I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University — TNMU, and the institution most people search for simply as Ternopil National Medical University or Ternopil State Medical University — is a Ministry of Health of Ukraine institution and the medical university in the city where Study in Ukraine Today is based.
That last point shapes this page. Our office is in Ternopil, so this is the one university profile on our site where we are describing a place we can walk to. It is also the university for which the most detailed official information is publicly published, including a current tuition schedule the university itself sets out. Everything below is taken from the university’s own website at tdmu.edu.ua and from the Ukrainian government’s study portal, with the date of each fact stated. Where the university publishes something that is clearly out of date, or does not publish it at all, we say so instead of guessing.
History
Historical record, drawn from the university’s own material and public sources:
- 12 April 1957 — founded as the Ternopil Medical Institute; its first rector was Petro Ohii.
- 1 July 1992 — named in honour of the biochemist Ivan Horbachevsky, by Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decree No. 363.
- 30 December 1997 — received the status of State Medical Academy.
- 17 November 2004 — reorganised as Ivan Horbachevsky Ternopil State Medical University.
- 17 April 2019 — granted national status by Presidential Decree.
International students have been admitted since September 1997, when the first cohort enrolled at what was then the Ternopil State Medical Academy.
How the University Is Organised Today
This is worth setting out carefully, because the structure has been reorganised and a great deal of material circulating online still describes the old arrangement.
The university currently lists four Academic Faculties:
- Faculty of Medicine — 1 Maidan Voli, Ternopil
- Faculty of Dentistry — 3 Oleny Telihy Street, Ternopil
- International Students’ Faculty — 1 Maidan Voli, Ternopil
- Faculty of Postgraduate Education — 1 Maidan Voli, Ternopil
alongside a Preparatory Department for foreigners and stateless persons.
Separately from the faculties, the university operates a set of Academic and Research Institutes, which is where Pharmacy and Nursing now sit:
- Institute of Nursing
- Institute of Pharmacy
- Institute of Morphology
- Institute of Biomedical Problems
- M.P. Skakun Institute of Pharmacology, Hygiene and Medical Biochemistry
- Institute of Pathological Processes Simulation and Analysis
So if you read elsewhere that TNMU has “four faculties: Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing”, that describes a previous structure. Pharmacy and Nursing are current academic areas with current degree programmes — they are organised as institutes rather than as faculties.
Physically, the university reports teaching accommodated in 15 buildings, with clinical departments located across 18 affiliated regional and municipal medical institutions, and five certified research laboratories.
Programmes and Language of Instruction
The university’s current international-student information lists degree programmes in Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing and Public Health, with Paramedic and Physical Training programmes also offered.
On language, this is one of the few Ukrainian medical universities where English-medium study is documented rather than merely asserted by agencies: the university’s own tuition schedule sets out separate fees for English-language and Ukrainian-language streams across Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Public Health, Paramedic and Physical Training, and Nursing is listed with instruction in English. The university states that about 85% of its teaching staff hold certificates of English proficiency, and that teaching materials for all disciplines studied by international students are supported in English.
Even so, confirm the language of instruction for your specific programme and for the clinical years directly with the university before committing. That advice applies everywhere, including here.
Tuition — Published by the University for 2025/2026
The university publishes its own fee schedule and states explicitly that these figures are as set up for the 2025/2026 academic year, in US dollars, not including other minor obligatory expenses or the hostel fee.
General Medicine — described by the university as MD, Medical Doctor Degree, equivalent to MBBS. Duration 5 years 10 months.
- English: $3,500 for year one, then $4,100 for each of years two to six — $24,000 in total
- Ukrainian: $3,000 for year one, then $3,700 per year — $21,500 in total
Dentistry — equivalent to Doctor of Dental Medicine. Duration 4 years 10 months.
- English: $3,500 for year one, then $4,600 per year, $4,700 in the final year — $22,000 in total
- Ukrainian: $3,300 for year one, then $3,800 per year — $18,500 in total
Pharmacy — Master’s degree. Duration 4 years 10 months.
- English: $2,800 for year one, then $4,000 per year — $18,800 in total
- Ukrainian: $2,500 for year one, then $3,600 per year — $16,900 in total
Nursing — BSN four years, or two years for holders of a two-year ADN; MSN two years for BSN holders. Instruction in English at $2,800 per year, described as stable across all years. A distance (extramural) route is also listed.
Public Health — Master’s, 1 year 10 months. English $2,800 per year; an extramural option is listed at $1,500 per year.
Paramedic and Physical Training — Bachelor programmes, English $2,800 per year.
Internship in General Medicine — one year, instruction in English, $3,800.
Admission deadlines are stated as 1 November for the autumn semester and 1 March for the spring semester.
These are the university’s published figures, not ours and not an agency’s. Fees can still change, and the schedule excludes the additional costs below, so ask us for a full written breakdown for your situation before you budget.
Accommodation
The university publishes hostel costs for September 2025 to August 2026 at between 1,390 and 1,825 UAH per month for one bed, in double or triple occupancy rooms, varying by living conditions.
For a sense of the city itself — cost of living, getting around, what it is actually like as a student — see our guide to studying in Ternopil.
How Teaching Currently Works
The university is clear about this, and it is the single most important current fact for anyone deciding where to apply.
