Professional pre-higher education (PPHE) is a level of education ensuring the formation and development of educational qualifications that confirm a person's ability to perform specialised tasks in a particular field of professional activity. 

The Law on Professional Pre-Higher Education (Закон України ‘Про фахову передвищу освіту’) outlines the basic legal, organisational, financial and other principles for the functioning of the PPHE system.

At this level, learners obtain the educational and professional qualification of Junior Professional Bachelor, which corresponds to level 5 of the National Qualifications Framework. This qualification enables individuals to perform complex production tasks in specific fields, to undertake limited managerial functions under conditions of uncertainty, and to apply scientific principles and methods of the relevant discipline.

PPHE can be pursued after completing basic secondary education, specialised secondary education, vocational education and training (VET), professional pre-higher education or higher education. Those entering PPHE with basic secondary education simultaneously finish the compulsory complete general secondary education and receive a certificate confirming its attainment upon graduation.

PPHE also includes specialised programmes in sports, arts and military fields. The specialities within PPHE, including those requiring additional regulation, are listed in the relevant official register (Постанова Кабінету Міністрів ‘Про затвердження переліку спеціальностей, за якими здійснюється підготовка фахівців у сфері фахової передвищої освіти з професій, для яких запроваджено додаткове регулювання’).

Institutions offering PPHE include professional colleges, military colleges for non-commissioned officers, professional colleges with special learning conditions and VET institutions. Graduates of PPHE programmes receive a Junior Professional Bachelor's diploma and an accompanying supplement. These documents are issued by the educational institution or other authorised PPHE provider at the place of study.

The acquisition of PPHE is carried out in accordance with standards developed by the PPHE Sector of the Scientific and Methodological Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MESU). MESU approves these standards with the involvement of representatives of the relevant professions and ensures compliance with the qualification requirements outlined in the Regulations on the Accreditation of Educational and Professional Programmes(Наказ Міністерства освіти і науки України ‘Про затвердження Положення про акредитацію освітньо-професійних програм фахової передвищої освіти’).

The Unified State Electronic Database on Education (USEDE, in Ukrainian – ЄДЕБО) recorded 738 PPHE institutions operating in Ukraine as of 1 January 2024. This total excludes military colleges for non-commissioned officers managed by the Ministry of Defence. Of these, 376 institutions function as structural subdivisions of higher education institutions (both independent and integrated units) and 362 operate as independent legal entities.

PPHE institutions vary in terms of ownership and sources of funding. Currently, of the 433 state institutions:

• 417 are under the MESU,

• 9 under the Ministry of Health of Ukraine,

• 4 under the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine,

• 2 under the State Statistics Service of Ukraine,

• 1 under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

State PPHE institutions that operate as independent legal entities receive funding from regional budgets and Kyiv's city budget, in accordance with Article 24 of the Law on the State Budget for 2018 (Закон України ‘Про Державний бюджет України на 2018 рік’). Articles 89-90 of the Budget Code of Ukraine (Бюджетний кодекс України) regulate their funding. Regional management bodies supervise these institutions on the basis of the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (Розпорядження Кабінету Міністрів України ‘Питання управління окремими категоріями закладів освіти державної форми власності, що належать до сфери управління Міністерства освіти і науки’).

According to open data from the USEDE database, 369,836 students were enrolled in PPHE institutions as of 1 January 2024. Of these, 169,500 attended state PPHE institutions funded from the state budget and administered by MESU. This number includes 156,266 students on full-time programmes (110,562 budget and 45,704 contracts) and 13,234 on part-time programmes (6,508 budget and 6,726 contracts). At the same time, 3,472 students were enrolled in private PPHE institutions, including independent institutions and those affiliated to higher education institutions.

Despite Russia's armed aggression, enrolments in PPHE institutions have remained stable at pre-war levels. In the last full academic year, enrolments even exceeded pre-war levels, with 119,222 students in 2020, 131,258 in 2021, 114,625 in 2022 and 130,316 in 2023.

As of 1 October 2024, the MESU's Directorate of Professional Pre-Higher and Higher Education confirmed the development and approval of all 84 planned competency-based PPHE standards. These standards are in line with the objectives of ensuring quality education. MESU operational data shows that seven PPHE institutions were destroyed and 162 were damaged during the war. More than half of the damaged institutions are located in Kharkiv (36), Dnipropetrovsk (25), Donetsk (17) and Kherson (16) regions. 

The ongoing aggression by the Russian Federation has led to the relocation of PPHE institutions from temporarily occupied and frontline areas to safer regions. By 1 October 2024, MESU reported the relocation of 94 PPHE institutions to ensure the safety of students and staff and to maintain access to education under martial law.