Dear readers, the previous issue of our newspaper published reports by the university’s vice-rectors for specific areas, which they presented at meetings of the University Academic Council at the end of last year and the beginning of this year. Each of these reports already covered certain financial and economic aspects of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute’s activities in their respective fields. To provide a comprehensive overview of this, the editorial board is publishing an analytical review of the financial and economic activities of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute based on the results of 2025, which was presented by the university’s chief accountant, Kateryna Zaits, at the Academic Council meeting on January 12.
The year was quite challenging: it became yet another year of trials for our university. Operations took place under martial law, and this required not only professional precision but also a high degree of adaptability from us. The main task was to ensure the university’s uninterrupted financial operations—primarily the timely payment of salaries and scholarships, as well as utility bills.
Total funding amounted to 2.4 billion UAH, distributed across the following programs:
– “Personnel Training” program (general fund) – 1.5 billion UAH.
– “Personnel Training” Program, special fund – 528.1 million UAH (paid services).
– “Academic Scholarship” Program, general fund – 217.5 million UAH.
– “Scientific Activity” Program, general fund – 47.5 million UAH.
– “Scientific Activity” program, special fund – 136.8 million UAH.
– “National Expenditures in the Field of Education” program, special fund of the State Budget – 37.1 million UAH.
– “Personnel Training” program, special fund of the State Budget – 3.2 million UAH.
In 2025, we faced a significant shortfall in budget funding. The approved appropriations under the General Fund covered only critical expenditure items. The reason for the reduction in the budget is the cut in appropriations for training specialists from the General Fund of the state budget, which account for the largest share of the university’s expenditures (60%).
Insufficient funding for the university from the General Fund is due to the application of a formula-based approach to the distribution of expenditures. This formula is based on the previous year’s cash expenditures rather than on actual needs. Underfunding in one year automatically reduces the amount of funding in the next—even if the university maintains high performance indicators.
The amount of funding also directly depends on education expenditures approved in the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget.”
In wartime, priority is given to the security and defense sector, which leads to a reduction in both the base and incentive components of funding for higher education institutions.
The university has no ability to influence this mechanism. Consequently, this leads to further funding cuts and creates risks for ensuring adequate conditions for the university’s operation.
Formula-based funding in 2025 amounts to 91% compared to 2024:
– 2024 – 1,530.87 million UAH;
– 2025 – 1,393.50 million UAH.
The budget deficit at the beginning of 2025 amounted to 329.1 million UAH, of which 224.0 million UAH was for payroll.
The university has been working continuously with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to secure additional funding. Numerous letters were prepared and sent justifying the need for funding under the categories of utility services and labor costs.
Thanks to systematic work with the Ministry of Education and Science, additional funding was received for labor costs in the amount of 68.7 million UAH and for utility payments – 16.7 million UAH.
To bring labor costs in line with budget allocations, a series of difficult but necessary optimization measures were implemented, including:
– standards for the number of teaching and support staff were approved based on the number of full-time faculty and the number of higher education students;
– scientific and teaching staff were realigned and partially transferred to funding from the special fund, in accordance with the number of higher education students and teaching loads;
– a portion of the Student Village’s staff positions has been transferred to funding from the special fund;
– the number of associate deans/directors and laboratory heads has been optimized.
In total, 373.7 staff positions were reduced or transferred to the special fund. This allowed for a reduction in the budgetary burden of 103.1 million UAH.
Despite optimization measures and the allocation of additional funding, the shortfall in funds for payroll at the end of the year amounted to 52.2 million UAH. It was covered by the special fund.
It is important to emphasize that despite the difficult situation, the university administration’s fundamental position was to preserve the workforce. We deliberately did not send employees on unpaid leave, understanding the difficult economic situation of every family in wartime conditions.
According to estimates for 2025, the budget requirement for utility services was 215.6 million UAH. Due to increases in utility rates, the actual requirement rose to 217.7 million UAH.
The university repeatedly submitted calculations of the actual need for utility expenses, but only 6.5 million UAH was approved in the initial budget estimate under the General Fund. Thus, with 73% of students on state-funded scholarships, the actual allocation amounted to only 5.8%.
