Only 86 Crimeans enter Ukrainian universities in 2023

The 2023 university admission campaign is the tenth one since the beginning of the occupation of Crimea. The largest number of applicants from Crimea entered Ukrainian universities in 2015, there were 943 children. However, over time, this number has decreased significantly. And despite a small increase in 2020 and 2021 (397 and 337, respectively), in 2023 the number of applicants from Crimea was only 86, which is the lowest figure since 2015.

Valentina Potapova, Head of the Direction of National Advocacy Department of the Almenda Center for Civic Education,” made this statement during an event at BrainHub, the country’s main discussion platform, at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

At the same time, she pointed out that there is a great number of people in temporarily occupied Crimea seeking to enter Ukrainian universities and maintain ties with Ukraine. However, they lack the necessary information to do so.

“I can say that, for example, the information regarding this year’s admission campaign appeared on the website of the Ministry of Education and Culture only at the end of July, when the admission campaign had already been going on for a very long time. Then there’s blocking, then there’s the fact that even through VPN they can’t access some websites,” she said.

In addition, Valentina Potapova also mentioned the problems related to the admission of students from the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea. Mainly these are: the problem of raising awareness about educational opportunities, the problem of communication with Educational Centers, the problem of switching to state-funded study programs, the problem of language reintegration, the problem of social and financial support, the problem of the limited enrollment within the license capacity during the additional session of the admission campaign.

BrainHub is the country’s main discussion platform created by Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. It brings together experts from the state and civil society sectors. BrainHub hosts intellectual discussions around the issues of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It’s the birthplace of the best ideas that will become the foundation for the road map of Ukraine’s reconstruction in all sectors: economy, infrastructure, education, agriculture, security, digital, etc.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news