This was the title of a roundtable discussion held jointly with the NAUCS and the Centre for Adaptation of the Civil Service to the EU Standards at the Centre for the Evaluating of Applicants for Public Service Positions of the High School of Public Governance.
The purpose of the event was to discuss the improvement of tools and procedures for evaluating the professional competence of public servants for public service positions, to study international practices and to exchange experience in evaluating the professional competence of public servants for public service positions.
In her opening remarks, NAUCS Head Nataliia Aliushyna emphasised that considerable attention is focused on the selection and assessment of civil service personnel in view of Ukraine’s strategic course towards the European Union. The European principles of public administration of the SIGMA programme, which define the public service as professional, honest, politically neutral and citizen-oriented, are considered to be a benchmark for Ukraine. “During the period of martial law, the competition procedure was temporarily suspended in our country. We adapted quickly, and now we can analyse and propose ways to return and improve the competitive procedure. Time and technology offer new opportunities that will be implemented. We face an important task to make the resumed competitive selection procedure transparent, efficient and in line with war-hardened values and European benchmarks.”

Faustine Bentaberry, Head of Department, General Directorate of Administration and Civil Service, Ministry of Transformation and Civil Service, French Republic, Erika Todger, Head of HR Policy, State Chancellery, Latvia, Yulia Marushkevich, Director of the General Department of the Ministry of Justice, Ukraine, and the EU, revealed the peculiarities of entering the public service, professional competence assessment of public servants for positions, and the principles of activity of the bodies regulating HR policy in the field of public service in Ukraine and EU countries.
Yuliia Lykhach, Director of the High School of Public Governance, Parviz Kazimov, Head of the Department of Psychological Assessment and Diagnostics of the State Examination Centre of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Nursultan Bekinov, Director of the Strategic Planning and Analysis Department of the AHE, shared with the participants of the event how professional competence is evaluated for public service positions, the activities of agencies and executive authorities that perform evaluation functions, as well as the benefits and challenges that arise during the evaluation.
It is worth reminding that the entre for the Evaluating of Applicants for Public Service Positions of the High School is a modernised, technically equipped platform that provides a centralised assessment of candidates’ professional competences during the competition for public service positions. In addition, it conducts examinations to determine the level of proficiency in the state language and ensures the passing of the Unified State Examination in Public Administration and Management, etc.
It should also be added that the High School has developed an information and analytical guide “International Practices of Evaluanting Professional Competence for Entry to the Public Service – Experience for Ukraine”. The manual contains the analysed experience of many European countries, which will be useful in preparing and conducting competitive selections for both human resources and public servants.