The State Regulatory Service (SRS) has declared the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES) banning full-time contractual postgraduate studies illegal. This is stated in the regulator’s letter No. 2886/20-24 of July 19, 2024, published on the Kommersant website.
The special order of Minister Oksen Lisovyi deprived full-time graduate students of the right to study on a contract basis. In response to this appeal from the NGO Youth Human Rights Agency, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal instructed the regulator to consider it. Representatives of the Association of Student Governments and the Union of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions also appealed to the SRS.
They emphasized that the actions of the Ministry’s leadership violated the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, which could lead to an outflow of academics and dismissal of employees of higher education institutions.
According to the applicants, such actions of the Ministry of Education and Science will cause an outflow of young scientists to foreign universities, significant losses of extra-budgetary funding for Ukrainian universities and, as a result, the forced dismissal of some research and teaching staff and deterioration of the prospects for the development of domestic science.
The SRS noted that the orders of the Ministry of Education and Science contradict international treaties ratified by Ukraine, violate the right to education, the principle of non-discrimination and proportionality of restrictions in a state of emergency.
The state regulator has concluded that the provisions of the MES orders violate international treaties and agreements ratified by Ukraine regarding restrictions on the right to education, do not ensure equality and non-discrimination, and do not comply with the principles of proportionality and justification of restrictions under martial law. The Ministry of Justice should review and cancel these orders in the near future.
