Ukrainian university in spirit and a European university in model. Retrospective and prospective approach of 'fifth freedom' adoption in the European Union

Abstract

In this article, I evaluate that the values and traditions of higher education in Ukraine, inherited for centuries, remain competitive and thrive (by investing in quality education and training, knowledge management, knowledge sharing, network building, and synergy in education). Besides the conventional scholarly research methods (synthesis, analysis, analogy, generalization), other research methods were used in this article, notably data analysis, historical, statistical, and comparative, to assess the trajectory of universities in Lviv development notwithstanding geopolitical influence and infringement of human rights (right to education, to work) based on discrimination on gender, or ethnical, religious and linguistic background. After an introduction, fixing retrospectively and prospectively the ‘fifth freedom’ – the free movement of research, innovation, knowledge, and education, the article is divided into two parts dedicated to the development of Lviv University (1661) and Lviv Polytechnic (1844), since their foundation in the early modern period finishing in the top-10 Ukrainian universities in the 21st century.