The Verkhovna Rada adopted a draft law that will reduce the academic load on teachers of higher education institutions

The Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) adopted draft law No. 9600, which reduces the academic load on teachers of higher education institutions.

This was reported by the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov.

From now on, teachers will not have 600, but up to 400-500 hours a year for lectures, seminars and consultations. The purpose of this draft law is to allocate more time to teachers for scientific research, development, interesting projects, innovation and professional growth. Therefore, at least 30% of the load should be scientific work.

Also, the authors of the draft law propose a flexible system of incentives and rewards for teachers for "really effective scientific activity — so that there are no articles to be ticked off", noted Fedorov.

This draft law is important for European integration, its function is to fulfill obligations under Article 431 of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union regarding the reform and modernization of the higher education system, convergence within the Bologna process, increasing the quality of higher education and expanding the capabilities of higher education institutions.

In addition, this draft law brings the workload of Ukrainian scientific and pedagogical workers closer to the level of colleagues in the European area of higher education.

"The transformation of education at all levels continues. Universities should become the real heart of science development, a place where new ideas and technologies are born," Fedorov said.