A deputy vice rector at Ukrainian Catholic University talks about her experiences of higher education during Russia’s invasion.
Maryna Rabinovych & Anne Pintsch
First published with the Democracy in Action blog 26 June 2024
In early April 2024, we met online with Halyna Protsyk, Deputy Vice Rector for Outreach and Social engagement (Internationalisation) at Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv, and asked her to share her experiences, summarise lessons from UCU, and provide a first-hand perspective on how foreign universities can best support their Ukrainian counterparts and the rebuilding of the country more broadly.
As part of a project funded by the Research Council of Norway, we are currently editing a book entitled Ukraine’s Thorny Path to the EU: From ‘Integration without Membership’ to ‘Integration through War’, which will be published by Palgrave Macmillan later in 2024. Halyna has contributed a very informative chapter discussing Ukraine’s higher education sector amidst the war and its integration into the European Higher Education Area.
Maryna Rabinovych (MR): In your chapter, you focus on the wartime resilience of Ukrainian higher education. You use multiple secondary sources, but your work is also inspired by your own experience of working at a Ukrainian university – as a lecturer and director of the internationalisation department. What is it like to work under the current circumstances, and what are the key challenges faced by Ukrainian universities?
Halyna Protsyk (HP): As an educator and educational manager, I went through three different phases since the full-scale invasion and my university, UCU, has also gone through different changes. I explain in the chapter that there are different levels and types of resilience when shocks and stressors – like war, physical damage, infrastructural damage or psychological distress – happen. It all starts with individual resilience and, as a second step, community resilience. But once these things happen, institutional resilience should come on a stage – to support people, the system and the country just not to fail.
I am very proud of the fact that higher educational institutions, like UCU, showed extreme resilience by adapting to the circumstances and absorbing all these shocks and stressors by providing meaningful instruments to students and teachers. Here, I mean very concrete steps – that is, service learning. We started volunteering, synchronising our classes with helping others, with reflecting on what was happening, opening humanitarian hubs, opening our doors for internally displaced people. All in all, it helped us to withstand the first wave of full-scale invasion. And then – I am sure you can agree with me – the higher education system in any country, it is not static. We always have to transform the system, since when one round is completed, we are facing additional challenges, and we have to respond. So, at this moment, the higher education system is something that helps to keep our country moving and functioning. That is why higher education now is under continuous reform.
MR: What are the key challenges Ukrainian universities encounter in their operation?
HP: I would categorise them into three different strands. I would first start with human resources. People are the most important asset that we have as a country. So, the major problem we are trying to address is, of course, brain-drain from Ukraine due to the war. In addition, there is a lack of experts who can deal with post-war reconstruction. This is a very unique niche we have to fill with higher education programme proposals.
The second strand is infrastructural damage, because to prepare good experts, we need top-quality educational programmes, research, laboratories, equipment, infrastructure – many things. And we know that at this moment many universities are either partially damaged or fully destroyed, such as Kharkiv Karazin University, which has been one of the most famous universities and research institutions in Ukraine.
And the third biggest problem is the need to fight with the remnants of the Soviet legacy in the higher education system. Despite the process of modernisation, there are still some elements of Soviet-style thinking. We should finalise this process in the field of research, higher educational institutions’ management, especially top management, and institutional autonomy. Not all universities and their management are ready to do so.
MR: Could you speak more about the human resources-related challenges and how these challenges change as the war continues?
HP. Human resources is one of the most important and problematic areas due to different issues. Issue No. 1 – we have huge brain drain due to the war. There are, first of all, many children who could become potential students in Ukraine – there are more than 1 million children who have left Ukraine. We have students who also fled and some of them interrupted their studies in Ukraine, some of them continue doing them remotely but they are likely to stay abroad. We are trying to address this issue from different sides. Another thing is that many young talented male and female students, teachers and administrative employees went to the frontline. As of September 2023, UCU had 21 students, 13 administrative employees and over 30 UCU alumni who were at the frontline, serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Each university can provide the same statistics.
At this moment, key reforms are aimed at creating the environment and opportunities to keep talents in Ukraine by offering top educational programmes, internationalisation of higher education institutions, more double degree programmes, semester abroad programmes, and not least by attracting global talents, teachers and professors to teach for Ukrainian universities. An important reform regards individual trajectories of learning. It is expected to lead to more interdisciplinary programmes, it will give students more time to complete their degrees in Ukraine, and it will give students more freedom to choose a specialisation. The second reform, which already passed the first editing in the parliament, is to offer special financial grants for students instead of the old Soviet system, where universities were receiving quotas from different ministries and other state bodies to attract students to state-funded study places. Now universities will stop getting such quotas but will have to hunt for talent in Ukraine themselves. The state is planning to sponsor 100% tuition fees for students studying at programmes that are relevant for reconstruction, where the state has a particular need. In this case, students are supposed to stay three years in the public sector after the end of their studies. The others can expect from 20% to 80% fees covered. This makes the higher education sector more competitive, this is always good, and we know how competitive higher education is in European countries.
This reform will help us a lot, not only to attract students currently based in Ukraine but also those who were forced to flee. We already had cases when children demand from their parents to come back to Ukraine. We expect that this year more Ukrainians will take the centrally organised national multidisciplinary test that is required to enter any Ukrainian university. This year, the Ministry of Education set up testing centres in countries where the highest numbers of Ukrainian refugees are based. Ukrainian youngsters’ desire to enter Ukrainian universities is a positive sign, which shows that the new generation is different, they have very patriotic feelings, and we just need to create the environment where they have more freedom and more time to develop.
