MES: Ukrainian universities are no longer friendly to evaders
5 September 11:32
The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has announced that it has finally managed to create conditions under which the university admission campaign has become “unfriendly to evaders.” This was stated by the Director General of the Directorate of Higher Education and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education and Science, Oleg Sharov, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
The official noted that this year’s admission campaign was influenced by military conditions, including the emigration of Ukrainians and internal migration. At the same time, a targeted government policy aimed at weeding out evaders had a significant impact on the number of applicants for higher education.
“Finally, the education system has become quite unfriendly to school dropouts. This means that there are relatively few people who enter higher education institutions for this purpose,”
– stated Oleg Sharov.
The official confirmed the trend of a sharp increase in the number of people wishing to study in graduate school starting in 2022. The record figures for the entire period of Ukraine’s independence were recorded in 2022 and 2023, when there was a significant share of men over 25 years old among the applicants.
“Relevant government decisions were made, and the system was gradually stabilized. Starting in 2024, full-time postgraduate programs can be entered only with budgetary funds – it is a competition for budgetary places, the number of which is limited. At the same time, the number of state-funded places was significantly increased last year compared to the year before to enable institutions to enroll all talented young people who really want to study science,”
– explained the head of the directorate.
Additionally, Ukraine has introduced two mandatory external exams for admission to postgraduate programs: a single entrance exam (SEE), which includes a test of foreign language proficiency and general academic competencies, and a single entrance test in research methodology.
“Thanks to these exams, we are trying to keep those who are seriously interested in science. If a person does not do this, the probability of successful completion of these tests is low,”
– Sharov said.
Statistics show that in 2025, Ukrainian educational institutions will offer approximately six thousand postgraduate places. Less than ten thousand candidates have successfully passed the tests.
As wrote, the Ministry of Education creates barriers not only for students who avoid the tests. For example, NMT has turned from a tool for access to education into a barrier for applicants.
