Third-year students will undergo mandatory military training at universities

Students of the 3rd year will undergo mandatory military training at universities. Photo: Espresso

From the 2025-2026 academic year, third-year students at Ukrainian universities will undergo basic military training. Such innovations are not related to mobilization, but are designed to provide students with basic knowledge and skills in self-defense, handling weapons, and providing first aid.

This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Mykhailo Vynnytskyi, in a commentary for News LIVE.

The minister explained that they decided to add military training specifically for third-year students, because they are students aged 19-20 who are already of legal age.

According to him, the training will include information on basic defense skills and rules of behavior in emergency situations, but the mobilization age remains 25, so students will not be subject to mobilization.

«The mobilization age remains 25. It's just that a person who graduates from higher education should be able to handle weapons, should know where meetings are held in case of need, how to defend oneself, how to provide first aid, tactical medicine. All these things are included in the basic general military training,» he said.

According to him, funds from the state budget have already been allocated for the implementation of the program. Currently, training grounds and a training system for instructors, who will start working in January, are being prepared. In 2025, a project for the training of reserve officers will also be developed, which is part of the reform of military education and a continuation of the subject «Defense of Ukraine» introduced in high school classes.

We will remind that from September 1, high school students study the subject «Defense of Ukraine» in specially created centers throughout the country. It is expected that there will be about 1,200 such cells.

It was previously reported that a large-scale survey on the real state of education has started in Ukraine, which will last 10 days.