Academics appeal for long-term help to rebuild HE system

Academics fear that the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine, which has destroyed many universities and research centres and caused thousands of students and academics to flee the country, will cause a long-lasting brain drain, a community webcast hosted by the European Association for International Education (EAIE) has heard.

With all research put on hold and many students and lecturers forced to hide in cellars and bomb shelters for hours on end, Ukrainian academics are counting on their European colleagues – and others around the world – to continue supporting them as the bloody conflict rages, and in the longer-term reconstruction of Ukraine’s universities and research facilities.

That was one of the key messages during the community webcast on 1 April by Ganna Tolstanova, vice-rector for research at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and Sophia Opatska, vice-rector for strategy implementation at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.

The webcast also touched on the need to be sensitive when talking about support for Ukrainian students and academics in the same breath as Russian and Belarusian scholars, and why only Ukrainian women can currently take up offers to study or work abroad while hostilities continue.

Tolstanova said at least 20% of her students and 10% of lecturers had already relocated their families abroad since the Russian armed forces invaded Ukraine on 24 February – and the number moving to other parts of the country was much higher.

Support when hostilities cease

She said initiatives like Science for Ukraine and support from individuals and higher education institutions helping students, lecturers and researchers abroad “make us strong”, but she emphasised that the new connections and networks created in the midst of war would be just as vital when hostilities cease.

“The big hope is that Ukrainians who have moved abroad will come back and bring their new experience and scientific connections [with them] for the reconstruction of Ukraine’s higher education system,” said Tolstanova.

Opatska told the EAIE webcast: “Ukraine is in a very devastating situation. On our own we cannot achieve what we want to achieve and protect democracy and the values of a democratic society.

“Every day we are losing lives and the university is doing its best to know where its students and faculty are. People don’t know the day of the week, but they know which day of the war it is.”

Despite her university being in the relatively safer western part of Ukraine, Opatska crossed into Poland for the safety of her family together with millions of others leaving the country.

She said her university had been transformed in a matter of weeks into a refugee centre for those escaping the worst fighting in eastern Ukraine and students were focused on humanitarian aid rather than lectures.

“Right now, our students are learning much more from life,” she said.

‘Parked abroad’

Opatska preferred to describe the 15% of students and faculty from her university who had joined her as being “parked abroad” and a key priority was keeping in touch and maintaining a sense of community despite people being scattered around Europe.

Tolstanova told the webcast that many universities were resuming teaching online, but many lecturers and professors were “evacuated without laptops” and “just had to save their lives”.

She appealed for more help in the provision of space, equipment and internet connections from universities outside Ukraine so that teaching could continue and thanked colleagues from Europe and the United States for providing mental health support, housing and other support.

“Our students have only one life and they have to finish their studies.

“So, we also need your help for the integration of Ukrainian universities into existing alliances, such as the European university alliances and other networks, and to provide us with the status of associate members. We hope to continue research through visiting professorships and actual short visits by scientists with the condition of their return to Ukraine [when it is safe].”

She accepted that many currently abroad would not want to return and appealed for universities in Europe and beyond to create joint or even triple diplomas and joint courses, which should include the history and culture of Ukraine so that its position in the world is better understood.

“We ask you to be [our] ambassadors at your university,” Tolstanova said, appealing to EAIE members.

Opatska said fear of a brain drain was very real and admitted it was understandable that a lot of people would be worried about coming back to Ukraine.

“Many don’t have a place to come back to. They don’t have a home to come back to and it could take two years just to de-mine those places where active war is taking place right now.

“Rebuilding the country will take time and it will need a lot of work from education institutions.”

Mind your language

Opatska used the webcast to appeal to colleagues in the international higher education community to be “very careful” about what they say and write about supporting Ukrainian scholars in the same breath as they talk about support for scholars from Russia and Belarus.

“I think at this moment, when the war is going on, this is a toxic conversation for Ukrainians. It is really difficult when you look at announcements of fellowships for Ukrainians and help for Russian and Belarus people.

“We understand that we will have to come to the same table, but this is not the moment right now.

“So, my message to the international community is to be very careful what is said and written down and remember that for us this is a very difficult situation and use a lot of care with language.”

Only women can leave the country

On the question of offers for Ukrainian faculty and students to go on exchanges for a semester or even a year or two, Opatska made it clear that this could help Ukrainian institutions at the moment, but she emphasised that “only women can leave the country” while the war continues.

She faced several queries from academic colleagues in the West on the issue, with one asking whether male Ukrainian students would be able to take up offers to study at European universities in September, or if they are already enrolled as students outside the country.

Opatska replied: “No, there is a very strict law at the moment because it is a war situation. Only a man who has many children may be able to leave, for example, but men aged between 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave.

“As to what happens in September, it is a difficult situation because we don’t know what will happen in the country in September. For male students we are trying to get more online education.”

Pressed further about whether male students could leave if they had an offer of admission from a foreign university, Tolstanova said: “As vice-rector for research, I get a lot of letters from male PhD students who want to continue their research in a European university, but, unfortunately, as Sophia Opatska has mentioned, we have in Ukraine since the war [started] the announcement of total mobilisation [of the population].

“This is a very strict rule and male students, PhD students and lecturers from the universities are not allowed to go abroad.”

Nic Mitchell is a UK-based freelance journalist and PR consultant specialising in European and international higher education. He blogs at www.delacourcommunications.com.