Key Problems of Financing Higher Education Institutions in Ukraine and Directions for the Solution

The purpose of the article is to investigate specific aspects of foreign experience in financing higher education institutions, the current state of affairs in this area in Ukraine, proposals from representatives of the government and the expert community regarding the improvement of the existing financing mechanism for higher education institutions in Ukraine, and to substantiate own proposals for its optimization directions. The article analyzes the current state of affairs in the field of financing higher education institutions both globally and in Ukraine. Key issues in the field of financing higher education institutions in Ukraine have been identified, namely: chronic underfinancing of educational institutions from the State budget, which does not adhere to the legally established norm in Ukraine; the worsening situation with budget expenditures on education since the onset of the war; the relative reduction of State financing for higher education institutions compared to other educational institutions; the absence of a universal recipe for developing an efficient financing model for higher education institutions abroad; the lack of consensus at the State level and among the expert community regarding the directions for reforming the existing mechanism of financing higher education institutions in Ukraine. The most common and popular financing instruments for higher education institutions abroad and the main models of their financing used by economically developed countries have been summarized. The most relevant proposals from State representatives and the expert community regarding the directions for reforming the existing mechanism of State financing for higher education institutions in Ukraine have been consolidated. The relevance of attracting funds from external donors has been substantiated, which will have a targeted nature and can be directed towards financing the training of specialists in priority sectors of the economy today and in the near future (construction, production of building materials, metallurgy, energy, transport, communications, agriculture, IT sector, etc.), considering the unprecedented volumes of financial assistance the country is receiving from external partners, which is provided not only in the form of long-term concessional loans but also as non-repayable grants.