EU-Ukraine relations – factsheet

The EU supports the integration of Ukraine into the European Higher Education Area and major reforms in the country to restructure and modernise the education system in order to deliver globally-recognised, quality education, to enhance the relevance of the educational offer and expand its internationalisation. Ukraine participates actively in EU capacity-building and academic mobility schemes of Erasmus+, leading to international and intercultural experiences of students and staff, familiarisation with new learning and teaching methods, and strengthening of competences and networks.

The EU also supports key competences and skills of young people, their active citizenship, social inclusion and solidarity through specific actions in the field of youth. Ukraine takes an active role in Erasmus+ projects promoting youth exchanges and volunteering, cooperation, networking and peer-learning activities.

More than 9,000 Ukrainian and nearly 4,000 European students and academic staff have benefitted from Erasmus academic exchange opportunities. In addition, over 14,500 young people and youth workers from Ukraine have taken part in short-term exchanges, mobility, training and volunteering projects.

Since 2014, 272 Erasmus+ scholarships have been awarded to Master students from Ukraine to follow Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree programmes.

The EU has dedicated € 5 million as a specific bilateral window for Ukraine under Erasmus+ to increase the existing opportunities for student and academic mobility and traineeships, support to reform processes at higher education institutions and greater involvement of Ukraine in Jean Monnet activities in the years 2019 and 2020.

Professional, cultural and youth exchanges, artistic cooperation and Ukraine’s participation in EU programmes is supported through the “House of Europe” programme (€18 million). The EU is providing €53 million to support the modernisation of the vocational education and training system and secondary education, as well as displaced universities in eastern Ukraine. The EU is also providing €2 million for enhancing the instruction of the Ukrainian language as second language among the national minorities.