Why do Indian students go for education in Ukraine? Current Government Policy is Responsible Which should be Changed

Reports claim that the majority of Indian students in Ukraine study medicine. Ukraine has the fourth-largest number of graduate and post-graduate specialisations in the field of medicine in Europe. Some of Ukraine’s state-run universities are well-known for providing high-quality education, and it is believed that Indian parents prefer to send their children to these institutions rather than pay a large fee to enroll into a lesser-known private medical college in India.

While government medical universities are affordable to aspirants, private medical institutions charge huge fees. According to Quartz India, Ukrainian medical colleges are a boon for students who are unable to get seats at government institutes or afford the hefty prices charged by private institutions in India. The universities in Ukraine are less expensive – MBBS costs in Ukraine range from $3,500 to $5000 annually (that is Rs 2.65 lakh to Rs 3.8 lakh), which is affordable for Indian students.

In a private medical college in India, an Indian student might expect to pay anything from minimum Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore. In comparison, a student studying for a six-year medical degree in Ukraine will only need to pay a fraction of that. Along with low tuition fees, Ukraine offers various benefits such as low-cost food and housing in Ukraine.

The National Medical Commission reports that there are 605 medical colleges in India, with a total of 90,825 MBBS seats available each year. While this figure appears large, it pales in comparison to the 1.6 million candidates that attempted the National Eligibility Cumulation Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS admissions in 2021.

This situation highlights that in India, just one out of every 16 aspirants is enrolled into medical college. With such intense competition, many students are either unable to pass the exam or end up with low grades. This deprives students from getting admission to prestigious colleges, particularly those run by the government. This fact adds for another reason that there are no entrance tests to pass in order to obtain admission to medical schools in Ukraine. The students only need to pass the NEET exam in India to be considered for admission to Ukrainian colleges.

But, the catch is these institutions are accredited by the World Health Organization, UNESCO as well as several other European countries. These students can also return to India to work as interns, take the NEXT qualifying test (formerly known as the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination), and practise medicine within the country.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his post-Budget Health Ministry session on February 27, urged private players to facilitate the medical education system in increasing the number of medical seats so that students do not have to leave the country to pursue medicine. But no suggestions given for low cost high quality Medical Education by these Private players which again discourage them who can’t afford high fees. In a recent development government medical education is costlier by arround fifty percent now, which also puts question mark on government’s practical intention to make easier the Medical Education for Indian Students.