Only half of university places in Ukraine filled in 2025

The number of bachelor’s degree places at higher education institutions in Ukraine exceeds the actual number of students. This year, universities were prepared to admit 429,000 applicants, while only about 200,000 people submitted applications.

Source: Oleh Sharov, Director of the Directorate of Higher Education and Adult Education at the Ministry of Education and Science, on the national joint 24/7 newscast

Details: Sharov said that this situation is the result of a demographic crisis that began many years ago.

"Seventeen to twenty years ago, we were admitting around half a million people to bachelor’s programmes each year. Since then, the number of places equipped and prepared by higher education institutions has been shrinking, but the reduction has been rather slow. So indeed, we have a surplus of places," Sharov noted.

Sharov added that many higher education institutions were still enrolling students until mid-October.

"But no one is going to fill those 400,000 places – those applicants simply don’t exist. It’s important to understand that the total capacity of higher education institutions has for quite some time been greater than the number of people who want and are able to pursue higher education. This is not unique to Ukraine," the official said.

In addition, Sharov is convinced that this imbalance does not harm the state budget, since government-funded places are allocated in line with the real number of applicants and the demographic situation in the country, rather than based on the total number of places universities could potentially offer.

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