In Ukraine, they plan to temporarily allow the privatization of premises and buildings of higher education institutions. Such provisions are provided for in the draft law "On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025", which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on September 13, 2024.
Serhii Babak, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science and Innovation, spoke about the purpose of the initiative and the specifics of its implementation.
According to the head of the education committee, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Finance justify the need for privatization by the fact that as a result of unification of universities, surplus property sometimes appears.
The draft law refers to the repeal of the "ban on privatization of state institutions of higher education", according to Serhiy Babak, this provision was formulated incorrectly, therefore it is planned to change it, since Article 80 of the Law "On Education" regulates the issue of property of institutions of higher education, not the form of ownership of universities .
People's deputies, who are part of the committee, believe that it would be more expedient to note that privatization is allowed only for individual premises or buildings of higher education institutions, which were reorganized by means of unification or merger.
According to Serhiy Babak, Presidential Decree No. 16/1995 of June 451, 95 will stand in the way of the norm, even in its modified form. This document prohibits the transfer of property of higher education institutions that have national status.
The draft law on the state budget states that 90% of the funds received from the sale of university property will go to the development of reorganized educational institutions, and the remaining 10% will go to the state budget. In this way, this money will be able to remain in the field of education, says Babak.
Currently, there is no mechanism by which the premises of consolidated higher education institutions will be privatized. Instead, the committee turned to the Cabinet of Ministers with a request to propose a privatization procedure that will start after the adoption of the draft law on the state budget.
After approval of the Ministry of Education and Culture's proposal to sell the premises of universities, the department must turn to the Cabinet of Ministers - the founder of all state universities, and the government will make a decision on whether it is worth putting the premises of higher education institutions up for sale.
It is expected that the privatization procedure should be finally approved by a Cabinet of Ministers resolution after the Verkhovna Rada adopts the draft law on the state budget.
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