More than 350 Ukrainian students in Ireland are sitting the equivalent of the Leaving Cert for college entry, starting on Tuesday.
The online exams, which will run for six days, are being hosted in Trinity College Dublin this week, and in Dublin City University next week.
Most Ukrainian students in their final year of school who arrived in Ireland since February, continued studying online with their own teachers in order to complete their studies and end-of-school assessment.
To help maintain Ukraine’s connection with its student population, the Irish Government committed to hosting sessions of its National Multi-Subject Test (NMT) for entrance into higher education.
Further and Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said the exams would ensure that students could continue their journey to third level, if they chose to do so.
“It has always been our determination that the young people of Ukraine should not be robbed of the opportunity to continue their education. We wish them all the best,” he said.
The exams are taking place in dedicated testing centres in TCD for three days this week and in DCU over three days next week.
Meanwhile, 196 Ukrainian third-level students are seeking to continue their higher education studies in Ireland.
Officials in the Department of Further and Higher Education have been working with colleges to ensure the Irish education system can facilitate them.
Mr Harris said “this has not been easy as papers cannot be sourced from Ukrainian universities but we have been working through these issues with students.
The minister said the third level sector had shown “incredible flexibility to make these accommodations and I want to thank them for that.”
Mr Harris said a significant number of Ukrainian students in Ireland wished to continue their studies with Ukrainian universities and they would be assisted with access to facilities.
Displaced Ukrainians will be treated as European students and will not be subjected to international fees.
The national Erasmus grant allocation will also be used to fund financial supports for those who undertake full-time studies in higher education Institutions, as well as displaced academic staff.
Displaced Ukrainian students may also access post-Leaving Cert (PLC) courses and the Springboard+ programme, which offers free courses leading to qualifications in areas where there are employment opportunities, such as ICT, engineering, green skills, manufacturing and construction.