In December, the university received additional funding for utility payments in the amount of 16.7 million UAH.
To ensure the university’s uninterrupted operation and prevent the accumulation of utility payment arrears, the university was forced to pay for utilities using funds from the Special Fund.
At the same time, the university implemented a series of measures aimed at controlling and optimizing utility consumption, specifically:
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To promptly detect leaks or overconsumption, the system for monitoring resource consumption (water, electricity, and daily heat monitoring) was strengthened.
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Ongoing work is being conducted with department heads to promote the economical use of energy resources.
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Adjusting indoor temperatures based on the time of day and work schedules.
Given the austerity measures, expenditures on utility services in 2025 amounted to 185.1 million UAH and were paid as follows:
– From the Special Fund (paid services) – 152.9 million UAH, including 91.7 million UAH from tuition fees.
– From the General Fund – 30.2 million UAH, specifically 6.3 million UAH to cover utility costs for housing in dormitories for students in priority categories.
– Approximately 2 million UAH from research activities.
Given limited budgetary funding, the Special Fund has become the university’s primary source of support, enabling the development of its material and technical base, the construction of shelters, and the modernization of infrastructure.
Today, KPI is not merely a recipient of budget funds. We are a robust institution capable of generating its own revenue.
Revenues of the Special Fund in 2025 amounted to 664.9 million UAH.
The main components of the university’s Special Fund are:
– Revenues from the provision of paid educational services and other services – 261.0 million UAH.
– Revenues from scientific (scientific and technical) work – 136.8 million UAH.
– Dormitory housing – 121.0 million UAH.
– Charitable contributions, grants, and gifts – 70.5 million UAH (of which 42.8 million UAH are in-kind contributions).
– Public catering – 28.8 million UAH.
– Other revenues (academic transcripts, duplicates of higher education institution documents, cultural and mass events, sports and health activities, rent, etc.) – 46.8 million UAH.
The largest component of the university’s Special Fund is the provision of paid educational services to students.
Total revenues of the Special Fund increased by 16.4% compared to 2024 figures.
The main drivers of this growth are:
– an increase in tuition fees ranging from 5% to 82%, taking into account the application of indicative cost;
– a 36% increase in the volume of research work funded by the Special Fund;
– revenues from research grants: in particular, grants from the National Research Foundation doubled (to 42.3 million UAH);
– revenues from the Student Campus increased by 1.5 times;
– an increase in revenues from other services (in particular, from the rental of premises – by 13%).
The priority areas of the university’s budget expenditures were salaries, utility payments, and funding for measures to ensure the continuity of the educational process.
A detailed breakdown of funds specifically allocated for staff training can be seen on the slide “Expenditures on Staff Training.”
General Fund
– Salaries – 1,434.4 million UAH;
– Academic scholarships – 217.5 million UAH;
– Utility payments – 30.2 million UAH;
– Supplies, materials, and equipment, social benefits – 12.1 million UAH.
Special Fund
– Labor costs – 306.9 million UAH;
– Utility payments – 137.3 million UAH;
– Supplies, materials, and equipment, social benefits – 47.2 million UAH;
– Purchase of long-term use equipment – 44.0 million UAH;
– Food – 10.8 million UAH;
– Payment for services – 23.5 million UAH;
– Repair work – 695,900 UAH;
– Travel expenses – 1.2 million UAH;
– Specific measures for the implementation of state programs – 8.4 million UAH.
Funds for scientific activities were spent in accordance with approved budgets for scientific topics.
Another component of expenditures is the occurrence of force majeure circumstances related to the elimination of the consequences of the Russian Federation’s armed aggression.
As a result of enemy attacks in 2025, several buildings, utility structures, and window frames in dormitories were damaged. The university was forced to redirect significant funds from the Special Fund toward emergency repair work and energy resources.
Under these conditions, the university intensified its search for additional sources of funding: charitable and sponsorship funds. The total amount of these revenues amounted to 1.2 million UAH.
Thanks to the persistent efforts of the university administration, an application was submitted to the Ministry of Education and Science for budget funds under the “National Initiatives in Education” program to address the damage. In September 2025, under this program, we received funding in the amount of 37 million UAH earmarked for the restoration of the Sports and Health Complex.
