Simplified entry through Crimea-Ukraine centres and free online courses - only some of the new opportunities for students applying from Crimea

Opportunities to obtain a Ukrainian school-leaver’s certificate, admission to universities and vocational education and training for Crimeans, were announced during a press conference, launched under the title  New opportunities for students from the Crimea to get an education.

In particular, this year there are several ways by which applicants from the Crimea can apply to Ukrainian universities and vocational education and training centres.

"This year children living in the Crimea can finish secondary education externally and receive a national certificate, then take External Independent Testing  (EIT). This year three phases of testing are taking place, the last two specifically for children from occupied territories", said Svitlana Kretovych, Head of the Unit for Relocated Higher Educational Establishments at the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Another option is to use the simplified entry procedure. It is due to the fact that the Ministry has issued an Order (in Ukrainian) that sets out the opportunities for higher and vocational education for persons resident in the temporarily illegally-occupied territories of Ukraine.

For the convenience of students there are dеtailed instructions (in Ukrainian) which describe every available step that school-leavers need to take to get to a Ukrainian university from the Crimea.

"To obtain a Ukrainian education, residents of the Crimea do not need a Ukrainian internal passport or tax registration code. This is an important point because Russia is issuing a great deal of fake information. It only needs a child to have a birth certificate in order to go to one of the Crimea-Ukraine educational centres. Within three months they will then be able to receive both a Ukrainian internal passport and tax registration code - they will in fact need these to get a grant", said Iryna Zhdanova, General Manager of the Open Policy Foundation NGO.

Crimea-Ukraine Educational Centres will open in early July in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporozhzhye, Lviv, Mykolayiv, Odessa and Kherson. A file with contact persons and the list of universities which the Centres work with, together with addresses and telephone numbers can be found here (in Ukrainian).

Iryna Zhdanova described the free online tuition on the Ukrainian language and History of Ukraine and literature, that can help residents of the Crimea banned by Russia from studying those subjects to prepare for entrance exams, and showed a number of  information videos that explain the options open for residents of the Crimea apply for higher education.

Note:  Submission of applications for the second (final) additional session of testing will end on 21 June, for the EIT session that will take place from 2-9 July 2016.

The press conference on the topic of New opportunities for students from Crimea to get an education was sponsored by the Open Policy Foundation NGO, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine, and Ukrinform Ukrainian National Agency.

The full press conference is available here in Ukrainian.