An Urgent Network for Ukrainian Scholars

On May 16, speaking to the Association of American Universities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed what it means to be an agent. “It is the age of choice,” he said, “Who are you … Are you an actor or just an observer? Do you just experience life, or do you try to change something? Everyone has choices when they confront hatred.” When confronted with a getaway car as the armies of the Russian Federation were attacking Ukraine, Zelensky himself chose to be an agent, to stay and fight for his people.

The challenge Zelensky presented to American university leaders was to be agents in this moment too, by doing everything in their purview to help Ukrainian higher education. There is ongoing, courageous fighting in Ukraine, but there has also been a quieter fight to sustain education. Both fights speak to an extraordinary faith among Ukrainians in the country’s future.

One of the organizations highlighted in the AAU meeting, Ukrainian Global University, a new consortium of universities created by Ukrainian academics at Kyiv School of Economics, a private university focused on the social sciences, provides a uniquely Ukrainian solution.

Back in March, Kent Lewis, an alum of the University of Kansas, where I work, put myself and other colleagues in touch with the Ukrainian academics leading UGU. Since the war began, academics at KSE have advised the Ukrainian government on a number of topics, including sanctions, relief packages from Western partners, donations, and other matters. They also fundraise extensively and have raised over $12 million, largely in humanitarian aid for medical toolkits and bulletproof vests.

We met one of the leaders of UGU, Tymofii Brik of Kyiv School of Economics, who introduced himself as a faculty member teaching sociology before the war, and the university’s newly appointed wartime vice president for international affairs. He outlined ambitious goals for a mutually beneficial intellectual partnership.

When we talked with Brik over Zoom, he was holed up in his bathroom due to Russian air strikes. Knowing that one’s interlocutor may be under attack focuses the mind on a Zoom call. Communicating with Ukrainians at war provides useful perspective: When someone says they are dealing with urgent matters, chances are that something truly emergent is occurring — not a pressing article deadline. It is incredible to watch Ukrainians fight for their educational system while the Russian army assaults Ukrainian identity by targeting many libraries and Ukrainian cultural sites. It awakens some kind of essential faith in education; if your university had to be shut down, would you Zoom amid air strikes?

Brik presented a menu of options for collaboration, from giving Ukrainian students free access to online courses, to research partnerships, to the more-complicated options of admitting students, hosting visiting scholars, or supporting Ukrainians abroad. He told us that KSE had been receiving proposals from western universities offering placements of individual academics or students. The creation of UGU was a response to the logistical challenges of this piecemeal approach. UGU creates a network of universities, both abroad and in Ukraine, with a two-way database linking institutions, opportunities, and Ukrainian students and scholars. At this time, 51 universities around the world are involved. So far, they have provided 785 opportunities.

Although UGU is not the only way for Western universities to aid Ukrainian higher education, what is unique about the initiative, in an American academe where Ukrainian-studies scholars are few and far between, is that it centers Ukrainian voices and their perspectives. Ukraine is under attack due to an illegal and misguided Russian colonial project that erases the very notion of Ukraine. In this context, even in providing aid, Western allies must work against colonial patterns by connecting with the distinctive perspectives of Ukrainians

Many Ukrainians understand that in order to rebuild, the country will need its best and brightest. Besides the immediate need to get scholars to safety, there is real concern about brain drain. Ukrainian education-aid packages that have come through the partnerships with KSE and UGU reflect this complicated set of priorities.

For this reason, a number of universities, including my own university and NYU, have created time-limited visiting scholar opportunities, with the expectation that the Ukrainian scholars housed by them would eventually seek to return. Similarly, concrete credentials (accelerated degrees) are preferable to refugee-student status.

Remote investment in Ukrainian academe is also deeply important. Many Ukrainians do not wish to leave, and some cannot, due to martial law. Remote fellowships are one option, as are the short-term virtual visitorships recently instituted by Northwestern for Ukrainian scholars, which provide deeply needed financial support for those academics who choose to remain.

And for Ukrainian students who are temporarily abroad, the Kyiv School of Economics can provide Ukrainian diplomas. This too is especially important to help with re-entry back in Ukraine with appropriate professional credentials. A visiting Ukrainian colleague at my university told me, when I suggested we seek out ways for her to stay stateside until the war ends, that she refuses to be a refugee.

This consortium of universities is founded on the most radical conceptualization of global education — that in a crisis, and perhaps even outside a crisis, all universities, wherever their physical location, can act collaboratively as one, each helping in some way to mitigate intellectual losses and provide shelter. And UGU hopes its mission will extend beyond the current war in Ukraine. Perhaps the blueprint they’ve created can be transferred into other global conflict and humanitarian crisis situations.

Ukrainian academics don’t have many choices right now, but they have worked hard to reclaim some agency. American academics have many more choices; it is encouraging to see many universities embrace the possibility of Ukrainian Global University, with all its improbable faith. I hope to see this network broaden even further in coming months.