80 thousand from 158 countries.. This is what the Russian war brought to Arab and foreign students in Ukraine

Ukraine -

Russia's war on Ukraine has repercussions that touched everything, and Arab and foreign students were no exception to that rule, but rather, they are perhaps its most prominent victims in the education sector.

Ukraine has been a magnet for many foreign students in general for reasons related to the large number of its universities and institutes, and its low costs compared to others in other countries, in addition to the relatively “easy” study in it, as many see.

The statistics of the Ministry of Education for the past year 2021 indicate that the number of foreign students reached 80,470 students from 158 countries, including 8,233 from the Kingdom of Morocco, which came second after India at the top of the list, 3,499 Egyptian students, and 2,561 from Palestine and Israel.

According to the "Government Center for International Education", foreign students generate about 570 million dollars annually in the country's economy, funds on which 455 institutes and universities teach foreigners, and students also spend it on the housing sector and in the areas of food, entertainment, transportation and others.

An empty hall on a study day at Tavresky University in the capital, Kyiv (Al-Jazeera)

complete suspension

All of the above stopped completely in the regions of the East and South, where the study process did not resume in Kharkiv, Zaporozhye and Kherson, as well as in parts of Donetsk in the Donbass region.

In addition to the loss of foreigners' high demand for study in the 2022-2023 cycle, the educational sector infrastructure has been extensively destroyed as a result of the war, with an estimated $3.8 billion, according to the statistics of the "School of Economics" in the capital, Kyiv.

This is evident in Kharkiv, which was described as a student city due to its large number of universities, and for this reason it was the destination of the largest proportion of students annually, but none of the students stayed there.

Kharkiv National Medical University, which is at the top of the government rankings and student turnout, is closed today, as is the case of the largest national university, "Karazina" in the country and second in terms of ranking and demand.

The scene in Kharkiv was shortened to Al Jazeera Net. A Moroccan student - who asked not to be named - says that he is the only one left, and that special circumstances forced him to return to the city after the relative calm, but to work in the field of slaughtering and selling meat, not to study seats.

On this matter, Valery Bortnyak, Dean of Tavresky National University in Kiev, says, "Studying in the eastern regions and the confrontations stopped completely, and many students switched to universities and schools in the western regions. We consider that maintaining student numbers - as in the last year - is a positive indicator, But the reality is that 25% of them and the teachers are outside the country, and many parents are afraid to bring their children to work.”

often abroad

Indeed, most of the students of the eastern and southern regions, as well as the Sumy region in the north, left the country with those who left for Europe and neighboring countries, or transferred their studies to universities in Kyiv and the western regions of Ukraine, despite their small number.

About this topic, Palestinian student Abdullah Al-Jabari, who is studying medicine at the Bohomolets University in Kiev in the fifth year, told us, “I left in early March with the intensification of the battles around Kyiv, and then I returned last June. 70 % of the foreign students at my university have left the country, and most of the rest are studying remotely.

And he continues, "the number of foreigners last year was about 700, and today the percentage is about half, but it includes students who moved to register from Kharkiv, Sumy and others, and most of them submitted a request to study remotely."

Al-Jabari gives a tangible example from the environment of his former fellowship at the university, saying, "Almost all Palestinian students have moved to study in Georgia, because they complete their studies there without major losses and without going back to the years of education."

And he considers that "the university administration is aware of the concerns of foreigners and their families, and this is why it has improved in dealing with them. Today, it is responding positively to requests for distance study so as not to lose those who remain."

The ordeal of recognition and follow-up

But the situation for the foreign students who left Ukraine because of the war is not comfortable, but rather it was a great disaster for a large segment of them.

Countries in the European Union refuse to equate them with Ukrainian refugees, requiring them to submit to language study curricula that may extend to 3 years, and to re-study some of the years they have completed, otherwise returning to Ukraine or to their countries of origin remains the only option.

Valery Bortnyak, Dean of Tavresky National University in Kiev: Studies in the confrontation areas and the East have completely stopped (Al-Jazeera)

No job after graduation

With Al Jazeera Net, a number of these students communicate, and their problem is almost common to all of them, but the problem of some of them seems impossible, without solutions or options.

Mustafa Ramadan is an Iraqi surgeon who graduated before the end of 2021 from the city of Vinnytsia, and went out with others in the early days of the war, so his destination was Germany.

He tells Al Jazeera Net, "Early this year, Ukraine enacted a law obligating students to study a year of excellence to obtain a certificate of practicing the profession for both foreigners and Ukrainians, so the presence of this certificate became a condition for Germany to recognize us as doctors who have the right to modify their certificates and work, although most of us have undergone clinical training for two years in Ukrainian hospitals. After graduating, it was equivalent to the Excellence Certificate scheduled after the beginning of 2022.

And he continues, "This is how about two thousand graduates from Ukraine were stranded in Europe, including 160 graduate doctors of Arab nationalities in Germany alone. We communicate through a WhatsApp group, and we have a common concern. We cannot return to Ukraine because of the war, and our Arab and other countries do not accept our return either." without terminating the franchise year.

Regarding the solution, he says, "We hope that the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education of Ukraine will understand our problem and help solve it, especially since we graduated before the beginning of the year, and the principle is that we will not be subject to the laws issued after that."