According to Deputy Minister of Education and Science Mykhailo Vynnytsky, the number of universities in Ukraine may soon decrease, as the number of school graduates has been falling significantly in recent years.
The representative of the Ministry of Education and Science points out that last year there were about 360,000 school graduates in Ukraine, while in 2008 this number reached 640,000.
According to him, in 2008, about 350 educational institutions were peppered, with an average of 6,700 students each.
Mykhailo Vynnytsky also noted that in 2021 the total number of establishments decreased to 300. According to official data, the number of students in each of them reaches 3.4 thousand.
According to a representative of the Ministry of Education and Science, the problem of the outflow of Ukrainian students abroad is not as large as many people think.
Based on demographics alone, which does not take into account war-related migration, we see a steady decline in the number of people born in Ukraine 17 years ago.
In addition, it is projected that in 10 years Ukraine will have about 300,000 graduates. What is important to understand is that this number assumes the return of all the territories occupied by Russia.
MES prepares higher education reform
According to Mykhailo Vynnytskyi, today, in addition to 100 private higher education institutions and 40 municipal ones, there are almost 170 state universities in our country.
The MES team has already drafted a bill on higher education reform, which provides for a reduction in the number of universities to about 100.
There should be a certain reduction or consolidation of higher education institutions. In addition, the draft law provides not only for a reduction in the number of universities, but also for an improvement in their quality.
