State budget 2018 draft foresees Hr 6.3 billion for academic scholarships

Published Aug. 16, 2017 at 12:14 pm

Ukrainian university students hold placards reading "We demand scholarship indexing", "Hands off of student unions", "We demand quality education" and the others during a rally in front of Taras Shevchenko National University in Kiev on April 7, 2016.The students, representatives of different regions of the country, held the to action demand an improvement in their social protection and the quality of education in the country. / AFP PHOTO / SERGEI SUPINSKY

Photo by AFP

Deputy Finance Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko has said the state budget for 2018 foresees Hr 6.3 billion for higher education student scholarships.

“The Finance Ministry is fulfilling its financial obligations: the total amount earmarked for 2018 expenditures for stipend payments amounts to Hr 6.3 billion,” Marchenko said in an interview published by the Ukrayinska Pravda e-zine.

Marchenko said his ministry supports increasing the amount of academic stipends, which will be awarded based on student performance, as well as on a contract basis.

He said the number of eligible students would be limited from 40-45 percent to 15 percent through 2020. Meanwhile, the number of students eligible for a social scholarship will be increased, he said.