On 22-23 June 2017, the international scientific conference “Current problems of election law and its teaching methodology in higher education institutions of Ukraine” was held by Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, all-Ukrainian non-governmental organization “Election Law Institute” in cooperation and with the support of the Council of Europe.
More than 80 participants, among them professors, PhD and Doctorate candidates from more than 15 higher education institutions of Ukraine, members of Parliament, representatives of the Central Election Commission, experts from national research institutions and think tanks, as well as representatives from NGOs, discussed the development of the fundamental grounds and principles of election law in Ukraine and how this should be reflected in election science at Ukrainian Universities. To this aim, participants examined Council of Europe standards and recommendations as well as ECHR case law in electoral matters and discussed how it is taught at European universities. Respective experience was presented by Mr. Bertrand Simon, professor of Political and Social Communication at Political Science Department of the University Sorbonne in France, and Mr. Andrzej Stec, doctor of law at the Institute of National Security of Pomeranian Academy in Slupsk (Poland). It was commonly upheld that further conferences related to the subject of electoral science, as well as exchanges among professors, researchers and students are needed for the development of a common approach to the electoral science and of an unified curriculum for election law in Ukraine.
When discussing different approaches and methodology of election law teaching in higher education institutions of Ukraine, the participants pointed out that it would be worthwhile if a working group composed of representatives of different higher education institutions of Ukraine is established under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in order to develop a model curriculum for the election law course to be taught in Ukrainian universities for legal students.
The event was organized within the framework of the Council of Europe project “Reform of the electoral practice in Ukraine”.
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