The financing of the education system in Ukraine aims to ensure the right to lifelong learning, accessible and free education, in cases and according to the procedures established by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine.
As specified in the Law on Education (Закон України ‘Про освіту’), the state allocates no less than 7% of GDP to education.
Education in Ukraine is primarily funded by public funds. In 2021, public spending on education accounted for 90.5% of total expenditure, while private spending was 9.5%. The State Statistics Service of Ukraine reports the education expenditures distribution by level of education in 2021, summarised in the table below:
Level of Education |
ISCED |
Share of Expenditures (%) |
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) |
0 |
15.9 |
Primary education |
1 |
20.5 |
Lower secondary education |
2 |
23.6 |
Upper secondary education |
3 |
6.1 |
Post-secondary, non-tertiary education |
4 |
5.1 |
Higher education (short cycle, bachelor's, master's) |
5-7 |
27.4 |
Doctoral studies or equivalent |
8 |
1.2 |
Local budget expenditures dominate the structure of consolidated budget expenditures on education. Over the past 10 years, local budget expenditures have accounted for about 80% of the consolidated budget for education. These budgets mainly finance ECEC, general secondary education, and vocational education and training. Additionally, local budgets support municipal higher education institutions (HEIs) and institutions of professional pre-higher education. However, the vast majority of HEIs are financed from the state budget.
Special laws regulate the financing of education at different levels. State and municipal educational institutions have the right to provide paid educational and other services.
The Budget Code of Ukraine (Бюджетний кодекс України) determines the budgetary funding of education in Ukraine using the programme-targeted method (PTM). This method involves managing budget funds to achieve specific results, while evaluating the effectiveness of budget use at all stages of the budget process. A key principle of budget financing is subsidiarity, which ensures that public services are as close as possible to their direct consumers. This principle is implemented through inter-budgetary transfers between the state and local budgets.
The largest subvention is the education subvention used to pay salaries for teaching staff. There is a formula to allocate the education subvention transparently between the respective levels of local budgets (Постанова Кабінету Міністрів України ‘Про затвердження формули розподілу освітньої субвенції між місцевими бюджетами’).
Targeted subventions play a crucial role in supporting key education reforms in Ukraine. As a form of intergovernmental transfers, these funds are allocated for specific purposes outlined in government policies.
In the context of Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, the national education system has faced serious financial challenges. At the same time, international partners have provided significant financial support. As of 2023, more than 50 organisations and foreign governments contributed around EUR 1.2 billion to support Ukraine's education sector.