The highest-paid rectors of Odesa universities earned 29 million in total last year

The total income of the rectors of higher education institutions in Odesa amounted to UAH 37.6 million last year, 29% of which was the income of six of them.

TheCenter for Public Investigations and Intent analyzed the declarations of 16 heads of state and municipal higher education institutions in Odesa Oblast for 2025.

The highest income was declared by Iryna Savelieva, Acting Vice-Rector of Odesa National Maritime University. Her personal income amounted to UAH 3.2 million. The bulk of it was made up of salary, business income and over UAH 1.6 million received from the sale of real estate.

The main financial contribution to the family budget came from her husband, Andrii Kuzmenko, who declared almost UAH 11 million in salary. However, the declaration does not specify where he works and what position he holds. The total family income increased by 26% over the year.

Stanislav Schneider took the second place with a family income of over UAH 6.3 million. His personal income was much more modest: salaries from several jobs, pension, compensation for damaged property and charitable aid together amounted to less than UAH 700 thousand.

The main source of income in the family was his wife Svitlana Levina's business, which brought in more than 5 million hryvnias. She received over half a million more from renting out property. Despite this, the total family income decreased by almost 70% over the year.

Rector of the State University of Intellectual Technologies and Communications Oleksandr Nazarenko took the third position. His income more than quadrupled to almost UAH 2.9 million. The main reason was a cash gift of over UAH 2 million from a relative. The rest of the amount was formed by salary and pension.

The fourth on the list was the acting rector of the Odesa Maritime Academy, Vadym Zakharchenko, with an income of 2.34 million hryvnias. The declaration includes his salary, pension and inheritance. His wife also declared more than a million hryvnias of income, including "other income" from Smelyansky without specifying the source of payments.

Maya Nikolaieva took the fifth place with a family income of UAH 1.6 million. The main sources of income were her husband's salary and pension. The heads of four other higher education institutions - Yaroslav Kichuk, Olena Khil, Hennadii Oborskyi and Anatolii Kovalev- declared less than one million hryvnias of income for the year.

Кирило Бойко