In August, Ukrainian school students will be able to get their university entrance qualification from the partner institutions of the BUA via a digital test. The interdisciplinary final examinations will give graduates the opportunity to commence or continue their studies in Ukraine. They will be held simultaneously from July to August in Ukraine and in more than 20 countries where refugees have found asylum. Alongside Berlin, other German cities including Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig, and Hamburg are also offering these exams.

The three Berlin test centers and their technical infrastructure are provided via the E-Assessment Alliance project. Here, the partner institutions of the BUA are collaborating to develop joint standards for the implementation and didactic quality of electronic examinations. This project is part of the BUA’s cross-cutting theme "Teaching and Learning". The tests will be accompanied by Ukrainian teachers who have taught in Ukraine and who, in some cases, have taken interdisciplinary final exams themselves in their homeland. The Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment is charged with the task of designing and organizing the exams, to be provided for the first time, fully digitally and to an international audience, via an open-source exam platform.

The interdisciplinary final exams, which Ukrainian school students need in order to commence their bachelor's degree, will be held between 9 am and 11 am and between 2 pm and 4 pm on August 17 and 18 respectively. To this end, the BUA is opening up its examination halls at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, and Technische Universität Berlin as needed. For those school students wishing to commence a master's degree, the relevant tests will be held at Humboldt-Universität’s E-examination Center located on the Adlershof campus on August 10 and 11 and August 15 and 16. These exams are to take place simultaneously at a central location in each of the 13 participating countries – in Germany’s case, Berlin.

With these tests, the Berlin University Alliance is supporting the continuity of the Ukrainian educational system. The Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science requested support through the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Together with the BMBF and the Conference of the Ministers of Education (KMK), the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) managed to find five university locations to facilitate the examinations.

The Berlin University Alliance

The Berlin University Alliance is a consortium consisting of three major Berlin universities – Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin – and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, established to shape research and education in Berlin. The four partners joined forces to further develop Berlin as a research hub with international drawing power. Together the partners explore major societal challenges, increase public outreach, promote the training of junior researchers, address issues of quality and standards in research, and share resources in the areas of research infrastructure, teaching, diversity, equal opportunities, and internationalization. The Berlin University Alliance is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the state of Berlin under the Excellence Strategy of the Federal Government and the Länder.

Joint press release from Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin along with Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Press contact
Suhana Elisabeth Reddy, press spokesperson for the Berlin University Alliance
Email: medien@berlin-university-alliance.de