LEVELS AND DEGREES

In most of the Faculties, the first degree available is the Bachelor degree. The scope of the Bachelor degree is about 120 NaUKMA credits and requires 4 years of study. Successful participants of the Independent External Evaluation are eligible for admission to the NaUKMA Bachelor programs.

Undergraduate professional education that leads to a Specialist Degree is offered in some fields. Specialist Degree usually requires additional year of studies after the graduation from Bachelor Programs.

NaUKMA offers 25 Master Programs, majority of which comprise 2 years of study. Programs are available for Bachelor (or Specialist) degree holders, who are being granted a chance to change previous specialization – graduates of any Bachelor program can apply and be admitted to any Master program.

Most fields of study offer two-level postgraduate programs – Aspirantura, a Soviet-era construct, which is a 3-year postgraduate program of research and an oral defence of a thesis, leading to the academic rank of Candidate of Science (comparable to Ph.D.). The Candidate may lead to the advanced Doctor of Science Degree, which requires additional 3 years of studies.

Besides that, NaUKMA offers 5 PhD programs, which include individual research work, interdisciplinary courses, organized by NaUKMA Doctoral School, and specialized thematic courses, proposed by the chosen Doctoral Program, as well as an oral defence of a thesis.

The Bachelor degree programs are divided in general mandatory courses, major oriented mandatory courses, major oriented elective courses, and free students electives. Courses in the Master programs are divided into mandatory and elective, though a central part of advanced studies is the Master's thesis.

Major corresponds to main student specialization in which he or she writes a Bachelor's or a Master's thesis (or in some programs passes a final exam) to obtain a Bachelor or a Master degree. NaUKMA students declare their major while applying for admission, though there is a possibility to change it during the second (sophomore) year of undergraduate studies. Bachelor graduate can change their previous specialization and apply for any NaUKMA Master program. For broadening their academic interests and discovering a completely different area the NaUKMA undergraduate students can chose a minor concentration. Minor subjects can be taken at their own Faculty or at any other NaUKMA Faculty or Department. Also NaUKMA has a system of Certificate Programs made of the subjects united into modules. The Certificate programs are being offered both on the Undergraduate and Graduate levels. They are open for all the NaUKMA students regardless of their major concentration.

Upon successful completion of the number of credits required the degree candidates are required to complete a Bachelor's or Master's thesis or to pass a Final Qualification Exam (depends on the major). Students who have graduated with "excellent" grades for more than 75 per cent of the courses taken (and not lower than "good" grades for the rest) and successfully defended their thesis may be awarded their degrees with Honors.

Non-degree (visiting) student status has been designed especially for those who wish to take a number of courses, complete part of their degree at NaUKMA, as well as for international exchange students. Visiting students receive credit for all of their work, but are not able to obtain a degree. The visiting status is normally valid for the maximum of two academic years. For the non-degree (visiting) international students possibilities please check the www.dfc.ukma.kiev.ua (NaUKMA Department for Foreign Cooperation).