1,189,960 applications — a figure that's easy to put in a headline as a record. But these are applications, not people. One applicant could submit documents to five to seven institutions at once and for several specialties — the system allows it. So the 28% increase compared to 2025 shows not so much a boom in applicants, but rather a change in behavior: young people have become more active in "insuring" themselves by submitting applications more broadly.
A practical conclusion for parents and applicants in the coming years: using the number of applications as an indicator of competition is a mistake. The real picture of competition will emerge only after August 6, when the Ministry of Education publishes recommendations for admission, and especially after August 13, when the procedure itself is completed.
Management and Psychology Lead, but Not Growing Fastest
Management (105,301 applications) and psychology (66,774) remain the most desired fields — inertia is at work here: these specialties seem universal and don't require advanced-level mathematics or physics. But their growth rate of 32.8% is almost the same as the national average. This means that the popularity of management is not an exceptional trend of 2026, but part of a general surge in application submissions.
It's more interesting to look not at the leaders by volume, but at the leaders by dynamics.
Where the Real Shift Is: Engineering Growing Twice as Fast as Average
Construction and civil engineering: +61.6%. Electrical engineering: +57.1%. Automation and robotics: +53.5%. Aviation and aerospace engineering: +74.6%. For comparison, the overall increase in applications across the country was 28%, meaning interest in engineering fields is growing twice as fast as the average indicator.
"The number of applications for specialties with special support increased by 33.4%. This is an important signal for universities and the state, as it concerns the training of specialists already needed by the economy and reconstruction," — commented Mykola Trofimenko, Deputy Minister of Education and Science.
"Special support" here is not an abstract term — these are state incentives: increased scholarships, additional budget places, grants. In other words, the state is deliberately directing applicants toward technical specialties needed for reconstruction and defense industry, and according to the numbers, it's working.
Who's Losing in This Dynamic
Against the backdrop of overall growth, there are only two specialties in decline: metallurgy (-6.2%) and preschool education (-0.6%). Metallurgy is not surprising given the state of the industry during the war. But the decline in interest in preschool education, though minimal, deserves attention: the shortage of educators in Ukraine is already noticeable, and even a small negative trend here could intensify the problem in a few years.
What This Means for the Labor Market in 4-5 Years
If the trend continues, Ukraine will get more civil engineers, electricians, and automation specialists precisely when infrastructure reconstruction will require the maximum number of personnel. The question is whether universities will manage to rebuild their curricula and material base for the increased demand, or whether the number of applications will remain just an intention that dissolves after the first session encountering the resistance of technical disciplines.
