “must have highly developed soft skills related to a motivated attitude to work and the ability to communicate effectively, namely, be communicative, have developed leadership skills, be able to present themselves, be responsible, motivated, capable of self-education and self-development.

It was also noted about the improvement of the quality of students’ practice at stakeholder bases, namely the need to increase the volume of practice, analysis of the need to assess its results, as well as the active participation of employers in the educational process – holding trainings, master classes, lectures and practical classes at the university. It should be emphasized that for a long period of time the Donetsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has been attracting practitioners not only for practical, but also for lectures and binary lessons.

The Scientific Council of Faculty No. 3 decided to make changes to the educational programs, taking into account the recommendations made by the stakeholders.