Ukraine: Academic Misconduct Index Country Profile

TL;DR

Ukraine: P=22.46, R=28.2, Q4 (Probably not looking). Lowest Prevalence in Eastern Europe. NAQA quality framework with explicit integrity remit (established 2015, post-Maidan reform). Wartime context affects ongoing measurement and institutional capacity.

AMI scores at a glance

• Prevalence Score (P): 22.46 — 30th of 39 countries
• Response Quality (R): 28.2 — highest in Eastern Europe ex-Poland
• Quadrant: Q4 — Probably not looking
• Data quality: A (5/6 dimensions from live data)
• Region: Europe (Eastern)

Dimension breakdown

What drives Ukraine's score

Contract cheating (D1 = 67)

Ukrainian-language and Russian-language search volume for essay mill terms is in the elevated band. The Ukrainian higher education sector has historically had a documented essay mill market; post-2014 reforms have addressed some of the institutional drivers but consumer demand remains.

Plagiarism (D4 = 55)

Ukrainian higher education integrity literature documents elevated plagiarism rates, particularly in graduate work and at lower-tier institutions. The 2014 Strikha Law on Higher Education and subsequent reforms have addressed several structural drivers; institutional culture changes more slowly than statutory frameworks.

Data fabrication (D6 = 35)

Ukraine's Retraction Watch signal is moderate. Ukrainian research output is concentrated at a smaller set of institutions; the misconduct-linked retraction rate per publication is consistent with broader Eastern European patterns.

The post-Maidan reform context

The 2014 Strikha Law on Higher Education and subsequent reform agenda introduced significant changes to Ukrainian higher education governance:

• NAQA established with explicit integrity remit (2015)
• Universal external thesis evaluation
• Stronger institutional autonomy with accompanying accountability
• Removal of corrupt institutional leaders identified through Lustration processes

These reforms have lifted the R-Score relative to other post-Soviet states. Ukraine's R-Score of 28.2 is meaningfully higher than Russia's 16.8, reflecting deliberate policy choices.

NAQA

The National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance is unusual among national quality agencies in including explicit academic integrity oversight. NAQA's framework includes:

• Programme-level integrity assessment
• Required institutional integrity policies
• Published findings on accreditation outcomes
• Specific guidance on plagiarism and contract cheating

The agency contributes meaningfully to the Disclosure sub-component of the R-Score.

The wartime context

The full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 has significantly disrupted Ukrainian higher education. Many institutions have relocated, some operate fully online, faculty and student populations have shifted, and research output has been disrupted.

The AMI 2026 measurements capture this disrupted state — the dimension scores reflect a higher education system operating under exceptional conditions. Future AMI versions will note this context explicitly. Some methodology adjustments may be required for Ukraine specifically as the situation evolves.

R-Score breakdown

• Legislation: 18 — Strikha Law and NAQA framework
• Detection tools: 40 — UniCheck and similar deployment
• Disclosure: 25 — NAQA publishes integrity findings
• Penalties: 30 — institutional codes; NAQA accreditation consequences

Implications

For Ukrainian policymakers, the integrity reform agenda is a clear policy strength. Continued NAQA development, particularly in expanding disclosure and detection, would close more of the gap to Q1.

For employers and admissions offices, Ukrainian credentials require contextualisation. The institutional reform agenda and NAQA framework provide meaningful integrity infrastructure; the wartime context affects ongoing institutional capacity.

Sources

• Strikha Law on Higher Education (2014) and subsequent reform documentation
• NAQA (National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance) published findings
• Ukrainian higher education integrity literature
• Retraction Watch Database, Crossref/GitLab (2026)
• Academic Misconduct Index v1.5 methodology

View full methodology | Download dataset

Related data

• View Ukraine on the AMI scatter plot
• Read the full methodology
• See the full country rankings