Cambridge University Help for Ukraine

‘Cambridge University Help for Ukraine’ is a comprehensive package of new support for students and academics displaced by the war on Ukraine, writes Stephen Bevan

The programme, developed in partnership with the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian universities, will support those who have been forced to leave Ukraine or are unable to return, as well as those who have remained, to ensure that the vibrant Ukrainian Higher Education sector continues to operate. Cambridge University Help for Ukraine includes fully funded residential placements, in a wide range of subjects, for more than 30 students and academics to continue their studies and research in Cambridge, clinical placements for medical students, and help for academics still working in Ukraine.

A hardship fund is already helping affected students currently studying in Cambridge, and plans to boost the studies of evacuated Ukrainian schoolchildren are also being developed as part of the support package.

Along with academic colleagues, here in the UK and across the world, the University of Cambridge has been appalled by Russia’s war on Ukraine and the terrible suffering inflicted on Ukrainian civilians. In response, Cambridge University Help for Ukraine was developed by bringing together capacity, expertise and good will from across the Collegiate University. The University will continue to look at ways it can best support academics and students during the conflict.

Professor Stephen J Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, said: “Since the start of the invasion, the University has been working with education leaders in Ukraine to support academics and students whose lives have been torn apart in this humanitarian tragedy. From the online resources which were immediately made available to displaced Ukrainian students at the beginning of the conflict, through to the comprehensive package of support that now makes up Cambridge University Help for Ukraine, there has been an undiminished determination across our community to do everything we can, and to stand with Ukraine.”

Professor Kamal Munir, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (University Community and Engagement), said: “Cambridge University Help for Ukraine will provide support, and safe and nurturing environments for academics, and their dependants, displaced by the conflict. Education can be a source of light in times of darkness, and this programme of help will allow students and researchers to continue their vital work and one day contribute to the rebuilding of their country.”

The Cambridge University Help for Ukraine package includes the following initiatives:

• Fully funded residential placements for visiting doctoral students: Funding for up to 10 doctoral students who have been displaced by the war on Ukraine to study in Cambridge. The University will provide further funding for their dependants, including contribution to settlement costs.
• Fully funded residential placements for academics: Funding for up to 10 academics who have been displaced by the war in Ukraine to continue their studies and research. The University will also provide further funding for each dependent relocating to Cambridge with those academics, including contribution to settlement costs.
• Clinical Placements for students of Kharkiv National Medical University: The University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine has signed a twinning agreement with Kharkiv National Medical University to accept medical students on seven-week clinical placements in Cambridge. Students will be placed at either Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust or Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. All students will be hosted at a College. Twenty-two students will take part and subject to the government granting visiting visas, they will start at the end of July 2022.
• Financial and non-residential support for Researchers in Ukraine. In partnership with the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (NRFU), and subject to final agreement, the University is working to provide individual grants for Ukrainian researchers who have been displaced by the war and are currently living in Ukraine. The programme will also provide formal links to Cambridge departments and remote access to resources that will enable them to continue academic study.
• Rowan Williams Cambridge Studentships: The Rowan Williams Cambridge Studentship is a programme established by the Cambridge Trust to support undergraduate and postgraduate students who face severe barriers in coming to study in Cambridge. 
  To be eligible, applicants need to hold a conditional offer of admission to the University of Cambridge for any degree; be from an area of instability or zone of conflict; be, or have been, at risk of discrimination, persecution, suffering, violence or other abuse of their human rights.
  Applicants for the academic year 2022/23 (starting in October 2022) should contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office or Postgraduate Admissions Office to enquire about admission, as the application deadlines have now passed.  If admission is granted, the Trust will be able to consider applicants for funding.   Applicants will next be able to apply for admission and funding for the 2023/24 academic year (starting in October 2023).  For further information, please visit the Cambridge Trust website.
• University of Cambridge Ukrainian Conflict Student Hardship Fund: The University has so far identified more than 20 students currently studying in Cambridge who have been directly affected by the war. They are being supported through the University’s Ukrainian Conflict Student Hardship Fund.
• Cambridge Partnership for Education, part of Cambridge University Press and Assessment, is working together with the Ministry of Education of Ukraine and other partners to support Ukrainian children who are currently seeking refuge in other nations, as well as other ways to support the Ukrainian education system reform. Following an in-person meeting with Minister Serhiy Shkarlet and his team in London in May, collaboration is now being explored on four horizons: a) Curriculum mapping and related support with transition b) Support with teacher professional development c) Ongoing monitoring and assessment of Ukrainian students in other systems d) Long-term support with the return and reintegration of Ukrainian students back into the Ukrainian system, and possible strengthening of the system in terms of international comparability and resilience.

During their time in Cambridge, academics and students funded through the Cambridge University Help for Ukraine residential placements will be hosted either by individuals or by Cambridge colleges. The University is working with Cambridge4Ukraine, an initiative connecting refugees and hosts in the UK. For more information on how to help support refugees, visit: https://www.cambridge4ukraine.uk/home

Dr Rory Finnin, University Associate Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge, said: “The University has worked with Ukrainian institutions of Higher Education to put together a consciously multi-pronged strategy of support that looks both to the present and the future. All of our measures and actions are being taken to help strengthen Ukraine's institutions in sustainable ways and to show how the University of Cambridge stands with a free, independent, sovereign Ukraine and its people - now and into the future.”

Oksana Hetman, President of the Cambridge University Ukrainian Society, said: “Ukrainian scholars are hiding in the basements without water or food, fighting on the frontlines and often losing the closest ones due to the ongoing war. These are incomparable abruptions to face. Every student or researcher continuing their work despite the war is a win both for Ukraine and for the global scientific community.”

For more information visit: https://www.cam.ac.uk/ukraine

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