Ukraine plans to conduct inspections due to the significant increase in conscription-age enrollment rates

Ukraine will conduct random inspections of higher education institutions after an “abnormal increase” in the number of applications from military-age men in 2022, according to the country’s State Service for Quality of Education.

The government body that monitors education standards and implements policies, He said It analyzed state data on men born between 1964 and 1994 who entered or returned to full-time education between 2021 and 2023. At present, higher education students are exempt from compulsory conscription.

In 2022, the year of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s subsequent declaration of martial law, applications for higher education and pre-tertiary vocational (bachelor) programs rose by 1,880 percent.

The government body said most conscription-age applicants chose low-cost courses with minimum entry requirements, with only a “small proportion” using the results of entrance examinations such as the Independent External Examination (ZNO) or the National Multi-Subject Test (NMT) to enroll.

According to a statement by the agency, the rise in enrollment rates has led to increased pressure on university budgets and faculty members, leading to “the risk that the heads of some higher education institutions will not comply with the requirements of legislation related to the organization of higher education.” practical.”

The service said the increase in demand could lead to “long-term negative consequences” for the quality of higher education. The authority announced the continuation of the “comprehensive oversight study” until the end of the academic year, and said that it would conduct random inspections of higher education institutions.

more than Two years since the Russian invasionThe Ukrainian army is under great pressure, with 31,000 soldiers killed. Last week, Zelensky signed a controversial bill to lower the minimum conscription age by two years, from 27 to 25.

Later this month, the Ukrainian parliament is expected to vote on another law that could see men who complete the second class no longer exempt from conscription.