The Role of Regional Support in the Mechanism of Financing Higher Education Institutions Under Martial Law
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The article examines the problem of disproportions in the financial support of higher education institutions in Ukraine in the context of transformation of the State funding mechanisms, in particular in the context of the introduction of a formula-based approach to the allocation of budget funds. The essence of the problem is that, despite the formal orientation of the formula to the performance of higher education institutions, the practical functioning of the mechanism shows limited efficiency. One of the most controversial components of the current formula is the regional support indicator, which is supposed to perform a certain compensatory function. However, the decrease in the sensitivity of this variable in 2024 indicates an imbalance between the declared intentions and the actual effectiveness of the financial instrument. The purpose of the study is to empirically assess the impact of key parameters of the formulaic distribution of funds, in particular the regional support indicator, on the amount of funding for higher education institutions, as well as to identify asymmetries arising from uneven financial support in the territorial context. The methodological basis of the study includes the analysis of regulations, comparative processing of aggregate statistical indicators, building analytical correlations between the performance of higher education institutions and the amount of funding, as well as simulation modeling of hypothetical scenarios for the functioning of the regional coefficient. The results of the analysis showed that despite the growth of the aggregate indicator of the efficiency of higher education institutions, the share of funding that depends on results tends to decrease. Instead, the significance of the regional support indicator as a compensatory mechanism has almost halved, which calls into question its ability to perform the function of financial support for institutions in regions with a critical level of risk. Additionally, it was found that the reduction in funding per student negatively affects the conditions for the implementation of educational programs, especially in regional higher education institutions. The conclusions substantiate the expediency of revising the parameters of the current funding formula in order to increase its adaptability to spatial and security imbalances. The introduction of a multi-factor model for assessing regional impact is proposed. The practical significance of the study lies in the formation of prerequisites for a more equitable and strategically oriented redistribution of the state order.
Author: Oksana Pysarchuk
Language: English
Topic: Economic Issues in Ukraine
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4413085653