Valerii Kopiika won the election for rector of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Valery Kopiyka, Chair of the Academic Council, won the election for rector of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, which took place on October 27, 2026. He secured victory in the first round, receiving 51.74% of the votes.

Of the 3,823 eligible voters, 3,105 participated in the election—81.3% of the total. According to the university’s charter, an election is considered valid if more than 50% of eligible voters participate.

Under university rules, to win in the first round, a candidate must receive more than half of the votes cast by eligible voters. If no candidate receives the required number of votes, a second round is held, in which the candidate who receives the majority of votes cast wins.

According to the vote count, the candidates received the following results:

• Valerii Kopiika — 1,973 votes (51.74%);
• Hanna Tolstanova, former vice rector for research at KNU — 712 votes (18.62%);
• Ksenia Smirnova, former vice rector for international cooperation, — 159 votes (4.16%);
• Oleksandr Korchenko, First Vice Rector of the State University of Information and Communication Technologies — 77 votes (2.01%).

At the same time, 130 voters did not support any of the candidates, and another 49 ballots were deemed invalid.

Valerii Kopiika was born on March 5, 1962, in Kyiv. In 1984, he graduated from the Faculty of International Relations and International Law at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, earning a specialist degree in international relations.

At Kyiv National University, he worked as an assistant and associate professor in the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy at the Institute of International Relations. He also served as director of the EU European Documentation Center at the Institute of International Relations.

From 2007 to 2008, Kopiika served as the Institute of International Relations’ Deputy Director for Academic Affairs. He has headed the Institute since 2009, and in 2021 he became director of the Educational and Research Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

From April to September 2026, Valerii Kopiika served as acting rector of the university. In September, he was elected chair of the Academic Council of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

In accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education,” the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine must enter into a five-year contract with the newly elected rector within one month of his election.

On March 2, 2026, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine announced a competition for the position of rector of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The election was initially scheduled for May 27 but was later rescheduled for October 27.

On May 12, the Ministry of Education and Science stated that Volodymyr Bugrov, who had previously headed the university and was dismissed upon the expiration of his contract, could not run for the position again.

According to a ruling by the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv dated February 27, 2026, Volodymyr Bugrov was found guilty of an administrative offense under Part 4 of Article 172-6 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses—submitting knowingly false information in his declaration.

Consequently, following the October 27 vote, Valerii Kopiika emerged as the winner of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv rector election, having secured more than half of the votes and won in the first round.

This is confirmed by the election commission’s protocol, published on the university’s official website.