The Ministry of Education and Science has changed the rules for admission to bachelor’s degrees in 2026: what is important for applicants to know

The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has updated the rules for the 2026 undergraduate admission campaign. The innovations should simplify the procedure for submitting documents, reduce the bureaucratic burden, and make the system more flexible for applicants.

Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Mykola Trofymenko reported on the key changes in a blitz interview with RBC-Ukraine.

Fewer applications — more certainty

One of the main changes was the reduction in the maximum number of applications for admission. In 2026, applicants will be able to submit no more than 10 applications, of which only 5 are for budget places.

The Ministry of Education and Science explains that this decision is based on statistics from previous years: most applicants were admitted to one of the first three priorities, while applications with lower priorities did not actually affect the result.

Motivational letters are no longer mandatory

Another important change is the abolition of mandatory motivation letters. The ministry believes that this element often turned into a formality and did not have a significant impact on competitive selection.

New rules for creative specialties

For applicants to creative specialties, the weight of the creative competition in the overall competitive score has been increased. At the same time, the mathematics score coefficient has been reduced to 0.075, which is less than 10% of the overall score.

What NMT results can be used

In 2026, applicants will have the right to submit the results of the national multi-subject test for 2023, 2024, 2025 or 2026. However, the important rule remains: to calculate the competitive score, the full set of results of only one year is taken into account, without the possibility of combination.

Simplification for Ukrainians abroad and applicants from TOT

Important changes also apply to Ukrainians who are abroad or live in temporarily occupied territories or in zones of active hostilities. Graduates of Ukrainian schools in European countries will be able to use the results of national final exams of foreign countries instead of NMT.

The mechanisms for admission through special educational centers have also been expanded, which should facilitate access to Ukrainian higher education for young people from TOT and frontline regions.

The Ministry of Education emphasizes: the updated rules are designed to make the admission campaign more understandable, accessible and adapted to modern challenges.