Pre-University Training in Ukraine: History and Contemporary Condition

The article is devoted to the analysis of historical stages of formation, critical problems, perspectives and features of the development of pre-university education in Ukraine at the preparatory departments of universities on the example of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The historiographic description of the development of pre-university education in the system of higher education of Ukraine in the Soviet and post-Soviet times is carried out; the modern functions of the preparatory department are revealed (on the example of the preparatory department of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv); critical problems, features and prospects of development of pre-university training in the system of higher education of Ukraine are analyzed. The author considered the following critical problems in the development of pre-university education in Ukraine: 1) “overloaded” programs of non-academic study materials; 2) unreasonably large number of institutions of higher education, which causes loss of higher education in the eyes of an applicant; 3) unjustified hyperbole public opinion on the obligatory admission to a higher education institution; 4) an increase in the gap between school education and the requirements of higher education; 5) the entrant’s focus on the list of subjects of externality when choosing a future specialty; 6) the limited possibilities of external testing reveal the ability of an entrant to study in a specialty. Author has offered the ways of its solution on the example of the Preparatory Department at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv