As of January 1, 2026, 21,271 foreign students from 127 countries are studying at Ukraine’s higher education institutions, the Ministry of Education and Science reported, citing data from the Ukrainian State Center for International Education.
“The number of foreign students in Ukraine has, of course, decreased compared to the period before the full-scale invasion, but interest in obtaining higher education in Ukraine remains. Therefore, Ukrainian universities are actively developing new educational areas, adapting learning formats, and joining initiatives aimed at developing international education,” the ministry’s press service quoted the director of the Center, Olena Shapovalova, as saying.
In particular, according to the Center, in the 2025/2026 academic year foreign students are receiving education at 369 higher education institutions in Ukraine.
The largest numbers of foreign students study at the following universities: Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding, Sumy National Agrarian University, Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics, National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute,” National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Private Higher Education Institution “International European University,” Private Higher Education Institution “University of Medicine and Social Sciences,” National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute,” and Zaporizhzhia State Medical and Pharmaceutical University.
It is noted that most foreign students study in Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, as well as in Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia regions.
According to the report, citizens from 127 countries are studying at Ukraine’s higher education institutions. The largest numbers of students are from China (6,626), Azerbaijan (5,420), Georgia (1,478), India (924), Morocco (734), Turkey (644), Turkmenistan (568), Poland (504), Armenia (406), and the Russian Federation (390).
The most common fields of study are: “Finance, banking, insurance and the stock market,” “Food technologies,” “Management,” “Technology of production and processing of livestock products,” “Medicine,” “Physical culture and sports,” “Biotechnology and bioengineering,” “Air transport,” “Economics and international economic relations,” and “Computer engineering.”
Among other things, it is noted that as of January 1, 2026, 6,292 invitations to study were registered. The most were for applicants from China, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Morocco, Nigeria, Turkey, India, the United States, and Poland.
As reported, in 2025 Ukraine’s higher education institutions enrolled 5,475 foreign students, which is 534 more than in 2024 (4,941).
Deputy Minister of Education and Science Mykola Trofymenko expects that after the end of the war the number of foreign students in Ukraine could increase to 100,000.