The university took all necessary measures to ensure the timely use of the allocated funds intended for repair work and building restoration; specifically, a tender procedure was conducted twice for the procurement of repair services.
During the first procedure, the contractor refused to sign the contract. As a result, the contract was not signed within the established deadlines for reasons beyond the university’s control. During the second procedure, the bidding did not take place due to a lack of bids.
As a result of these circumstances, the university was physically unable to begin the work and fully utilize the allocated budget funds within the current budget period.
Regarding the procurement of glass and window structures, contracts totaling 12.6 million UAH were signed. The actual procurement under these contracts amounted to 6.4 million UAH, as one of the suppliers failed to deliver goods for the full contract amount.
Tenders fell through, and suppliers failed to deliver. Consequently, we had to return part of the funds to the state, as we were not authorized to spend them improperly or for purposes other than those intended. This highlights a critical issue in the construction contracting market under wartime conditions. However, work on the facility’s restoration will resume in 2026.
In 2025, despite the difficult economic situation, the university demonstrated high efficiency in managing financial resources, which ensured the stability of its operations.
Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the entire team, the following payments were made on time:
– salaries to employees;
– social and academic scholarships to higher education students;
– tax obligations and fees;
– timely payment of all utility costs despite their increase;
– timely payments to suppliers to ensure the university’s uninterrupted operation.
In 2025, scholarships were paid in the following amounts:
– academic scholarships to students – 143.3 million UAH;
– academic scholarships to graduate and doctoral students – 74.2 million UAH;
– social scholarships – 26.5 million UAH;
– social benefits to orphans and persons from among them – 11.9 million UAH.
In addition, personal and named scholarships were paid from other sources, as well as scholarships under grant agreements totaling 1.1 million UAH, and scholarships from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for young scientists totaling 1.3 million UAH.
In accordance with the law, taking into account the laws on the organization of labor relations under martial law, in addition to base salaries, mandatory allowances, and incentive-based supplements, university employees were also paid:
– health benefits – 41.5 million UAH;
– quarterly and annual bonuses – 4.3 million UAH;
– publication bonuses – 940,000 UAH; it should be noted that this year the payment amount was increased by 240,000 UAH;
– annual financial assistance to teaching staff – 1.4 million UAH;
– bonuses to winners of the “Young Lecturer-Researcher” competition in the amount of – 1.3 million UAH;
– financial assistance upon request – approximately 300,000 UAH.
Based on the analysis, it can be said that in 2025 the university operated stably, and all financial performance indicators were met.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the accounting department’s efforts in 2025 were focused on:
– accounting for and monitoring revenue from paid and other services;
– high-quality support for research contracts and grant agreements;
– optimization of accounting processes.
At the same time, 2025 was quite challenging for the accounting department due to staff optimization and downsizing, which led to a redistribution of responsibilities and a significant increase in the workload for each specialist.
The complexity of the situation was exacerbated by active audits of financial and operational activities conducted by independent auditors, the State Audit Service (SAS), and the Ministry of Education and Science (MES).
This created additional work due to the need to respond to urgent requests from regulatory authorities.
To maintain accounting records, accounting staff worked simultaneously in several programs, including several legacy databases (for historical data); a new program (for current operations); as well as the State Treasury and electronic reporting systems. All of this often required working outside regular hours. Despite this, by the end of the year we managed to migrate most of the accounting processes to the MASTER program.
The transition to a single accounting program is scheduled to be completed by 2026.
Summing up 2025, it is worth noting that the university not only survived but also demonstrated the ability to increase its own revenues and optimize expenditures without compromising the quality of the educational process.
We retained our staff, ensured heating in the buildings, and continue to advance research.
Our objectives for 2026 are:
– to actively work on increasing the revenue of the University’s Special Fund by attracting more students and securing more research contracts;
– to expand grant activities;
– to ensure the economical use of all types of utilities to reduce the burden on the budget;
– implementing digital solutions in accounting to achieve maximum transparency.
The drafting of the university’s budget for 2026 is ongoing. We are awaiting a complete set of funding allocation notices from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. The document will be submitted for review immediately after the official funding amounts are finalized.