“The Ukrainian centres of excellence project is a non-starter”
Even if the Russians hadn’t invaded, the World Bank’s incremental steps were never going to solve Ukrainian HE’s entrenched problems, says Ararat Osipian
Published on October 12, 2026 in Times Higher Education
The timing of the World Bank’s attempts to improve Ukrainian higher education, announced just ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion, was both perfect and disastrous. Over the past four years, Ukrainian universities have needed international support like never before. But, at the same time, the wartime conditions have only made an already extremely difficult task into an impossible one.
The “Ukraine Improving Higher Education for Results Project”, announced in 2021 and launched in 2022, is now entering its final chapter with the CampeX (Campuses of Excellence) project. The bank aims to support universities in establishing centres of excellence in areas of strategic importance to Ukraine, and to strengthen their capacity for research and innovation. The aspiration is that such centres will serve as platforms for developing talent and generating new knowledge and practical solutions for the country’s recovery and modernisation, while also strengthening international ties.