2025: A year of systemic changes and restoration of education and science amid war

In 2025, education and science remained a pillar for the country – a space of safety, development, and recovery. Despite the full-scale war, the state implemented systemic reforms at all levels – from preschool to science – and laid the foundations for long-term changes.

At the centre of attention is the individual at different stages of life. The Ministry’s task is to build an education and science system that guarantees equal opportunities, supports individual educational pathways, and fosters the development of human potential.

Shaping New Content and Meaning for Ukrainian Education and Science

In 2025, the Ministry of Education and Science continued the systematic updating of educational content at all levels. A new State Standard for Preschool Education was approved, setting unified guidelines for child development. Piloting of the senior school reform began in 30 lyceums across 19 regions, and a Model Educational Programme for specialised secondary education, along with model curricula, was approved.

Under the Education for Life policy, schools are introducing updated approaches to teaching key educational areas. Particular attention has been paid to improving mechanisms for ensuring the quality of learning materials: procedures for testing, expert review, and delivery of textbooks have been adjusted to better meet the needs of teachers and pupils. Educational links have been maintained with Ukrainian children abroad and in temporarily occupied territories.

In vocational education, the Law of Ukraine “On Vocational Education” came into force, reducing bureaucracy, granting financial and managerial autonomy, and strengthening the role of business and supervisory boards.

In science and innovation, a draft law on a new system of priority areas has been developed and adopted as a basis, enabling efforts and resources to be focused on defence and the country’s economic recovery.

Investing in Teachers, Lecturers, and Researchers

The 2026 State Budget provides for salary increases for teachers, lecturers, and academic staff – 30% from 1 January and 20% from 1 September. Additional payments for working in adverse conditions are also retained: UAH 2,000 for all teachers and UAH 4,000 for those teaching in person in frontline areas (amounts after tax).

In 2025, new tools for teachers’ professional development were introduced, including the Money Follows the Teacher funding model for advanced training, to be implemented via the Vektor platform. Recognition of teaching experience for teachers working abroad has been ensured, and a decision on equal opportunities for professional development for educators working with Ukrainian children outside the country is at the final stage.

Large-scale programmes for the advanced training of academic staff, funded by the State Budget, have begun (covering 3,500 lecturers).

The Government has approved a comprehensive concept for developing human resources – the National System of Researchers of Ukraine. Support for young scientists has been updated: for the first time, at least 30% of funding in Ministry competitions is allocated to their projects. Presidential scholarships for postgraduate students have been increased, and grants from the President of Ukraine for young scientists and doctors of science have been raised fivefold, with a focus on priorities vital to the country.

Building a Strong System and Network

In 2025, the Ministry continued updating the regulatory framework and developing educational networks. A national experiment piloting new types of preschool institutions was launched. In addition, the Ministry initiated the First Steps Forward – a comprehensive transformation of preschool education – in partnership with UNICEF, the Government of Finland, the World Bank, and the EU. Under this initiative, a strategy has been developed and USD 30 million in World Bank investment secured.

In extracurricular education, the Olympiad and tournament movement has been revitalised, modernisation of the extracurricular management system has begun, and a development concept has been approved. Greater emphasis has also been placed on improving the quality of patriotic competitions.

The Strategy for the Development of Higher Education and its operational implementation plan have been updated, and the admission process to higher education institutions has been improved.

For the first time, a large-scale state attestation of scientific activity was conducted using a unified methodology; its results will form the basis for a new model of science funding from 2026.

The National Network of Startup Schools, Incubators and Accelerators and the network of science parks are being developed, laying the groundwork for the introduction of a special legal regime, Science.City, as a tool for interaction between science, business, and innovation.

Creating a Modern and Safe Educational Environment

Developing a safe and modern educational environment has been a key priority. In 2025, the state invested in construction and equipping: 96 underground school shelters, 70 school buses, 120 modern learning spaces, 103 school kitchens and canteens, and 963 equipped Defence of Ukraine centres.

Under the #100 Workshops project, vocational and professional higher education institutions received modern equipment, repairs were carried out in classrooms and shelters, and the CampeX project – Campuses of Excellence – was launched to develop university innovation infrastructure. Access to modern educational spaces for students with disabilities has been ensured, along with the development of inclusive education centres.

This is the most extensive upgrade of educational infrastructure in the history of independent Ukraine, with total State Budget investment of UAH 22.56 billion over this and the previous year.

Strengthening Management Capacity

The Ministry is consistently enhancing the management capacity of the education system. In 2025, a programme for training academic managers was launched with World Bank support, experimental projects to increase financial and managerial autonomy for educational institutions were implemented, and national pilots for planning the development of educational networks in communities were conducted.

Scaling Educational Services through Digitalisation

For the first time, 110 electronic supplements to textbooks were procured, a unified system for foreign admissions was launched, and a service for automatic obtaining and extension of deferments was introduced. Over 185,000 teachers improved their digital competence, and more than 2,700 schools were connected to the state educational ecosystem Mriia.

Developing International Cooperation and Continuing EU Integration

International cooperation is a tool for systemic change. Today, more than 35 governments and 90 international organisations support Ukrainian education at all levels – from preschool to higher education and science. Joint programmes with record funding are being implemented, including with the World Bank totalling over USD 650 million – one of the largest international investments in education – as well as infrastructure recovery projects worth over EUR 70 million. The newly established International Coalition for Science, Research, and Innovation in Ukraine already has a portfolio of initiatives worth over EUR 130 million. Ukrainian education and science are increasingly integrating into the European educational and research space, and the European Commission has highly praised the progress of reforms in education and science implemented by the Ministry.