The year 2024 was marked by a significant decrease in the number of applicants who were enrolled in higher education institutions in Ukraine. According to the State Enterprise “Inforesurs”, more than 187 thousand first-year students were enrolled in budget and contract forms of education. This is 80 thousand less than last year, when the number of enrolled students was 267 thousand.
In total, more than 217,000 applicants applied for admission to higher education institutions in 2024. This reduction in the number of students may be due to numerous factors, including the socio-economic situation related to the war, as well as changes in the education system.
At the same time, in 2025, the admission campaign will begin earlier - in May. An important stage will be the National Multi-Subject Test (NMT), which will be held from May 14 to July 25. According to the new rules, NMT participants will be able to pass four subjects in one day. The Ukrainian language, mathematics and history of Ukraine remain mandatory, as well as one of the additional subjects to choose from - Ukrainian literature, geography, biology, chemistry, physics or a foreign language.
To facilitate access to the exams for different ethnic groups, the NMT tasks will be translated into four languages - Crimean Tatar, Polish, Romanian and Hungarian. Each applicant will be able to choose their preferred language when registering for the exam.
An important role in the changes to the admission campaign is also played by the proposals of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to exempt applicants with the highest NMT scores from the obligation to work at their first job. It is expected that this step may affect 10-15% of applicants. According to the new funding model, the state order should cover 25-30% of applicants who will be required to work in the public sector after completing their studies.
The decrease in the number of freshmen in 2024 and the innovations in the 2025 admission campaign indicate the importance of adapting the education system to the new conditions and needs of the country, particularly in times of war.
