Ukraine

Since the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022, the European higher education and research community has consistently shown its solidarity and support to Ukrainian universities, students and staff.

Following an initial statement of solidarity with Ukraine at the onset of the war, the EUA Council confirmed a number of measures to support Ukrainian universities, including the establishment of a task force on the post-war recovery of the country’s university sector, in April 2022.

In the early months of the war, EUA conducted research on how invasion impacted Ukraine’s university sector, and the measures taken by Ukrainian authorities, the EU and the European higher education community. In addition, a survey of EUA’s collective members provided a valuable overview of various national level approaches to support Ukrainian students and academics, as well as relevant partnerships with Ukrainian universities.

Based on the work of the task force, EUA then published a set of recommendations in July 2023. These recommendations seek to enhance collaboration and dialogue on how to better advance together in the context of uncertainty around the course and duration of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Together with the recommendations, EUA launched the #HE4UA initiative, which is collecting information on support and collaboration measures.

The MSCA4Ukraine fellowship scheme provides support to displaced researchers from Ukraine by enabling them to continue their work at European institutions. MSCA4Ukraine is led by SAR Europe in collaboration with EUA and Alexander von Humbold Foundation, and funded by the European Commission under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

Visit the MSCA4Ukraine website

Numerous governments, higher education institutions and organisations have also contributed to efforts to support Ukrainian higher education.

Learn more about how the EU and MSCA host organisations are supporting Ukrainian researchers

For example, the European Commission has allowed more flexibility for the Erasmus+ programme to welcome students and staff from Ukraine.

The Commission has also adapted its EURAXESS network, which supports researchers internationally, so that it can assist Ukrainian scholars coming to Europe via the ERA4Ukraine initiative.

Finally, the NGO Science for Ukraine collects information about practical support provided by the global research community to Ukrainian researchers and students. You can visit their website and follow the hashtag #ScienceForUkraine on X.