Ukraine is reforming its science evaluation system according to European principles - Hanna Tolstanova

Ukraine continues to reform the system for evaluating the scientific activities of universities and research institutions, introducing European approaches to analysing research effectiveness. In particular, during the national assessment, the principles of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) were used for the first time, prioritising qualitative expert assessment (peer review) over quantitative indicators.

This is stated in an opinion column for The Brussels Times by Hanna Tolstanova, founder of the non-governmental organisation "Professional Network of Education and Science Managers of Ukraine" (PNRM Ukraine).

According to her, Ukraine continues to implement the recommendations of the European Commission prepared במסגרת the Horizon Europe Policy Support Facility programme, even amid a full-scale war. One example of this work is the reform of the system for evaluating scientific activities.

Unlike global university rankings, which place Ukrainian universities at a disadvantage, the CoARA system promotes expert qualitative assessment (peer review) as the primary basis for evaluating scientific research

The expert adds that 483 higher education institutions and research institutions took part in the national assessment. As a result, 246 institutions employing more than 50,000 researchers confirmed strong performance in the relevant scientific fields and received stable institutional funding for 2026–2030.

According to Hanna Tolstanova, the significance of this reform goes far beyond the distribution of state funding. The assessment also created a comprehensive digitalised database of verified data, which should serve as the basis for making further decisions on the development of science, institutional policy and the identification of state priorities in the research sector.