Deferment after expulsion: lawmakers want to change the rules for students without a diploma

A bill has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada that is intended to resolve one of the problems concerning students’ deferments from mobilization. It concerns cases when a person was expelled from a university before completing their studies, did not receive a diploma, and later decided to continue pursuing the same level of education. If the bill is adopted, incomplete studies without a diploma should not be considered repeated education. Therefore, the mere fact of a previous expulsion should not automatically deprive a student of the right to a deferment, reports UNN.

This concerns Draft Law No. 15553, which was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on August 24, 2026. Its author is Member of Parliament Oleksandr Yurchenko. The document proposes amending Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine “On Education” and clarifying the rules concerning the sequence of obtaining education in cases where a person continues incomplete bachelor’s studies at another university.

As of August 25, the bill had already been submitted to members of parliament for review. The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science and Innovation was designated as the lead committee for its consideration.

What exactly the bill’s initiator wants to change

Draft Law No. 15553 does not directly amend the Law “On Mobilization Training and Mobilization.” Instead, the author proposes clarifying the provisions of the Law “On Education” concerning the sequence of obtaining educational levels.

And this is an important nuance, since compliance with this sequence — is one of the criteria for receiving a student deferment. Yurchenko proposes  to establish the following provision in the law: a person obtains a certain level of education only after successfully completing the relevant educational program and receiving an education document. Put simply, if a student studied for several years in a bachelor’s program but was expelled and never received a bachelor’s diploma, this does not mean that they obtained that degree.

The bill proposes to set out precisely this distinction more clearly in the law.

What will happen if a student enrolls in a higher education institution again

The document separately addresses situations in which, after being expelled, a person decides to continue their studies at another higher education institution. If a student did not complete the previous program and did not receive a diploma, continuing their studies at the same educational level under certain conditions should not be considered repeated education.

The bill refers, in particular, to continuing a bachelor’s program in the same specialty in which the person studied before being expelled. In such a case, the sequence of obtaining education should not be considered violated either.

In effect, the document proposes distinguishing between two completely different situations. The first is when a person has already received a bachelor’s diploma and then decides to obtain a bachelor’s degree again. The second is when a person began studying in a bachelor’s program but did not complete it, did not receive a diploma, and later returned to pursue this education.

It is precisely the second situation that has caused problems in recent years when student deferments were being processed.

What this has to do with a deferment from mobilization

Current legislation grants the right to a deferment, in particular, to students in professional, professional pre-higher, and higher education who study full-time or in a dual format and are obtaining an educational level higher than the one previously obtained. At the same time, the law links the right to a deferment to the sequence of obtaining educational levels established by the Law “On Education.”

Therefore, the question of whether new enrollment in a bachelor’s program after a previous expulsion is considered repeated education has very specific consequences for students liable for military service.

Information about studies and the sequence of obtaining education is contained in the Unified State Electronic Database on Education—USEDE. And this is precisely where problems arose in practice. For example, a person studied in a bachelor’s program for several years, was then expelled without receiving a diploma, and later enrolled again or continued their studies. Documents generated on the basis of USEDE data could contain information indicating an alleged violation of the sequence of obtaining education. As a result, the student could encounter problems confirming their right to a deferment.

How this could work in practice

Let us imagine a typical situation. After finishing school, a person enrolled in a university bachelor’s program. They studied until their third year but were expelled for certain reasons. They did not receive a bachelor’s degree. Some time later, this person enrolled in another university and continued a bachelor’s program in the same field of study.

Under the logic of the bill, they still do not hold a bachelor’s degree, since they did not complete the previous educational program and did not receive a diploma. Therefore, such studies should not automatically be considered the repeated pursuit of a bachelor’s degree, and the sequence of education should not be deemed violated.

However, there is an important "but" here. The adoption of the bill will not mean that every student who reenrolls will automatically receive a deferment. As before, they must also meet the other requirements of the law (regarding the form of study, previously obtained education, and other criteria stipulated by legislation).

In other words, Draft Law No. 15553 is intended to eliminate only one specific problem — the situation in which unfinished studies without a diploma are treated as an already obtained educational level.

What the Supreme Court has already said on this issue

Similar disputes have already reached the Supreme Court. One important ruling was issued on October 29, 2025, in case No. 200/5372/24.

It concerned a student who had previously studied in a bachelor’s program but was expelled from the educational institution and did not receive a diploma. Later, he continued his studies in a bachelor’s program; however, information about a violation of the sequence of education appeared in the Unified State Electronic Database on Education.

The Supreme Court sided with the student in this case. The presiding judge who heard the case  noted that studying at a particular educational level does not in itself mean that the level has been attained. A bachelor’s degree level is considered completed after the successful completion of the educational program and receipt of the corresponding diploma. If there is no diploma, there are no grounds to consider a person to have already obtained a bachelor’s degree.

In this case, the Supreme Court did not recognize the continuation of unfinished studies from the same year and in the same field of study as the repeated pursuit of higher education.

The Supreme Court formulated another important position on November 26, 2025, in case No. 160/29658/24.

The court then emphasized again: if a person has not received a document confirming the corresponding level of higher or professional pre-higher education, their previous unfinished studies do not in themselves mean that this level has already been attained.

Why the bill may prove narrower than judicial practice

And here there is a nuance that may become one of the main issues during further consideration of the bill. In Draft Law No. 15553, the author proposed a mechanism tied to continuing studies in the same field of study. At the same time, the position already formed by the Supreme Court may be interpreted more broadly: the key question is primarily whether the person received a document confirming the corresponding educational level, rather than merely whether the new field of study matches the previous one.

Therefore, the bill has two sides.

On the one hand, it may finally enshrine directly in law a principle that students previously had to prove in court. On the other hand, the final wording of the provisions will be critically important. If it is made too narrow, in certain cases the law could establish stricter rules than those already arising from the Supreme Court’s practice.

Why the problem with deferments for students arose in the first place

The reason lies in how the current legislation is structured.

The law on mobilization links student deferments to the sequence of education. The Law "On Education," in turn, defines educational levels and their sequence. However, uncertainty has arisen in practice over a seemingly simple question — can an educational level be considered attained if a person studied but did not receive a diploma? As a result, in some cases, studying itself was effectively equated with obtaining an education.

The consequences of this confusion also affected the Unified State Electronic Database on Education (EDEBO), whose data are used when processing student deferments. As a result, some students had to go to court to prove that they had not violated the sequence of obtaining education.

Draft Law No. 15553 proposes a much simpler rule: an educational level is considered attained when a person has completed the relevant program and received an education document.

When the new rules may take effect

For now, nothing has changed for students. As of August 25, 2026, Draft Law No. 15553 has only been registered in parliament, where it is at the initial stage of consideration.

First, the document must be reviewed by the relevant parliamentary committee. After that, it may be submitted for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada. For the proposed changes to actually take effect, the draft law must go through the required parliamentary procedure, receive a sufficient number of votes from lawmakers, and be personally signed by Head of State Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

Until then, the current rules remain unchanged, and issues concerning the sequence of obtaining education and eligibility for a student deferment will be decided on the basis of current legislation, EDEBO data, and established judicial practice.

Reminder

Starting September 1, 2026, student deferments will be verified through registers.