This year, 6,284 applicants refused the budget places offered to them in higher educational institutions of Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Education and Science Mykhailo Vynnytskyi said in an interview with "Dzerkal Tyzhnia". Of this number, 4,842 people (77%) chose the contractual form of study at Ukrainian universities, including both private and public institutions.
According to Vynnytskyi, most of these applicants used state grants to get an education where they really wanted, rather than where they were offered a budget place. Thus, applicants had the opportunity to choose universities and specialties according to their desires and aspirations.
However, 1,442 of those who refused a budget place did not enter Ukrainian universities at all. Most likely, they decided to receive education abroad. This is worrying, because such refusals in wartime are a loss for the country.
Despite this, Vinnytskyi believes that the number of applicants who chose foreign universities is relatively small and makes up less than 1% of all applicants this year. “Any loss of top applicants is bad. But it is gratifying that this year, in fact, very few top applicants chose foreign universities,” the deputy minister noted.
