Ukraine plans to reduce the number of state universities
Source: deputy education minister Mykhailo Vinnytskyi in an interview to The Ukrainians
Deputy Minister of Education and Science Mykhailo Vinnytskyi said that the number of higher education institutions in Ukraine must be reduced by three times due to the drop in the number of school graduates. In 2008, their number was 640 thousand, but last year – about 360 thousand.
‘A draft law on the prerequisites for the modernization of the network of higher education institutions has already been developed. In fact, this is a draft law not only about reducing the number of universities, but also about improving their quality,’ Vinnytskyi said.
According to the demographic forecasts, without taking into account the indicators of migration related to the war, there is evidence of a decrease in the number of people who were born in the territory of Ukraine 17 years ago. It is expected that by 2033, there will be about 300,000 graduates, and this number will depend on the return of territories not controlled by Ukraine now.
In Ukraine, excluding branches, there are 100 private institutions of higher education, 40 municipal ones, and approximately 170 state universities. As a result of the reform, approximately 100 should remain.
In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.
During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine witnessed an unprecedented wave of private support for the army. Citizens, big businesses, charitable foundations, and international philanthropists began financing the country’s defense alongside state assistance provided by international partners. Estimates of total private contributions range from tens to hundreds of billions of hryvnias. However, determining the exact amount remains difficult. In many cases, companies combine military aid, humanitarian programs, tax payments, social spending, and employee support in their reporting.
Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.