The military operation in Ukraine so far harms the scientific and educational relations of Russian universities with foreign universities less than the foreign economic relations of domestic companies, but the process of destroying academic contacts has begun. As Kommersant found out, a number of European educational institutions – mainly from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic – have already temporarily frozen traditional contacts with Russian counterparts for interuniversity exchanges until the situation is resolved. In this situation, some Russian universities have thought about changing the vector of academic cooperation: they are already planning new projects and programs with the states of the post-Soviet space, as well as with India and China.
“Academic science and education have always been above political decisions”
“It was scientific cooperation developed over decades, and in return, persecution, the Middle Ages, began,” the rector told Kommersant St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University Andrey Rudskoy. “Now everything in Europe is politicized, but scientific relations should be out of politics.” According to him, the university had more than 200 ties with foreign universities, a number of which are gradually breaking off partnerships.
“The universities of Hannover and Berlin no longer work with us – the Germans are actively refusing to cooperate. There is still silence from London, but we are waiting,” said Mr. Rudskoy.
Other universities found themselves in a similar situation. Petersburg Herzen Pedagogical University “Kommersant” was told that the University of Krakow in Poland, the University of Freiburg in Germany, as well as the international university consortium “University of the Arctic” announced a temporary suspension of cooperation. However, the university received letters from a number of partner universities confirming their readiness to continue cooperation and academic exchanges. IN РАНХиГС “Kommersant” spoke about the appeals from foreign partners to terminate cooperation, without specifying which ones: “Agreements were reached with a number of them on the temporary suspension of training projects with the subsequent possible resumption of cooperation. We are not the initiators of the severance of educational and humanitarian ties, which is imposed on universities by foreign politicians. Academic science and education have always been above political decisions.”
FROM Russian University of Transport froze contacts of a number of German universities and one university from the Czech Republic. The foreign partners of the Russian New University from Germany, Japan and Finland also took a time-out. NIU MAI also received an official statement about the termination of the joint cooperation program from one of the European universities.
As Kommersant was told in the press service Perm State National Research University, all European partners of the university took a break on student internships and programs. In particular, Oxford University announced the suspension of preparations for the summer school, referring to the recommendations of the British Foreign Office and expressing hope for continued cooperation in the future.
Kazan Federal University reported that “only” three or four partner universities in the Czech Republic and Germany sent letters about the suspension or termination of scientific and educational cooperation and academic exchanges. Among them are the Czech Technical University in Prague, Masaryk University, Mendel University. IN Ural Federal University (UrFU) “There are isolated statements from various European universities saying that they are suspending interaction until the crisis is resolved.” First of all, these are the universities of the Czech Republic and the Baltic countries. “Such a position is not widespread – UrFU has more than 400 partners abroad,” they say.
As told in Izhevsk State Technical University. M. T. Kalashnikova, interaction for an indefinite period was suspended only by Czech universities. IzhSTU has about 50 partner universities from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. As for European countries, the university continues to cooperate with Belgium, Croatia, Austria, Spain, France, Slovakia, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Bulgaria. The press service of Novosibirsk State University explained to Kommersant that out of more than 150 international partners of the university, the education export department of NSU received a notification of the suspension of cooperation only from the European University Viadrina (Germany).
According to the head of the international affairs department Kazan National Research Technological University (KNITU-KHTI) Anna Ebel, the applications of the University of Merseburg under the program of the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD to hold a summer school for students from Germany and Russia have been suspended. At the same time, the acceptance of applications for individual grants for students from Russia to study in Germany has not been stopped. According to the university, academic exchanges with Russian and Belarusian universities were suspended by the partner University of Jena from Germany, “including any kind of academic mobility, business and study trips, research projects.” German partner universities have warned that restrictions will apply for the coming summer and winter semesters. Also, “until the circumstances of the conflict are clarified,” Turkish universities postponed the grant for the trip of KNRTU teachers under the Erasmus academic mobility program for a year.
A number of foreign partner universities Irkutsk National Research Technical University also announced the suspension of cooperation programs. “In particular, this is the Wroclaw Technical University (Poland),” Vice-Rector of the university Stepan Bykov told Kommersant. “The situation is similar in German universities: all major programs to support scientific relations, primarily DAAD scholarship programs, have been suspended. But, as practice has shown, if the recipient of the grant is an individual, then the chances of obtaining a scholarship remain.
IN Lomonosov Moscow State University once again did not answer the request of “Kommersant”.
It should be noted that in this situation, a number of universities are discussing not curtailing, but changing the vector of academic cooperation with foreign colleagues.
So, UNN them. N. I. Lobachevsky are working on new educational projects with partners in India, Kazakhstan, China, Uzbekistan and other countries. St. Petersburg Polytechnic University instead of European universities, according to Andrei Rudskoy, has already begun to establish ties with the universities of Kazakhstan. The RANEPA is also planning to focus on new directions and countries. “Our international cooperation is not limited to the countries of Western Europe,” Nikolai Rogalev, rector of MPEI, told Kommersant. “We are widely focused on implementing programs in partnership with universities in Central Asia, the countries of the Middle East and Far East, the states of Africa and Latin America. A small number of exchange programs will be reduced. This will allow us to reorient our resources, among other things, to expanding joint programs with the universities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries.” The Russian University of Transport received new proposals from China for new joint projects and is now negotiating cooperation. The Voronezh State Technical University indicates that cooperation in Belarus, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and China “has been maintained in full, and for some programs it will only increase”: “It is planned to open representative offices in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.”
Counter educational trends
Meanwhile, foreign students studying at Russian universities, as well as visiting professors, began to think about leaving the country.
“Unfortunately, interns studying at the university, students, invited teachers from Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, France were forced to return to their homeland on the recommendation of their embassies, which interrupts their studies, disrupts the well-functioning educational process,” the Pyatigorsk State University.
A number of students in UrFU on exchange programs and part of the students on the main programs from France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Belgium also left the walls of the university. “They did this because they received unequivocal recommendations from their Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the university to leave Russia,” the university’s press service explains. “They don’t want to leave, they are satisfied with the educational process, the attitude towards them, and they leave Russia with great regret . We suggest that they switch to online learning or take a sabbatical in order to return to their studies after a while.”
Head of the International Relations Department at the Nizhny Novgorod campus НИУ ВШЭ Anna Shilovskaya suggested that applicants from Europe and the United States who had previously entered English-taught master’s programs would not be interested in studying in Russia this year. Vice-Rector for International Affairs Irkutsk National Research Technical University Stepan Bykov believes that universities will face difficulties during the next intake of foreign students: “Now it will be objectively more difficult for them in terms of organizing financial flows, because foreign bank cards will not be serviced in Russia, and cross-border payments are also difficult. But after some time, these schemes will be re-established.”
At the end of February, Tatyana Moskalkova, Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, announced that Russian students were being expelled from European universities in connection with the situation in Ukraine. The Ministry of Education and Science said that 157 people applied to the department with questions about transferring from foreign universities to Russia.
Most of the students’ applications are registered from the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland. The National Research University Higher School of Economics “Kommersant” said that it received 108 applications from Russian students for transfer from foreign universities. Among them are students studying at the universities of the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Austria, the USA, the Netherlands, France, Slovenia, Spain and other countries. The university promises that they will be accepted either for state-funded places or for places at the expense of the university. A number of other universities surveyed by Kommersant received several similar applications.
However, many Russian universities say that their students, who are now studying abroad on scholarships, grants or joint programs, do not face infringement of their rights and continue their studies as usual.