Health
Ukraine's healthcare system is state subsidised and freely available to all
Ukrainian citizens and registered residents. However, it is not compulsory to be
treated in a state-run hospital as a number of private medical complexes do
exist nationwide. The public
sector employs most healthcare professionals, with those working for private
medical centres typically also retaining their state employment as they are
mandated to provide care at public health facilities on a regular basis.
All the country's medical service providers and hospitals are subordinate to
the Ministry of Health, which provides oversight and scrutiny of general medical
practice as well as being responsible for the day to day administration of the
healthcare system. Despite this standards of hygiene and patient-care have
fallen.
Hospitals in Ukraine are organised along the same lines as most European
nations, according to the regional administrative structure; resultantly most
towns have their own hospital
(Міська Лікарня) and many also have
district hospitals
(Районна Лікарня). Larger and more specialised medical
complexes tend only to be found in major cities, with some even more specialised
units located only in the capital,
Kiev.
However, all
Oblasts have their own
network of general hospitals which are able to deal with almost all medical
problems and are typically equipped with major trauma centres; such hospitals
are called 'regional hospitals'
(Обласна Лікарня).
Ukraine currently faces a number of major public health issues, and is
considered to be in a demographic crisis due to its high death rate and low
birth rate (the current Ukrainian birth rate is 11 births/1,000 population, and
the death rate is 16.3 deaths/1,000 population). A factor contributing to the
relatively high death is a high
mortality rate among working-age males from
preventable causes such as
alcohol poisoning and smoking. In
2008, the country's population was one of the fastest declining in the world at
−5% growth. The UN warned
that Ukraine's population could fall by as much as 10 million by 2050 if trends
did not improve. In addition to
this obesity, systemic high blood pressure and the HIV endemic are all major
challenges facing the contemporary Ukrainian healthcare system.
As of March 2009 the
Ukrainian government to reforming the
health care system, by the creation of a national network of
family
doctors and improvements in the
medical emergency services. former
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko put
forward (in November 2009) an idea to start introducing a public healthcare
system based on health insurance in the spring of 2010.
Education
According to the
Ukrainian constitution, access to free
education is granted to all citizens. Complete general secondary education is
compulsory in the state schools which constitute the overwhelming majority. Free
higher education in state and communal educational establishments is provided on
a competitive basis. There is also a
small number of accredited private secondary and higher education
institutions.
Because of the Soviet Union's emphasis on total access of education for all
citizens, which continues today, the
literacy rate is an estimated 99.4%. Since 2005, an
eleven-year school program has been replaced with a twelve-year one: primary
education takes four years to complete (starting at age six), middle education
(secondary) takes five years to complete; upper secondary then takes three
years. In the 12th
grade, students take Government Tests, which are also referred to as
school-leaving exams. These tests are later used for university admissions.
Ukraine produces the fourth largest number of
post-secondary
graduates in Europe, while being ranked seventh in
population
The first higher education institutions (HEIs) emerged in Ukraine during the
late 16th and early 17th centuries. The first Ukrainian higher education
institution was the
Ostrozka School, or Ostrozkiy Greek-Slavic-Latin
Collegium, similar to Western European higher education institutions of the
time. Established in 1576 in the town of
Ostrog, the Collegium was the first higher education
institution in the
Eastern Slavic territories. The oldest
university was the
Kyiv Mohyla Academy,
first established in 1632 and in 1694 officially recognized by the government of
Imperial Russia as a higher education
institution. Among the oldest is also the
Lviv University, founded in 1661. More higher
education institutions were set up in the 19th century, beginning with
universities in
Kharkiv (1805),
Kiev (1834),
Odessa (1865), and
Chernivtsi (1875) and a number of
professional higher education institutions, e.g.:
Nizhyn Historical and Philological
Institute (originally established as the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences in
1805), a Veterinary Institute (1873) and a
Technological Institute (1885)
in
Kharkiv, a
Polytechnic Institute in
Kiev (1898) and a Higher Mining School (1899)
in
Katerynoslav. Rapid
growth followed in the
Soviet period. By 1988 a
number of higher education institutions increased to 146 with over 850,000
students.
[230] Most HEIs
established after 1990 are those owned by private organizations.
The Ukrainian higher education system comprises higher educational
establishments,
scientific and
methodological facilities
under
federal,
municipal and
self-governing bodies in charge of education. The organisation
of higher education in Ukraine is built up in accordance with the structure of
education of the world's higher
developed countries, as is defined by
UNESCO and the UN.
Nowadays
higher education is either state
funded or private. Students that study at state expense receive a standard
scholarship if their average marks at the end-of-term exams and differentiated
test is at least 4 (see the 5-point grade system below); this rule may be
different in some universities. In the case of all grades being the highest (5),
the scholarship is increased by 25%. For most students the level of government
subsidy is not sufficient to cover their basic living expenses. Most
universities provide subsidized housing for out-of-city students. Also, it is
common for libraries to supply required books for all registered students. There
are two degrees conferred by Ukrainian universities: the Bachelor's Degree
(4 years) and the Master's Degree (5–6th year). These degrees are introduced in
accordance with
Bologna process, in which Ukraine is taking
part. Historically, Specialist's Degree (usually 5 years) is still also granted;
it was the only degree awarded by universities in the Soviet times
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