2026 Admission Campaign: Ministry of Education and Science announces main innovations and key dates
The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has updated the admission rules for higher education institutions for 2026. The changes are primarily aimed at supporting applicants from frontline regions and temporarily occupied territories. They also concern remote entrance exams, the distribution of state-funded places, and admission to master’s programmes.
What changes have been introduced
The main innovations include expanded opportunities for holding creative competitions and entrance exams remotely.
Restrictions on the relocation date for applicants eligible for Quota 2 have also been lifted. In addition, regional coefficients for higher education institutions in certain regions have been updated, and the algorithm for targeted allocation of state-funded places has been improved.
The privacy of applicants during video recording of entrance exams has also been strengthened.
For admission to master’s programmes in healthcare-related specialities, applicants may use the results of the Unified State Qualification Exam “Step B” taken in 2024, 2025, or 2026.
Key dates of the admission campaign
Registration of applicants’ electronic accounts in the Unified State Electronic Database on Education will begin on July 1.
Applications for bachelor’s programmes may be submitted from July 19 to August 1, for master’s programmes from August 7 to 22, and for postgraduate programmes from August 7 to 25.
The Ministry of Education and Science noted that separate registration deadlines apply to applicants taking creative competitions, interviews, or internal entrance exams.
Deadlines for certain categories of applicants
Applicants applying for creative or sports specialities, as well as those entitled to take an interview instead of the National Multidisciplinary Test, must register by July 10 to compete for state-funded places or by July 25 for contract-based admission.
For applicants to master’s and postgraduate programmes who use special admission conditions instead of national tests or apply for specialities with internal entrance exams, registration will remain open until July 27 for participation in the competition for state-funded places and until August 17 for contract-based admission.
The Ministry also reported that the modernisation of software for conducting entrance exams, including the National Multidisciplinary Test, External Independent Evaluation, and Unified Entrance Exam, as well as the update of the Unified State Electronic Database on Education, is being carried out under the joint project with the World Bank “Improving Higher Education in Ukraine for Results” (UIHERP).
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