Admission to universities for 'zero course' to be introduced this winter – Education ministry

"Winter admission" to universities for the "zero course" will be introduced this winter, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Mykola Trofymenko announced.

"Winter admission" to the "zero course" is an absolutely correct response of the state to the challenges that Ukrainian youth face today. We plan that this opportunity will be available to our young people soon, this winter. We expect the Cabinet of Ministers to approve the relevant resolution that will introduce this pilot project and launch this initiative," Trofymenko said on Thursday’s national telethon.

According to him, the so-called "zero course" can be called a preparatory department by analogy.

"The main idea is to integrate young people into communities and university environments so that they immerse themselves in this life, make more conscious choices, and prepare for taking the national multi-subject test (NMT) and entering the university together with the university community," the deputy minister said.

He said that it is expected that within the framework of this training, applicants will be able to receive up to 15 additional competitive points to their points during the admission campaign, which significantly increases their chances of receiving a budget place or grant support from the state.

Such points can be used only when entering the university where the person took the "zero course."

According to Trofymenko, the target audience of such a program can be be: young people from temporarily occupied territories who did not have time to enter higher education during the admission campaign; servicemen who return from captivity or are discharged from service and do not have time to enter universities.

As reported, in August, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to simplify the conditions for admission to Ukrainian universities. In particular, the issue was to introduce a winter admission campaign so that students would not have to wait a year if they failed to enter a university in the summer for some reason.

In September, the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Oksen Lisovyi announced that the department was initiating the introduction of a "zero course" for applicants who did not pass the NMT.