State auditors during an audit of the State University of Infrastructure and Technology found that the vice-rector of the higher education institution, who went abroad and worked remotely a month after the full-scale invasion of Russia, received bonuses of almost UAH 7 million in 2022-2023, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
According to Kommersant Ukrainian , during an audit at the State University of Infrastructure and Technology, auditors found that two of the four vice-rectors of this institution have been abroad since April 2022. And one of them, in the rector’s opinion, has been performing his functions remotely “very successfully”.
During the years of remote work, the vice-rector received a total of UAH 8.7 million in salary at a not the largest university in the country, which is ranked 104th in the overall ranking of higher education institutions in Ukraine.
Analysing the data on the income received by the management of this university from open sources of information, it is not difficult to calculate that the “foreign” vice-rector of the DUIT receives a much higher salary than his colleagues. Moreover, his income at his main place of work is much higher than the salaries of rectors of leading Ukrainian universities.
In particular, in 2022, the vice-rector was paid a total of more than UAH 5.5 million, of which the bonus amounted to almost UAH 4.7 million (85.7% of the total amount, or UAH 390 thousand per month). In 2023, he received almost UAH 3.2 million in salary, with a bonus of UAH 2.21 million (or 69%).
That is, the amount of bonuses to the Vice-Rector for two years totalled UAH 6.9 million.
For comparison, in accordance with the level of remuneration of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the average level of payments to a commander of a brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who is directly involved in combat operations was UAH 133 thousand in 2022 and UAH 150 thousand in 2023. Thus, the two combat brigades received a total of UAH 6.8 million over two years at the front.
In 2023, a court ruling banned the use of the premises of the State University of Infrastructure and Technology due to systemic violations of the requirements of the civil protection, industrial and fire safety legislation that had been going on since 2020. As a result, the management of the institution urgently appealed to the Ministry of Education and Science to allocate UAH 4.5 million for fire protection measures to resume the educational process.
It should be noted that in order to regulate the payment of salaries to the management of higher state educational institutions, the State Audit Service is preparing an appeal to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to resolve this issue.
For reference
The State University of Infrastructure and Technology is a young and, at the same time, one of the oldest educational institutions in Kyiv. It was established on 29 February 2016 by the Government of Ukraine through the merger of two Kyiv universities – the Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny Kyiv State Academy of Water Transport and the State University of Economics and Technology of Transport.
Today, the structure of the university includes three institutes in Kyiv, uniting six faculties, another institute in Izmail, Odesa region, two colleges (one in Kyiv and one in Kilia, Odesa region), the Kyiv Training Centre for Training, Retraining and Advanced Training of Water Transport Specialists, the Training Centre for Postgraduate Education and the Centre for Pre-University Training.
The university has a centre for pre-university training of applicants, its own postgraduate and doctoral studies, specialised academic councils for the defence of dissertations, and the possibility of obtaining a second higher education.