News

Admission campaign for residents of the Donbas and Crimea: the number of entrants doubled this year

For four years the “Crimea-Ukraine” and “Donbas-Ukraine” Education Centres (hereinafter - ECs) are working, the number of entrants from the occupied territories has almost doubled. Thus, in 2016, over 850 entrants from the Donbas and 153 entrants from the Crimea entered Ukrainian higher education institutions using the simplified procedure. This year, the number of entrants from the non-government controlled areas of Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (hereinafter - NGCA), the territories along the “contact line,” has increased to 1 600 people and 265 persons, from the Crimea.

Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Hanna Novosad, Head of the Higher Education Department of the Higher and Adult Education Directorate of MoES Svitlana Kretovych and Executive Director of the NGO “Open Policy Foundation” Iryna Zhdanova spoke about the results of the 2019 admission campaign and the hotline activities during a press conference on October 4 at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

“This year, the education centres were open from 3 June to 27 September. In general, we see a steady increase in the number of children entering Ukrainian HEIs through both the “Crimea-Ukraine” and “Donbas-Ukraine” Education Centres. I’d like to note that the entry of entrants from the Crimea and the Donbas always depends on obstacles from the Russian Federation that occupied these territories. This situation leads to the fact that the number of children with access to Ukrainian education is still not high. Therefore, we have many measures aimed at protecting potential entrants. For example, these include encryption of personal data in orders for admission,” said Hanna Novosad.

Executive Director of the NGO “Open Policy Foundation” Iryna Zhdanova shared the results of the work of the hotline on education for the residents of the Donbas and the Crimea.

For 4 years of work, the hotline has received more than 41,000 calls, 6500 of which came from the East; 1500 calls were from the Crimea. 70% of calls in 2019 concerned the simplified admission procedure. Among other things, they were interested in distance education, recovery of diplomas and certificates.

You can find more information about the hotline activities at  http://openpolicy.org.ua/news/351/ 

“The Open Policy Foundation’s hotline, which worked during the admission campaign with MoES, received a record number of calls - 1500 calls from the East within 1.5 months. This is three times more than last year,” added Iryna Zhdanova.

She also underlined that the national hotline in Kyiv ceased operations on September 2 because UNICEF Ukraine stopped funding, and the state budget financing issue was not resolved.

“For 8 months, since the beginning of 2019, the Open Policy Foundation has been insisted on a meeting with UNICEF and MoES leadership to address the stable work of the national education hotline for residents of the occupied territories. However, such a meeting and an open discussion have not yet taken place,” said Executive Director of the Open Policy Foundation.

According to Iryna Zhdanov, it is necessary to begin the open monitoring of the educational needs, which is formed by the UN Education Cluster Ukraine, transparent use of humanitarian funds aimed at educational needs in emergencies.

In her turn, Hanna Novosad voiced the position of the Ministry regarding the hotline:

“Thank you for the problem you brought up. It is really important. We are not aware of how the hotline should work. Obviously, this issue should be resolved as soon as possible. In my opinion, there should be state support for information tools. So we’ll support it, negotiate this issue with Minfin to find these funds. I will personally request international organizations which are plenty. They very often have big projects with good salaries. And financing of the hotline is not a problem. This is a completely realistic task for them. This is not a criticism, but a statement of fact… ” said Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Svitlana Kretovych presented the work of Education Centres in more detail. This year, 35 “Crimea-Ukraine” and 40 “Donbas-Ukraine” Education Centres worked.

“This year, entrants who appealed to Education Centres often had problems with receiving certificates of internally displaced persons. In general, Education Centres assisted in providing free accommodation in student’s dormitories both for children and their parents who accompanied them. They also talked about the process of obtaining citizenship, other documents and more. Therefore, we are very grateful to the staff of the centres for their work,” emphasized Head of the Main Department of Higher Education at MoES Svitlana Kretovych.

Among TOP HEIs, entrants mostly entered with the help of the “Donbas-Ukraine” ECs, there were:

1. Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University - 177 persons;

2. Horlivka Institute for Foreign Languages at DSPU - 133 persons;

3. Pryazovskyi State Technical University - 124 persons.

Among TOP HEIs, entrants mostly entered with the help of the “Crimea-Ukraine” ECs, there were:

1. Taurida National V.I. Vernadsky University - 110 persons;

2. Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman - 51 persons;

3. Lviv Polytechnic National University - 24 persons;

4. Kherson State University - 22 persons.

To use the simplified procedure, the entrant had to apply to the EC, complete the educational declaration and take 3 entrance exams in the Ukrainian language, history of Ukraine and profile subject (or creative competition). It is important that they did not have to submit the results of IEE, the Ukrainian passport or certificate. At the same time, if the entrant had the results of IEE or the Ukrainian certificate, he/she could also use EC to enter a HEI according to the simplified procedure.

The press conference video, 25 min., can be viewed at  https://www.facebook.com/UAMON/videos/2618114118271522?sfns=mo