The Public Council under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine has recommended that the Ministry merge the State Environmental Academy of Postgraduate Education and Management and the Center for Advanced Training of Water Management Workers into a single state research and educational institution.
This was reported by Svitlana Berzina, President of the All-Ukrainian NGO “Living Planet” and member of the Public Council.
She explained that this decision was dictated by necessity:
- implementation of the policy of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, which is aimed at optimizing (modernizing) the network of higher education institutions – liquidation of budgetary educational institutions subordinated to other ministries, in her opinion, is inevitable;
- ensuring the provision of professional development services for the needs of the nature protection industry in combination with scientific and informational support for the activities of the Ministry of the Environment;
- optimization of the structure and staffing – the public council insists that the reform will save more than UAH 12 million. (40% of expenditures in 2024) by optimizing the number of administrative staff and expenses for maintenance and utility payments of one institution instead of two budget institutions.
The public council believes that the creation of a new scientific and educational institution subordinated to the Ministry of the Environment should provide for:
- preservation of the established system of professional development for the entire system of the ministry together with the State Environmental Inspection of Ukraine, the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine, the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine;
- introduction of new innovative methods of management of restoration and protection of the environment, in particular, related to the restoration of war-torn territories, humanitarian demining, sustainable development of territories and other challenges of today.
As EcoPolitic wrote earlier, Svitlana Berzina has raised the problem of professional development of environmental specialists before. The problem was that the budget program that provides funding for the expenses of the State Environmental Academy of Postgraduate Education and Management and the Center for Advanced Training of Water Management Workers was not included in the state budget for 2025.
