The issue of the language, while defending a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, is extremely relevant for universities that train foreign students at the third level of higher education.
Sumy National Agrarian University has recently brought this issue to the attention of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, asking for clarification on the possibility of preparing and defending doctoral dissertations in English.
In response to the request, Deputy Minister Andrii Vitrenko provided an explanation stating that in accordance with the Art. 22 of the Law of Ukraine “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language”, dissertations, reports on the defense of scientific achievements, as well as the defense of dissertations may be either in Ukrainian or in English.
This explanation is extremely important for SNAU, as more than 200 foreign students study here and many of them choose SNAU to obtain the third level of higher education (Doctor of Philosophy).
