Towards European standards: the government abolished legal education in colleges
CColleges in Ukraine will no longer offer legal studies. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution stating that starting next year, admissions to law programs will be limited to bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. This resolution will not affect students enrolled in law at colleges in 2024 or earlier.
We welcome the government’s decision. It aligns with Ukraine’s European integration aspirations since legal training in the EU begins at the bachelor’s level.
The resolution implements the Ministry of Education and Science’s policy aimed at reducing the number of universities, including those that offer legal studies. In Ukraine, about 300 universities provide legal education, with one-third actually being colleges. More details about the need to abolish legal education in colleges can be found here.
This decision by the Cabinet of Ministers is an important step in legal education reform. The latter has been discussed for at least 10 years, yet there is still no law on higher legal education. We hope that soon, the Working Group on Legal Education Reform, established by the Parliamentary Legal Committee, will develop a corresponding draft law that acknowledges the requirements of the European Commission and G7 Ambassadors.
