Updated on August 8th, 2021

I thought to write this blog on Ukraine studies as it is becoming a popular destination among international students, especially Indian students. I am in student visa consultancy, working for over two decades, dealing with various study destinations. Ukraine is now one of them as well. While major players in the global market of higher education set ambitious goals of attracting more international students, they do not consider a country like Ukraine a serious competitor. But changing trends in the past few years reflect the enrollment of international students has flourished significantly. 

During the last five years, there have been changes in mobility patterns. While in the past post-Soviet states were primarily sending countries accounting for almost half of incoming students in Ukraine, their share decreased. New sending countries diversified international enrollment with greater numbers of students coming from India, the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Ukraine is a beautiful country in Eastern Europe. You will certainly have a wonderful experience if you choose Ukraine studies. This is one of the newly developing study destinations for higher studies after Canada, Australia, the UK, and other parts of Schengen Europe. It is among the top five countries in the world, with the highest number of international students.

Geographically, Ukraine is the second-largest country in Europe, having land of agricultural plains. The country shares its borders with Russia in the east, Belarus in the north, Poland in the northwest, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania to the southwest and south, and Moldova in between.

Indian students choosing different studies

International students, especially from India, choose medicine, healthcare, dentistry and pharmacy; they account for almost half of international enrollment. Other popular options include management, computer sciences, oil and gas engineering, secondary education. Most students are enrolled in bachelor and master programs with fewer than 1% studying in doctoral programs. Because of many years of development passionate work of scientists, Ukraine has built a great national education system and offers the following degrees:

Bachelor Program: The preparation for obtaining the Bachelor’s degree is carried out based on complete general secondary education. Bachelor’s degree is normally 4 years duration, whereas a medical degree, MBBS, has 6 years. Other medical degrees like Pediatrics, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Nursing have different durations.

Master Program: getting a Master’s degree is possible based on a Bachelor’s degree. The period of the course is 2 years.

PhD. A Doctor of Philosophy (or PhD) is a scientific degree received upon completing the Master’s course. Duration is 3-4 years.

MBBS & other Medical courses in Ukraine:

They ranked Ukraine at the fourth position in Europe for having the largest number of postgraduates in the medical field. The world’s major organizations like WHO and UNESCO recognize all the medical universities and the Medical Councils of many countries, including India. The admission process at a medical university in Ukraine is straightforward. They required no entrance examination to get admission to MBBS in Ukraine. The complete duration of an MBBS program in Ukraine is six years.

Eligibility Criteria for MBBS in Ukraine

The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine controls the management of all. The ministry has been keen on the development of the education system in the medical colleges in Ukraine.

Eligibility criteria for getting admission to MBBS in Ukraine differ from institution to institution. There is no entrance exam on a national level for entrance into a medical institution. If you are an Indian student, qualifying for the NEET entrance gives you an immense advantage for admission in Ukraine. Before studying in Ukraine, qualifying for the NEET entrance exam is mandatory for students who want to practice in India post completion of their degree.

Business, Hospitality, Management & other courses:

Students choose Ukraine for medical studies, but it does not mean that other streams are not there. A good number of students go to Ukraine for other courses as well. There are different programs available in Ukrainian Institutes. These courses include Bachelors & Masters in International Business, Business Analytics, International Economic Relation, Human Resource Management, Marketing. Tourism, Hotel and Tourism Management, Hotel and restaurant management, Agricultural science and food, Agricultural engineering (Agronomy), Agricultural Management, Software engineering, Computer sciences, System analysis, Computer engineering, Cybersecurity, AND many more.

Admission & Visa Process

When you decide to have your further education from Ukraine, no matter what subject, medical or other streams, the first step is to choose the right course and the right institute. This you can do with the help of internet search or consulting some expert dealing with Ukraine studies. The next step is to check the admission criteria, which can be different for different institutes. Here, our focus is on Indian students. For them, there is no English language test required for most programs. Students with an academic percentage above 55% in the senior secondary are eligible for Bachelor’s programs. Same way, students having 55% marks in Bachelors are eligible for different master’s degrees. They may enrol students in language courses before joining the actual course. Upon successful completion of the language program, students can major studies.

Visa & Immigration requirement

All international applicants coming to Ukraine with the purpose of studying shall get an “Invitation to study” from the university they are applying to. The invitation shall be in the same form established by the Ministry of Education. After this, students apply for a visa normally termed ‘D Visa’, allowing students to stay in Ukraine for longer than 90 days. To get a type D visa, a prospective student shall submit a list of documents to the consulate of Ukraine in the respective country, according to the list of documents showed on the Embassy’s website. When you have your date of arrival to Ukraine fixed, it is critically important to send a timely notification to your University about the date, time, and point (airport) of your arrival and flight number.

While clearing borders, you must know all details of your purpose for coming to Ukraine. Financially support for your stay must be assured from documents. We advise you to be ready for such an interview–make sure you know your university, its location, your place of residence during your studies, and the major of your studies. A notification letter from your university would be of utmost importance here. If you fail this interview, they can deny you access to enter Ukraine. This blog aims to make students aware of all details while they are planning to study in Ukraine.