In Vinnytsia, a foreigner studied at a college that did not have a license: The Supreme Court obliged the institution to return the tuition fees

The issue of licensing educational activities is of fundamental importance for protecting the rights of learners. This is especially true for foreigners and stateless persons, as the absence of the necessary permits at the institution may call into question the possibility of obtaining an educational document even after several years of study.

In case No. 127/3206/25 dated June 8, 2026, the Supreme Court, composed of judges of the First Judicial Panel of the Cassation Civil Court, considered a dispute regarding the validity of contracts for the provision of educational services concluded with a citizen of Kazakhstan, and the consequences of the absence of a license at the educational institution for training foreigners in the relevant specialty.

Circumstances of the case

A citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan enrolled in 2021 at the Vinnytsia Transport College in the specialty "Forestry".

His mother, as his legal representative, concluded a contract with the institution for the provision of educational services, and a contract for specialist training was concluded with the student. During the entire period of study, the student's mother paid 42,300 UAH.

At the time of enrollment, the plaintiffs were convinced that the educational institution had all the necessary permits to carry out educational activities. However, in 2024, they learned that the college did not have a license to train foreigners and stateless persons in this specialty and therefore could not issue the student a diploma of professional pre-higher education.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine confirmed that the institution lacked a license to train foreigners and stateless persons in the relevant specialty.

The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit seeking to declare the contracts for the provision of educational services and specialist training invalid, to recover the paid funds, and to compensate for moral damages.

The court of first instance denied the claim, considering that the student could have obtained a diploma if he had acquired Ukrainian citizenship during his studies, and that his expulsion was related to failure to comply with the curriculum.

The appellate court disagreed with this approach, declared the contracts invalid, ordered the college to refund 42,300 UAH to the student's mother for tuition fees, and awarded 10,000 UAH in moral damages to the student.

The college appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.

Position of the Supreme Court

The Court recalled that according to part one of Article 227 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, a legal transaction made by a legal entity without the appropriate permit (license) may be declared invalid by the court.

The Supreme Court emphasized that the grounds for declaring a contract invalid must be established by the court at the time of its conclusion.

That is, the invalidity of the contract must exist at the moment of its conclusion, not as a result of non-performance or improper performance of obligations arising from the concluded contract. Non-performance or improper performance of obligations arising from the disputed contract is not grounds for declaring it invalid.

The Court pointed out that since the college did not prove the existence of a license to train foreigners in the relevant specialty at the time of concluding the contracts, the appellate court reasonably declared these contracts invalid based on part one of Article 227 of the Civil Code of Ukraine.

The Supreme Court also noted that the appellate court correctly rejected the defendant's argument that the student could have obtained a diploma by acquiring Ukrainian citizenship during his studies, since the terms of the disputed contracts did not require the learner to submit a statement about acquiring Ukrainian citizenship to the Vinnytsia Transport Professional College.

The Supreme Court dismissed the college's arguments regarding the student's expulsion, stating that these circumstances do not affect the conclusion about the invalidity of the contracts due to the absence of the necessary license.

Regarding the consequences of the invalidity of the contracts, the Court reminded that an invalid legal transaction does not create legal consequences except those related to its invalidity. In case of invalidity, each party is obliged to return to the other party in kind everything received under this legal transaction.

Thus, the Supreme Court indicated that the appellate court reasonably recovered from the college 42,300 UAH paid for tuition under the contracts declared invalid, in accordance with Article 216 of the Civil Code of Ukraine.

Regarding moral damages, the Supreme Court stated that compensation is possible in the presence of damage, unlawful behavior, causal link, and fault of the perpetrator.

The Court agreed with the appellate court's conclusion to award the student 10,000 UAH in moral damages, as it was caused by the college's concealment of the absence of a license to train foreigners and the conclusion of contracts that were later declared invalid.

The Supreme Court left unchanged the appellate court's ruling, which declared the contracts for the provision of educational services and specialist training invalid due to the absence of a license for training foreigners in the relevant specialty at the college.

The dispute is illustrative for the practice of applying Article 227 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, which provides for the possibility of declaring invalid a legal transaction made by a legal entity without the necessary permit or license. The Supreme Court effectively confirmed that the absence of a license is assessed precisely at the moment of concluding the contract, not taking into account subsequent circumstances or assumptions about the possible removal of such obstacles in the future.

Additionally, you can familiarize yourself with another case about how a student from Poland studied for 4 years at a university in Lviv but did not receive a diploma due to an admission error in the article of the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper".

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