“Almost 90% of students master two or more trades”: how vocational education is developing in the region

Workers are trained for the real needs of the economy.

Today an extended meeting chaired by the head of the Poltava Regional Military Administration considered a key issue: “On the State and Prospects of Vocational Education in the Poltava Region”. Detailed information and figures were presented by Myroslav Kostenko, Director of the Department of Education and Science of the Regional Military Administration.

The network of institutions and the student body

At present the network of vocational education institutions (VEIs) in the Poltava region comprises 33 institutions (4 of them are training centres at penal institutions). Funding is distributed as follows:

• 20 institutions are funded from the regional budget;
• 9 — from the budget of the Poltava City Territorial Community;
• 4 — from the state budget.

Workers are trained for the real needs of the economy. The largest number of institutions train specialists for catering (23), industry (19), transport (18), agriculture and construction (13 each), and the service sector (9).

As of 1 November 2026, 9,739 students are enrolled in the region’s vocational education institutions (9,465 on state-funded places, 274 under contract). Compared with last year the student body grew by 568 people (6%). Importantly, almost 90% of students master two or more trades, which significantly increases their competitiveness on the labour market.

Among the students are representatives of vulnerable categories: 415 orphans, 176 persons with disabilities, 716 internally displaced persons, 720 children of war veterans and 24 combatants.

The regional order and the leaders in attracting young people

The regional order for 2026 was approved at 4,258 places across 108 integrated trades. In fact, 4,176 applicants were enrolled (98% of the plan), which is 16% (591 people) more than last year. This points to a noticeable growth in young people’s interest in skilled trades.

Most of those enrolled (85%) are residents of the Poltava region, while another 15% came from other regions (most of all from the Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Donetsk, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions).

Among the communities of the region, the leader in the number of applicants attracted was the Kremenchuk City Territorial Community with 614 people. Next come the Poltava (441), Kobeliaky (144), Lubny (140), Reshetylivka (123), Myrhorod (117) and Hlobyne (103) communities. At the same time, the responsible department stressed the need to step up career-guidance work in the Drabyniv, Nekhvoroshcha, Obolon, Chornukhy and Zavodske communities, from which the fewest applications were received.

Employment, adult education and support for veterans

During the 2025–2026 academic year the institutions trained 3,187 skilled workers. According to monitoring results, 83% of graduates (2,649 people) are already employed or continuing their studies at institutions of professional pre-higher and higher education, and 10 are serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Special attention is paid to retraining the adult population, including war veterans and internally displaced persons:

• 728 adults completed vocational training at VEIs.
• Within international projects (34 short-term courses), 575 people gained qualifications.
• Vocational training and courses covered 44 war veterans, and 45 internally displaced persons gained partial qualifications.

In addition, 4 qualification centres operate successfully in the region (two of them in Kremenchuk, at VPHBU and Regional Centre of Vocational and Technical Education No. 1, as well as in Khorol and at Vocational School No. 26), where independent assessment of learning outcomes is carried out.

Infrastructure, safety and international cooperation

The material and technical base of the institutions is being constantly modernised. Today 18 training and practical centres (TPCs) operate in 11 VEIs, in the fields of mechanical engineering, construction, light industry, energy, transport and catering. During 2023–2025 almost UAH 94.7 million from various sources was directed to creating them.

All 33 vocational education institutions began the new academic year in in-person and blended formats thanks to equipped shelters (which cover 95% of needs) and one hundred per cent provision of generators and water supplies. The institutions are also actively attracting international technical assistance: 24 international projects have been implemented in recent years.

Main tasks for the future

The priority tasks for the near term include:

1. Preparing a long-term plan for forming the network of vocational and professional pre-higher education institutions, taking into account demographics and labour market needs.

2. Strengthening career guidance within the reform of senior specialised secondary school (in particular, piloting the DECIDE project in 28 communities of the region).

3. Spreading the practice of creating supervisory boards with the participation of employers and expanding retraining programmes for veterans and internally displaced persons.

Source: Kremenchuk Gazette (kg.ua), https://kg.ua/news/kremenchuk-ta-regioni/mayzhe-90-zdobuvachiv-osviti-opanovuyut-dvi-abo-bilshe-profesiy-yak