Enhancing exchange students’ everyday well-being and sense of belonging in times of collective crisis
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Дата
2025
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Видавець
Academies4Ukraine
Анотація
The document explores the initiative of the University of Helsinki aimed at supporting Ukrainian exchange students following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. The primary focus is on enhancing the everyday well-being and sense of belonging of students amidst a collective crisis.
The University of Helsinki, specifically its Department of Sociology, swiftly organized the transfer of students from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, granting them special rights for tuition-free, non-degree studies. The initiative involved creating a volunteer-based support network of faculty and students, which provided housing, assistance with integration, mundane and bureaucratic matters, and fostered a sense of community through regular gatherings.
This experience served as the foundation for the "Academies4Ukraine" project, co-funded by the EU (Erasmus+ in 2023). The project formulates a new, strategic and reciprocal paradigm of academic solidarity that moves beyond temporary aid. The new paradigm aims for the long-term strengthening of Ukrainian universities' resilience and utilizes Ukraine's experience to develop EU policies addressing future crises that affect educational rights.