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An insight into fellowships for Ukrainian refugee scholars and students

As a result of Russia’s massive military offensive against Ukraine launched two weeks earlier, on Thursday February 24, over two million people have fled the country to neighboring countries and many have been internally displaced. Over half of Ukrainians are fleeing to Poland and many are seeking refuge in Hungary and Slovakia.

While European governments and institutions are imposing massive sanctions on the Russian economy and sending military aid to Ukraine, European citizens are mobilizing unanimous efforts to welcome Ukrainian refugees and send aid to Ukraine. Mass rallies are organized to protest the Russian invasion and attest solidarity with Ukraine.

On the first day of the Russian attack, Serhiy Kvit, head of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance of Ukraine and former minister of education, asked academics from around the world to speak out against the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine. In response to his appeal, universities and scientific institutions around the world are issuing statements of solidarity on behalf of their faculty, staff, and students in condemning the Russian invasion. One need only look through the Internet, this solidarity movement has no hashtag.  

Sanctioning Russia by cutting off academic ties is not only a bold idea, but it also really happens. In the 48 hours following the invasion, the German Ministry of Research ordered the suspension of institutional collaboration on research with Russia. Other countries in Europe have followed this step. However, universities are divided to suspend collaboration with Russian institutions due to the complexity of this issue and its consequences in the short and long term.

Meanwhile, hundreds of teaching and research institutions are establishing their own relief programs for Ukrainian students and academics. To coordinate these efforts, a website and a Twitter account under the name of #ScienceForUkraine has been launched on 27 February to collect and disseminate information on university jobs and housing for Ukrainian students or researchers. National sciences academies across Europe are providing grants or fundraising to help their Ukrainian colleagues in need.

Beyond these ad hoc initiatives, it is important to mention the well-established institutions that support academics at risk for a long time. Founded in North America in reaction to the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe during the interwar period in defense of academic freedom, they were building networks of academic institutions around the world willing to welcome and support endangered scholars and students.

Two prominent institutions are the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF), which has been continuously operating since 1920, and the Scholars-at-Risk Network, established in 2000. A recently launched initiative is The New University in Exile Consortium at The New School in New York City.  The latter builds on the legacy of the University in Exile, which was set up at The New School in 1933 to support academics fleeing the growing threat of Nazism in Europe. In 1934, the University in Exile became The New School’s Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science. In 1951, his name inspired the Free Europe University in Exile, an American educational endeavor to help Eastern European refugees fleeing Communist regimes. In September 2018, the New University in Exile Consortium was set up to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.

The UK counterpart to these American initiatives is the Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA). Operating as a network to ensure cooperation and collaboration on both national and international level, it works with 126 universities in the UK as well as with national and foreign institutions, among others, the IIE-Scholar Rescue Fund and the Scholars-at-Risk Network. Founded by British academics and scientists in 1933 in response to the racial discrimination of scholars at the universities of Nazi Germany, CARA defines itself as a “unique charitable organization, with no counterpart in Europe”.

As regards other European countries, France and Germany have also set up special programs to help researchers at risk, referring to previous national initiatives during the interwar period. These programs came about after the refugee crises in 2015 and work in partnership with the US and UK networks. In France, the distinguished French higher education and research institution Collège de France runs the PAUSE Program. In Germany, the national foundation Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung helps researchers through its Philipp Schwarz Initiative. In 2017, German and Turkish scholars set up the Academy in Exile Consortium which enables threatened academics to continue their work in Germany. In September 2021, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) established the Hilde Domin Programme for university students and PhD candidates at risk.

In Norway, the Students at Risk provides financial aid to refugees from 2015, out of the prestigious Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund, established in 1961. In the Netherlands, the Foundation for Refugee Students (UAF) supports refugees and asylum seekers from 1948, providing financial, social, and academic support.

Austria has its own national agency which aids and supports both at-risk students and scholars. The Österreichischer Integrationsfonds (ÖIF) was created in response to the massive flow of refugees after the Hungarian revolution in 1956. In addition to ÖIF’s Liese Prokop Scholarship for recognized refugees, it is worth to mention other fellowship programs, namely the oead4refugees, launched by Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalization (OeAD), as well as the MORE program, run by Universities Austria (Österreichische Universitätenkonferenz, uniko).

Philanthropic organizations are extremely active on the ground, and it is difficult to compile an exhaustive list of grant programs for refugee youth and academics. However, the Open Society Foundations grantmaking network is worthy of mention because of the breadth and variety of its actions. Founded by businessman and philanthropist George Soros and currently operating in Austria and Hungary, the Central Europe University (CEU) offers a range of help to Ukrainian refugee students and academics. In 2016, CEU has launched its Open Learning Initiative (OLIve) for asylum seekers and refugees, which is now open to people fleeing the Ukrainian war. In January 2020, the Open Society Foundations established the Open Society University Network (OSUN) to promote education and reach out to institutions in need of international partners and to neglected populations. The OSUN is home to the Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative (TSI), which is now expanding grants to Ukrainian researchers.

Among the international initiatives, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provides grants to refugees from 1992 as part of its DAFI (Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) scholarship program, which was originally funded by the German government. For the European Union, the European Commission launched InSPIREurope (Initiative to Support, Promote and Integrate Researchers at Risk in Europe) in 2019 for a period of 3 years. The program is based at Maynooth University in Ireland and coordinated by the European branch of the Scholars-at-Risk Network.

In November 2021, German, Norwegian and Polish national education institutions jointly called for the European Commission to establish a permanent scholarship program for students at risk to “demonstrate the Union’s for support academic freedom, fundamental values, civic and human rights”. The Russian invasion of Ukraine provides impetus for this project. Given that Europe is constantly confronted with humanitarian crises due to international conflicts (Syria, Afghanistan, Belarus, Ukraine), decisive action will sooner or later be taken at European level to defend academic freedom as a fundamental European value.

Veronika Durin-Hornyik PhD