How educational institutions, despite everything, continue to make money from draft dodgers. And they are happy

The results of the 2023 entrance campaign indicate that Ukrainian higher education institutions (HEIs) continue to be massively used to avoid mobilization. If last year, according to NGL, about 85 thousand men of military age took advantage of the opportunity to receive a legal deferment from mobilization, then this year we are talking about about 110 thousand.

Open data analyzed by NGL.media shows that the share of men among first-year paid education students in 2023 has increased overall to 70%, and their average age has increased to 27 years. The most striking increase in the number of male students is noticeable in the age categories 30+ and 40+.

The reasons for this gender and age imbalance are obvious - just like last year, student status guarantees a deferment from mobilization during martial law. Despite the fact that the average cost of a year of study in Ukrainian higher education institutions increased to 23.7 thousand UAH, the conditions for entering a contract remained simplified - for some specialties a simple interview or motivation letter was enough.

There is another reason - additional income for educational institutions. Based on the average cost of education and the number of applicants, this year Ukrainian higher education institutions received more than 2.6 billion UAH only from men who are not of student age. Last year, such additional income amounted to UAH 1.7 billion.

The absolute leader was the Kharkov Ukrainian State University of Railway Transport, where the number of male contract students in the first year of study, compared to pre-war 2021, increased 20 times in absolute numbers, it looks like this: 2021 - 102 people; 2022 - 957 people; 2023 - 2033 people

On the website of the publication NGL.media you will find a detailed comparative database of all Ukrainian higher education institutions, which takes into account all higher educational institutions, where in 2023 there were at least 100 first-year students of both sexes, budget and contract forms of education, created on the basis of statistics from the Ministry of Education and Science .

The government does not see any problem in the fact that universities are increasing the number of contract workers almost uncontrollably, the only condition for admission being a willingness to pay.

Certain restrictions on the number of paying students still exist, but in the pre-war period even the most popular universities used no more than 20% of their quota. Licensed volumes of specialist training for each Ukrainian ZNO were approved by the Ministry of Education back in 2006-2008. and have not been revised since then. Therefore, a sharp increase in contract workers in 2022-2023. In general, it fits into the standards laid down more than 15 years ago, although it cannot be ruled out that some ZVOs have already exceeded them.

To eliminate abuses, it would be enough to simply reduce the existing quotas for paid training to an acceptable size, and also introduce at least a minimum selection for contract workers through testing or exams. However, since April 2023, when the massive nature of the use of higher education to avoid mobilization became clear, the Ministry of Education has done nothing.

But there were initiatives from politicians who could not help but pay attention to this situation. Currently, four bills have been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, but all of them propose to combat the problem by limiting the rights of potential students themselves - despite the fact that even in times of peace, several thousand Ukrainians “not of student age” entered universities every year.

Now they may be banned from doing so. For example, the most discussed bill of deputies Fyodor Venislavsky and Maryana Bezugla from the Servant of the People provides for the abolition of a deferment from mobilization for those who decided to receive additional education at 30 years of age and older. This bill was submitted to parliament on September 5, but so far remains without movement - perhaps because it received negative reviews from the main scientific and expert department and the Committee on European Integration.

The main complaint against the Venislavsky-Bezugla bill is age discrimination. If passed, tens of thousands of men could be covered. As an analysis by NGL.media shows, in total this year, 71 thousand men over 30 years old entered the Western Military District for paid full-time education, including almost 23 thousand of them went to a lower or the same educational level that they already had.

Alternative bills (1, 2, 3) are no better - while avoiding age discrimination, they generally limit the right to receive a second education of the same or lower level, or simply offer free education, provided that the contract student voluntarily agrees to mobilize.