Higher education

In Ukrainian higher education, students can get the following diplomas:

• junior bachelor
• bachelor
• master
• doktor filosofii
• doktor mystetstva

Please note: Ukrainian higher education institutions do not have a division between higher professional education (HBO) and research-oriented higher education (WO), in the way Dutch institutions have. The content of the subjects can tell you whether a study programme is HBO i or WO i . We check this for each diploma.

Higher education in Ukraine is changing. In 2005, educational institutions started to introduce bachelor's and master's programmes. Students cannot start a number of study programmes anymore, but they can still finish them.

As a result, the following diplomas are slowly disappearing:

• junior specialist
• specialist
• candidate of science

You can find more information about higher education on the ENIC Ukraine website.

• Duration i : 2 years (120 ECTS).
• Content: mostly profession-oriented education.
• Admission requirements: the Svidotstvo pro zdobuttia povnoi zahalnoi serednioi osviti (Certificate of complete general secondary education).
• Function of the diploma: access to a bachelor's programme or work.
• Diploma: Dyplom molodshoho bakalavra - Диплом молодшого бакалавра (Junior bachelor diploma).

Please note that there is also a professional junior bachelor (fakhovi molodshi bakalavr - фаховий молодший бакалавр) that does not fall under higher education.

• Duration i : 3 to 4 years (180-240 ECTS).
• Content: research-oriented or profession-oriented education. This depends on the field of study. Sometimes a thesis or a project.
• Admission requirements: the Svidotstvo pro zdobuttia povnoi zahalnoi serednioi osviti (Certificate of complete general secondary education) or the Junior bachelor diploma. Someone with a junior bachelor diploma gets exemptions and can finish the bachelor's programme faster.
• Function of the diploma: access to a master's programme or work.
• Diploma: Dyplom bakalavra - Диплом бакалавра (Bachelor diploma). If the student received the diploma with high marks, the diploma is called Dyplom bakalavra z vidznakoyu - Диплом бакалавра з вiдзнакою (Bachelor diploma with distinction).

• Duration: 1½ or 2 years (90 or 120 ECTS).
  • Profession-oriented master’s programmes last 1½ or 2 years.
  • Research-oriented master's programmes always last 2 years.
• Content: research-oriented or profession-oriented education. In the case of research-oriented master's programmes, students must spend at least 30% of their time working on their thesis.
• Admission requirements: the Dyplom bakalavra (Bachelor diploma).
• Function of the diploma: access to a doctoral programme (PhD) or work.
• Diploma: Dyplom mahistra - Диплом магiстра (Master diploma). If the student received the diploma with high marks, the diploma is called Dyplom mahistra z vidznakoyu - Диплом магiстра з вiдзнакою (Master diploma with distinction).

Integrated master's programmes

For a number of fields of study, there are only integrated master's programmes: the programme is a combination of a bachelor's and a master's programme. The student only receives a master's degree and does not receive a bachelor's degree. This is the case, for example, for study programmes in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and veterinary medicine.

Please note: until recently, students received a Dyplom specialista (specialist diploma) after completing these study programmes.

The doktor filosofii programme started in 2016. It replaces the old candidate of science programme.

• Duration i : 4 years.
• Content: half to 1 full year of research-oriented education (30-60 ECTS). Students also do research and they write and defend their dissertation.
• Admission requirements: the Dyplom mahistra (Master diploma).
• Diploma: Dyplom doktora filosofii - Диплом доктора філософії (Doctor of philosophy/PhD diploma).

There is also a doctoral programme in the arts. It takes 3 years and leads to the diploma Dyplom doktora mystetstva - Диплом доктора мистецтва (Doctor of arts).

The final junior specialist programme started in 2019. Since 2020, students can only start with the junior bachelor programme.

• Duration i : 2 to 4 years. This depends on previous education (see ‘Content’).
• Content: mostly profession-oriented. Students could start this programme after 9 years of primary education or after 11 years of general education. In any case, they still had to take general education subjects if they started the programme after 9 years of primary education.
• Admission requirements: the Svidotstvo pro zdobuttia povnoi zahalnoi serednioi osviti (Certificate of complete general secondary education).
• Function of the diploma: admission to a bachelor’s programme or specialist programme or to work.
• Diploma: Dyplom molodshoho spetsialista - Диплом молодшого спеціаліста (Junior specialist diploma).

The last specialist programmes started in 2016. These days, students can only start bachelor’s or master’s programmes.

• Duration i :
  • 4-6 years (240-360 ECTS), after secondary school. The most common duration was 5 years. A specialist programme in medicine lasted 6 years, some teacher training programmes 4 years.
  • 1-1½ years (60-90 ECTS) after a bachelor's degree.
• Content: profession-oriented research-oriented or profession-oriented education. Sometimes students had to write a thesis, but they always finished the programme with state exams. The diploma always mentioned a professional qualification, for instance civil engineer or English teacher.
• Admission requirements: the Atestat pro povnu zahalnu seredniu osvitu (Certificate of complete general secondary education) or a Dyplom bakalavra (Bachelor diploma) for access to the last year or 1½ years of a specialist programme.
• Function of the diploma: access to a doctoral programme (PhD) or work.
• Diploma: Dyplom spetsialista - Диплом спеціаліста (Specialist diploma). If the student received the diploma with high marks, the diploma is called Dyplom spetsialista z vidznakoyu - Диплом спеціаліста з вiдзнакою (Specialist diploma with distinction).

The last candidate of science programmes started in 2015. These days, students can only start a doctor filosofii or a doctor mystetstva programme.

• Duration i : minimum 3 years.
• Content: research-oriented education. Students also do research and they write and defend their dissertation.
• Admission requirements: a Dyplom specialista (Specialist diploma) or a Dyplom mahistra (Master diploma).
• Diploma: Dyplom kandidata nauk - Диплом кандидата наук (Candidate of science diploma).

For admission to a Ukrainian university, students must have the secondary school diploma, the Svidotstvo pro zdobuttia povnoi zahalnoi serednioi osviti. They also have to pass the entrance exams. These exams are called: Zovnishne nezalezhne otsinnovannya (ZNO) - Зовнішне незалежне оціннованя (external independent testing).

Students who pass the entrance exams will receive a certificate. If you want to study abroad, you do not have to take these entrance exams. That is why we usually do not see any certificates of entrance exams in the Netherlands.

There have been many changes in the entrance exams. In recent years, the state exams taken in secondary school have been part of the entrance exams for higher education. The state exams are part of the secondary school programme.