National Pirogov Memorial Medical University in Vinnytsia — commonly searched for simply as Pirogov Medical University Ukraine, and abbreviated VNMU — is one of Ukraine’s largest and longest-established medical universities, and it has a founding story that almost every page about it gets wrong.
Everything below is taken from the university’s own website and, where noted, the Ukrainian government’s study portal. Where a figure has a year attached, we give the year. Where we could not verify something at the time of writing, we say so rather than repeat it.
It Did Not Start as a Medical School
The university records its creation in 1921 as the Vinnytsia State Pharmaceutical Institute. It was reorganised in 1930 into the Vinnytsia Affiliation of the All-Ukrainian Institute of Medical Education, and renamed the Vinnytsia Medical Institute in 1934.
In 1960 it was given the name of Mykola Pirogov, the anatomist and military surgeon whose work on field surgery and anatomical atlases made him one of the most significant figures in nineteenth-century medicine. In 2002, by Decree of the President of Ukraine dated 19 June 2002, No. 560/2002, it was awarded national status and took its current name.
In 2026 the university marked opening its doors to first-year students for the one hundred and fifth time — a continuity that runs through the Soviet period, independence, and now a full-scale war.
Faculties and Specialities
The university states that its educational activity is conducted across six faculties that hold the right to train foreign citizens:
- Faculty of Medicine No. 1 — General Medicine
- Faculty of Medicine No. 2 — Paediatrics and Medical Psychology
- Faculty of Dentistry — Dentistry
- Faculty of Pharmacy — Pharmacy and Clinical Pharmacy
- Preparatory Department for Foreign Citizens
- Faculty of Postgraduate Training — 53 specialties
Two of these are worth noting if you are choosing between universities. Medical Psychology as a named speciality is unusual in Ukraine, and the fact that the university retains a Faculty of Pharmacy reflects the institution it began as in 1921.
Teaching Staff and Departments
VNMU reports 60 departments staffed by 1,058 lecturers, among them 129 Doctors of Medical Science, 94 professors, 689 candidates of science (PhD) and 411 associate professors.
Those departments split into a theoretical profile of 21 departments — anatomy, biochemistry, histology, microbiology, pharmacology, foreign languages and others — and a clinical profile of more than 40 departments and courses covering obstetrics, surgery, paediatrics, psychiatry, oncology, ophthalmology and stomatology. The university’s published teaching methods include MCQ examinations and OSCE-format assessment.
International Students
The university’s faculty for foreign citizens records that its first overseas students were admitted in 1961, which would place it among the longest continuous records of international medical education in Ukraine. We were not able to reach that faculty’s own website at the time of writing to re-verify the detail, so we present it as the university’s own account rather than as independently confirmed.
On numbers, the university records 1,500 foreign students in 2012 and 2,759 international students in 2020. We could not find a published current figure and are not going to estimate one — the 2020 number predates the full-scale invasion and should not be read as today’s enrolment.
Languages of instruction for international students are given as Ukrainian and English. As everywhere, confirm the language for your specific programme and, in particular, for the clinical years — see our guide to studying medicine in Ukraine for why that question matters more than it sounds.
Campus and Facilities
Unusually for a Ukrainian medical university, VNMU is a single campus in the centre of Vinnytsia rather than buildings scattered across the city. The university lists three academic buildings, five hostels, four canteens, seven buffets, a sports complex and a students’ polyclinic, all on that one site.
For a student arriving alone, a contained central campus with its own accommodation and clinic is a practical advantage worth weighing. Read more about the city in our guide to studying in Vinnytsia.
Current Operations
The university publishes procedures for its academic buildings and dormitories setting out what students and staff should do on receiving an air raid alert. That is a straightforward indication that it is operating in person, with wartime protocols in place.
Vinnytsia sits in west-central Ukraine, well away from the front line, though no part of the country is exempt from air raids. Ask the university directly what delivery format applies to your programme and year, and how clinical rotations are handled, and read your own government’s travel advice before deciding.
Tuition
The university publishes its tuition for foreign citizens on its admission page for foreign citizens. The current document there covers the 2026/2027 academic year, based on the university’s orders No. 88 of 19 May 2026 and No. 113 of 23 June 2026. Per year, in US dollars, it sets Medicine at 3,000 in English (2,600 in Ukrainian), which is 18,000 over six years in English (15,600 in Ukrainian); Dentistry at 3,500 in English (3,000 in Ukrainian), 17,500 and 15,000 in total; and full-time Pharmacy at 2,800 in English (2,300 in Ukrainian), 14,000 and 11,500 in total. The document states that payment is made in the hryvnia equivalent at the National Bank of Ukraine’s official exchange rate on the day of payment, by non-cash transfer. It lists tuition only, so ask us for a full written first-year breakdown.
Separately, the Ukrainian government’s study portal lists figures for VNMU which carry no stated year. They differ substantially from the university’s own dated 2026/2027 figures above, so rely on the university’s document and treat the undated portal figures as unreliable.
Our MBBS fees in Ukraine page sets out every officially published figure we could verify, each with its year and source, and explains why so many published Ukrainian fee figures are wrong.
Recognition
Whether a Ukrainian medical degree lets you practise is decided by the licensing authority in the country where you intend to work, not by the university and not by us. See is a Ukrainian medical degree recognised for the principle, and put the specifics to your own regulator in writing.
Note also that all medical students in Ukraine, including international students, sit the state Krok licensing examinations administered by the Testing Centre under the Ministry of Health. Our medicine pathway guide explains what that involves.
How Study in Ukraine Today Helps
We are based in Ternopil, a few hours from Vinnytsia. We prepare and submit your application, obtain your official invitation letter, and guide you through the Type D student visa requirements. If your preparation is not yet sufficient for direct entry, the university runs a preparatory department for foreign citizens — see our guide to the preparatory course.
Read the admissions requirements first and assemble a complete document package; incomplete files fail later at the university or the embassy. If you are still comparing institutions, see medical universities in Ukraine, which includes our profiles of Ternopil, Bogomolets and Kharkiv.
When you have a shortlist and your documents ready, apply online.
