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According to the Center for the Society Studies, over the past five years the number of Ukrainian students studying abroad has increased by a third. Many of them study at the universities of Europe. In particular, 9,620 Ukrainians are receiving higher education in Poland, and 9,044 in Germany. According to the center’s expert Yehor Stadny, the outflow of students from Ukraine to foreign universities is related to the deteriorating quality of education at home. “This is a tectonic shift, that is, a decline of quality of higher education in Ukraine leads to the search for alternatives abroad. Foreign universities themselves are liberalizing the conditions under which Ukrainian students can study there. A striking example of this is Poland, which is looking to replace its own students outflowing farther west. University is not that interested from where it receives tuition payments, be it the student’s own funds, scholarship fund or budget. Steady funding is the most important thing. I think that the fact that young people are becoming braver every year and are not afraid to leave the home can be seen as an auxiliary factor,” said the expert.

The importance of this study is that neither the Ministry of Education nor the State Statistics Committee compiles statistics on the number of young Ukrainians who go to study abroad. “These data are necessary to determine what an applicant is interested in. We must see what criteria students rely on when choosing universities and thereby hold our own reforms. We corresponded with foreign ministries of education or state statistics agencies for six months to get the full picture,” Stadny told us.

Today Ukrainian students prefer European universities, while Russian ones are attractive, too. According to Stadny, the number of Ukrainian students at Russian universities decreased by 300, but experts predict the popularity of Russian universities in Ukraine will hold steady. “The main competitor for now is Poland. It is clear that both countries attract students who are not ready to go really far away. But living conditions in Poland and Russia differ, with Poland coming on top. The majority of Ukrainian national students are concentrated in Moscow, and the prices are really high there, while the cost of living in Warsaw is equal to Kyiv’s, and even cheaper in some respects,” Stadny explained.

He said that after the Euromaidan events, the number of Ukrainian students abroad will grow, but it will not be a determining factor in increasing the number of Ukrainian students abroad. Today, Poland and the Czech Republic are inviting the affected Ukrainian students to study.

“Grants related to participation in the Euromaidan will not significantly increase the number of students, but I predict that growth will continue. The crisis in higher education is very deep, and we will get no real improvements soon,” Stadny concluded.

The study was conducted in 22 countries. Apart from Poland, sharp increases in the numbers of Ukrainian students are expected in the Czech Republic, the UK, and the US.