As a higher education establishment, the Institute of Political Studies was established at the Ivan Kuras Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies under the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in 2001. The Rector of the Institute is Professor Oleg Rafalsky, Ph.D. (Hist.), Merited Worker of Science and Technology.
The Ivan Kuras Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies (Institute of Ethnic Relations and Political Studies under the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences before 1998) was founded by decision of Presidium of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in December 1991. The Director of the Institute is Yuri Levenets, Ph.D. (Pol.Sci.), full member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
The Institute of Political Sciences is Ukraine’s only private higher education establishment that trains Masters of State Administration as well as Masters of Political Sciences.
The diploma of a M.St.Adm. offers its holder the opportunity to seek employment as a civil servant from rank 1 through rank 4. Civil servants awarded rank 1 through rank 4 are entitled to hold the offices referred to the first and second categories.
According to Article 25 of the Law of Ukraine On Civil Service, to these offices are referred the following: first deputy ministers, managers of the Presidential Administration and the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament, chairmen of state committees that are part of the Government, chairmen of oblast state administrations, as well as managers of departments of the Parliament Secretariat, the apparatus of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, advisors and assistants to the Ukrainian President, the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament and the Prime Minister of Ukraine.
The Institute of Political Sciences is actually the leading education establishment in the system of training personnel of state administration and managers. While training state and political figures of the new generation, directly participating in the evolvement of the young Ukrainian democracy, and building a new society, the Institute of Political Sciences is
Ukraine’s leading education and scientific-methodological center for training, retraining and advanced training of managerial personnel of state agencies.
Since the inception of the Institute, quite a few managers and specialists of ministries, agencies, enterprises and organizations of state and economic administration have enlarged their knowledge and materialized it in practice. Among its graduates are mayors, deputies or regional bodies of the executive, employees of the Parliament Secretariat and the Presidential Administration, as well as assistants of Members of Parliament.
The Institute of Political Sciences is proud of its high-quality faculty and staff. Perhaps no other Ukrainian institution of higher learning can boast of having 28 instructors with a Doctor’s degree out of the 30 employed instructors.
Owing to its specialization and well-earned reputation, the Institute of Political Sciences has been guiding its students to a high, qualitatively new level of knowledge, communication and cooperation, which markedly extend its graduates’ opportunities and promotes their continued careers.
The Institute trains specialists of the highest order – masters of the following specialties:
• State administration
• Political sciences.
Training is provided full-time and by correspondence throughout two years (30 weeks, 6 sessions).
Department of State Administration, specialization:
• Theory and techniques of state administration and local self-government
• Management of organizations
• Management of information and analysis in the system of state administration.
Department of Political Sciences, specialization:
• Political techniques and political consulting
• Public relations and techniques of communication in political activity
• Political systems and institutions.
Underlying the teaching process are unique methods of individual training. Well-known Ukrainian and foreign scientists and politicians conduct lessons, and additional knowledge is provided through master classes. Students undergo supplemental on-the-job training in the departments of the Cabinet of Ministers, the head offices of the executive, the Ukrainian Parliament, regional state administrations, bodies of local self-government, as well as in foreign scientific and educational centers.
The graduates are awarded Master’s degree diplomas of a national standard.
