The Council clarified whether contract doctoral students will receive a deferment from mobilization.

In Ukraine, there are plans to abolish the right to deferment from mobilization for contract PhD students starting in 2025. This decision comes in response to a significant increase in the number of individuals seeking education, which has risen to 90,000 due to the war, whereas prior to the conflict, the number did not exceed a few thousand. In the parliament, there is a strong belief that the PhD program has become a means to evade conscription, prompting intentions to combat this form of "disguise" seriously.

Serhiy Babak, the head of the parliamentary committee on education, science, and innovation, announced in an interview with "Ukrainian News" that contract PhD students will soon lose their right to deferment from mobilization. He emphasized that the full-time education format for contract PhD students will be abolished in 2025. This was the basis for this group to benefit from deferment from mobilization. Babak noted that the number of contract PhD students has reached 90,000, marking a record high for education seekers. However, most of them utilize their studies in the PhD program as a means to avoid mobilization into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"Under the slogan of 'we need to engage youth in science,' over 90,000 people registered for the PhD entrance exam. Meanwhile, we only graduated a few thousand each year," Babak stated.

Babak also does not rule out the possibility of limiting admissions to in-person learning. This issue is expected to be studied in more depth.

"I think so. In fact, we haven't yet delved deeply into this issue, only superficially, but by the end of the year, we have agreed with the Ministry to analyze it at one of the committee meetings. I feel that we will continue this practice," he added.

Deferment from Mobilization

In Ukraine, starting November 9, the "Reserve+" application launched a service for online deferment from mobilization. Initially, this new service will be available to Ukrainian students, PhD students, doctoral candidates, and individuals with disabilities. However, this service is currently unavailable for parents with many children. It is expected that the new service will alleviate the workload of the Territorial Centers for Recruitment and Social Support (TCRSS), making long queues a thing of the past.

At the same time, the right to deferment is granted to students of vocational (vocational-technical), specialized pre-higher, and higher education who are studying in full-time or dual forms of education. They must also be pursuing a level of education that is higher than their previously attained level in sequence. Additionally, doctoral candidates and those enrolled in internships have the right to deferment.