During martial law, international students at TNMU have a choice between studying fully online or offline. Classes are delivered through Microsoft Teams for those studying remotely, and academic groups are set at ten to fourteen students.
The published teaching pattern is:
- Classes begin at 9:00 Ukrainian time, whether online or in person.
- Years one to three — daily practical classes of one hour twenty minutes each, several per day, with breaks.
- Years four to six — a single day-long practical class from 9:00 to 15:00.
- One day per week is given over to lectures.
Every student receives a university email address, course materials sit in Moodle, and schedules and marks are held in the university’s ACS system. The university also lists ELSEVIER, AMBOSS, EBSCO and Lecturio among the platforms supporting teaching, along with the Body Interact clinical-reasoning simulation programme.
Two things to weigh. First, a genuine online option is unusual and valuable if your circumstances require it — but for a medical degree, ask specifically how clinical rotations are handled in each mode, because that is the part that cannot be replicated remotely. Second, and importantly for anyone intending to practise abroad: ask your own licensing authority in writing how it treats periods of online study, before you choose that route. Some regulators take a position on it.
Ternopil is in western Ukraine, far from the front line, which is a material difference from universities in the east. It is not exempt from air raids, and you should read your own government’s travel advice before deciding.
Admission
Entrance is by examination. For Medicine, the university states the entrance exams are in biology and English language, in multiple-choice format, 24 questions each, taken online. For Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy the exams are in biology and the language of instruction, English or Ukrainian. Applicants choose whether to sit the exam in person or remotely and must tell the International Students’ Faculty dean’s office which they have chosen.
The university’s published Rules of Admission set out country-specific entry requirements — and we flag clearly that the version published on its site is the 2021 edition, so treat the detail as indicative and confirm the current year’s rules. That edition recorded, among others:
- India — applicants must present a NEET certificate, or in its absence a certificate of conformity (Eligibility Certificate).
- Nigeria — a certificate with at least five subjects at grade C or above, including English and mathematics.
- Ghana — at least six certificate subjects, of which three must be at D7 or above.
- Kenya — a minimum high-school grade of C.
- Zambia — at least five subjects at grade 6 or better.
- Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Sudan — specific percentage thresholds, differing by programme.
The NEET requirement for Indian applicants is worth underlining, because it is set by Indian regulation rather than by Ukraine, and it governs whether your degree will be usable at home.
For the complete document package we require before opening an application, see admissions. If your language or academic preparation is not yet sufficient for direct entry, the university runs a preparatory year — see preparatory course in Ukraine.
Krok — The Exam Nobody Mentions
Ukrainian medical students, including international ones, sit the state licensing examinations Krok 1 and Krok 2. TNMU publishes guidance for international students on passing them. Agency pages almost never mention Krok, and you should know before you enrol that these are a required part of the Ukrainian medical curriculum, not an optional extra.
Accreditation, and What the University Claims
The university states that all its educational programmes are accredited by the National Agency for Quality Assurance of Higher Education of Ukraine (NAQA). That is a current statement on its international-student information, and NAQA is the relevant Ukrainian regulator — you can and should verify a specific programme’s status with NAQA directly.
In 2023 the university’s simulation training centre received accreditation from the European Council for Simulation Training (SESAM), which the university states is the only such European-level recognition held by a centre in Ukraine.
On rankings, we will report what the university itself claims, attributed and dated, and no more: TNMU states that in 2023 it placed first among Ukrainian medical universities in the Webometrics ranking, first among Ukrainian medical and pharmaceutical universities in the “Top-200 Ukraine 2023” ranking produced by the EuroOsvita centre with the IREG Observatory, and first among all Ukrainian higher education institutions in the SCImago Institutions Rankings 2023. Those are 2023 positions in three specific rankings, published by the university. We have not independently verified them, rankings change annually, and none of them tells you whether a degree will let you practise in your country.
Recognition of any Ukrainian medical degree is decided by the licensing authority where you intend to work. See is a Ukrainian medical degree recognised, and put the specifics to your own regulator.
What We Could Not Verify
In the interest of being straight with you:
- Current-year admission rules. The Rules of Admission published on the university’s site are the 2021 edition. We could not find a published current edition and have not invented one.
- Current international student numbers by country. The university states approximately 1,000 international students currently, studying Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing and Public Health. For historical comparison it records about 2,865 international students from around 60 countries in 2021/2022 — a much larger figure from before the full-scale invasion. We could not verify a current country count, so we are not giving one.
- Some pages on the university’s site are years out of date, including a notice about suspended teaching that dates from March 2020 and concerns COVID-19. We have not treated stale pages as current.
Why We Know This One Particularly Well
Our office is in Ternopil. Our accommodation coordinator knows the hostels and the private rental market here, our team knows the city a student would actually be living in, and the university is a short distance away rather than a name in a brochure. For most universities our value is in obtaining written answers; here it is also first-hand knowledge.
If you are comparing institutions, our guide to medical universities in Ukraine sets out what genuinely separates them, and studying medicine in Ukraine covers the route end to end. The other Ukrainian medical university that publishes its own fees is Bogomolets in Kyiv, if you want a direct comparison.
We will prepare and submit your application, obtain your official invitation letter, and guide you through the Type D student visa requirements. When you have a complete document set, apply online.
