Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has provoked international condemnation.
Germany announced that it would freeze cooperation with Russia in higher education and research. German Ministry of Education and Research and the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany coordinated push the European Union to halt scientific cooperation in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Peter-André Alt, president of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), said Germany’s Foreign Office has “recommended to freeze academic relations and in particular scientific projects with Russia”.
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) stated that “In such situations, we have to develop strategies for local people and their educational prospects, but with a view to controlling unavoidable refugee movements through the implementation of effective programmes. Special attention must be paid to protecting threatened and persecuted scientists’ and students’ lives.”
German universities and many researchers, teachers and students have taken the initiative to look after their Ukrainian colleagues and fellow students.
The aid funds set up by universities and of numerous university members have picked up Ukrainian people seeking protection from the Polish border and provided them with accommodation.
A federal support programme for universities
DAAD emphasized that a commitment to helping individuals will not be enough in view of the possibly prolonged war situation or even a Russian occupation regime throughout Ukraine. Therefore, we need a large support programme for the German universities financed by the federal government as quickly as possible so that they can help in this crisis.
This support programme should include the pillars that have proven their worth in other fragile contexts:
- Scholarships for the Ukrainian students, doctoral candidates and scientists who will come to us in the coming weeks and months, as well as the unbureaucratic extension of funding for those who are already with us.
- Support for German universities in supervising and helping Ukrainians through the funding period and beyond.
- Support for German universities to help Ukrainians with the professional and linguistic further qualifications they need to enter the German labour market.
- Support for German universities in the development and provision of digital offerings for their Ukrainian partner universities as long as they can continue to operate.
- Leadership programmes for future managers who take on managerial responsibilities in Ukraine after the situation has stabilised at a later date.
In the case of students, in particular, it will be our task to optimally support them in all four relevant phases (1. Preparation for their studies, 2. Starting their studies, 3. Continuing their studies, 4. Transition to the job market as qualified specialists). Because of the special trauma they will be facing, this also includes comprehensive psychological care.
Universities of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Dutch Research Council, the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centres, and The Young Academy – announced that all formal and institutional partnerships in education and research with Russia and Belarus were to be suspended immediately.
However, the European University Association (EUA), which represents more than 850 universities and national rectors’ conferences in 48 European countries, also on 2 March condemned Russian aggression in Ukraine “in the strongest possible terms”, but took a more nuanced approach to suspending research cooperation. In its statement it said it recognises that many education and research partnerships are based on academic peer-to-peer relationships, and noted that many Russian academics, at great personal peril, have publicly criticised the invasion.
The European Students’ Union (ESU), together with the Global Student Forum and the Ukrainian Association of Students have issued a joint statement condemning the invasion, and many ESU member unions have published their own statements against the war.
The response of European civil society has been a big mobilisation across the frontiers to provide help and support to people fleeing Ukraine and to those remaining in the country.
The student unions of the neighbouring states are joining efforts to organise frontline assistance for people fleeing the war.
Across the continent, our members are joining solidarity rallies and organising the sending of humanitarian aid as well as pressuring their governments and collaborating with university leaders to open up higher education institutions to students and academics from Ukraine to allow them to continue their academic lives in Europe.
All of that while staying in constant contact with the Ukrainian Association of Students, which is still operating and supporting students in the country.
ESU, its members and its partners are compiling an information file on help for people fleeing Ukraine, which also includes information both on border crossings and help for those who have crossed the border. The document is constantly updated with the latest news and sources of help.
The establishment by the Ukrainian government of an emergency hotline for international students wishing to leave Ukraine, as well as diplomatic assistance on the European and Ukrainian side are important steps. ESU is in contact with its partners in the Global Student Forum to provide support to international students who need to turn to our unions for assistance.
Among other measures, Lithuania has announced that it is preparing a call to suspend Russia and Belarus from the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
The Czech Rectors Conference strongly condemned “Russia’s actions and its violent conquest policies”.
In a statement it said: “Every independent state has the right to make democratic decisions about its future and its direction. What Russia is doing is trampling not only on international law, but also on all the ideals of European civilisation and peaceful coexistence between European nations.
The Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) voiced “all our support and solidarity to the academic institutions of Ukraine, its university communities and the population of this country in these difficult times. We want the violence to end and peace to be restored”.
Ukrainian Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhiy Shkarlet has called on the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BOFUG) and the key structures of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) to suspend Russia from intergovernmental and institutional cooperation. , He said Russia’s continuing presence in the Bologna Process was unacceptable following its invasion of Ukraine.
Serhiy Kvit, head of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance of Ukraine and former minister of education and science in Ukraine, has called on academics worldwide to take a stand against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.