President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the Law of Ukraine ‘On Vocational Education’, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 21 August 2025.

This law paves the way for the modernisation of vocational education and the establishment of modern vocational colleges.

Key changes:

Vocational colleges will be non-profit organisations. This means greater financial freedom, as they will not be subject to a tariff grid or standard staffing table. They will also have the right to independently manage their own revenues. Most importantly, this provides an opportunity to properly evaluate the work of specialists, particularly vocational training instructors.

Introducing key performance indicators (KPIs) for principals will make their work more transparent and easier to evaluate. This will encourage the recruitment of new managers and improve the efficiency of the system.

In a few years’ time, graduates will be required to undergo an external assessment of their learning outcomes at independent qualification centres. This will improve the quality of specialist training, as diplomas will no longer be awarded without this type of knowledge testing.

The law will help to reboot vocational education and establish vocational colleges as the primary institutions for training qualified staff.

Flexible educational pathways form the basis of modern vocational education. Applicants will be able to choose whether to pursue vocational education or professional qualifications, allowing them to enter the labour market faster, avoid unnecessary formalities, and gain more practical experience. This will also make education more accessible for adults who want to change profession or improve their qualifications.

Most importantly, we will finally start creating an effective training model for qualified personnel who are in high demand on the labour market today. This model will be based on colleges.

The Law on Vocational Education is one of the key indicators of the Ukraine Facility Plan in the field of human capital development.