A System under Crisis: Performance-based Funding Policy Implementation in Ukrainian Higher Education

The thesis examines performance-based funding in Ukrainian higher education from 2020 to 2025. It replaced funding tied to student numbers and ministry negotiations, but governments repeatedly suspended and restored it during Russia’s full-scale war. Using policy process analysis and mixed methods, it finds that the reform exposed university budgets to public view, imposed uniform rules, and pushed universities beyond student numbers. Its main reversals came from political change, not weaknesses in the model, while bargaining and older mindsets remained. The dissertation recommends greater financial autonomy and protection from political interference, and lessons for Europe on sustaining higher education policy in long crises.