Anne Pintsch (AP): You have already told us a lot about coping strategies. Is there anything you can tell us about UCU’s coping strategies in particular?
The current coping strategy is to rethink our strategy of university development. In 2023, we introduced a refreshed development strategy: UCU 2030. First, the entire community of UCU has been brainstorming how our university can help to heal the wounds of the war by offering psychological, rehabilitation and spiritual support programmes. The second aspect is to think, as a Catholic university facing such an evil, what kind of new Christian proposals we can create for the Ukrainian and the global youth. The third is how we can serve as a university to create new narratives and meanings for Ukraine and for the global community about Ukraine, its resilience, bravery, but also its talented people and opportunities, which will be here when the war ends – as every war ends.
Fourth, UCU became a founding member of the Alliance of Ukrainian Universities. The mission of this alliance of six universities is to serve the country by offering expertise and an academic platform for discussion, brainstorming the vision for a future Ukraine, attracting best talents and supporting communities.
Fifth, we have two projects: ‘Alliance with communities’, which is sponsored by the Soros (Open Society) Foundation, and ‘ServeU’, sponsored by the EU. These projects aim to support local communities that suffered because of the war, to help them educate their human resources, help them with strategy formation, grant writing, educating their managers, so that they are more self-reliant and effective in creating innovations.
AP: You have already touched on the international dimension – could you say how international cooperation has contributed to resilience and coping?
HP: It was critical, and during some periods of the full-scale invasion it was even vitally important since it helped us to withstand the first wave of aggression, when people started fleeing, when we lost infrastructure and electricity. I think that the synchronisation with the European Higher Education Area through internationalisation programmes, international projects, reforming and the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement created a meaningful alliance between Ukrainian and European universities. Therefore, instead of just hosting refugees as refugees, European universities hosted Ukrainian students and faculty as colleagues. This very moment can be recognised as a most unique moment in the history of conflict management. When I studied different cases of conflict-affected countries, I noticed that in many cases higher education systems collapse, since they require constant state support, international aid and high-skilled management that they are lacking during crises such as war and armed aggression. Internationalisation, the EU’s response, extended exchange programmes for Ukrainian students, double degree programmes, research and fellowship programmes that were aimed at hosting Ukrainian students and faculty temporarily – not as refugees forever – or supporting those remaining at their workplaces in Ukraine, helped us a lot. I cannot express in words how crucially important it was during the first months and even the first year of the war. And now, with the Association Agreement being 86% complete and the linkage between the Ukrainian education system and the European Higher Education Area being so well synchronised, we need to accomplish just a couple more reforms to secure Ukraine’s integration to the European Higher Education Area – there is no way back.
AP: I would like to jump to the rebuilding of Ukraine and the role of the higher education sector. What is the role of universities in the rebuilding process?
HP: As mentioned before, the restoration of Ukraine will require not just a lot of money but also dedicated professionals, and the universities educate these professionals. Second, the solutions to Ukraine’s rebuilding are located not only in Ukraine but also on a global stage. So, universities will become bridges between local and global solutions. In order to become such bridges, our universities will have to further develop their internationalisation strategies. We will also see a process of merging weaker universities with stronger ones, smaller ones into bigger ones.
At UCU, we create four main trajectories. First, we are transforming UCU into an international hub, where international talents meet Ukrainian talents and create solutions for Ukraine’s restoration. Second, we opened UCU Global Gateways: we have already established a UCU centre in Wrocław, a Ukrainian Institute in London, a UCU centre in Kyiv, and Catholic foundations in the USA and Canada. These networks can help us create platforms for global talents abroad, because not all the people will be able to travel to Ukraine in the future.
The third strategic project is a kind of a combination of internationalising all our master programmes. We want more double or joint degree programmes with our European partners. For example, we have applied to host a joint masters’ programme in security studies – with Estonian and Lithuanian partners – for obvious reasons. We want to rethink the entire doctrine of international and regional security – this is just a current example. We implemented already a double masters’ degree in heritage with the University of Nottingham, aimed at decolonising narratives about Ukrainian identity, East European identity and decolonising the region of Russian imperialism.
The fourth strategic project we have is to foster international experience for those who are not eligible to travel or benefit from international mobility. We want to make internationalisation more inclusive by offering collaborative online learning projects. This instrument will be directed to regions where we have not been present before: South America, Africa, Southeast Asia. Just two days ago we completed a very special collaboration programme with Airlangga University in Indonesia – this is the first time we are collaborating with this region in the world.
AP: To conclude, could you give some specific examples of how foreign universities can be helpful when it comes to rebuilding Ukraine?
HP: Yes, I do have some recipes. I will begin with students. There is such a great potential for European universities to explore projects where students can meet, if the situation allows physically, like one-week or several-days faculty-led visits to Ukraine and, once you feel the atmosphere, see real people – this will give you a life-changing experience. But if this is not possible, consider using Erasmus projects for blended learning. It allows projects for creating online courses, and then students can travel together for fieldwork, not necessarily to Ukraine. Imagine how we can use this instrument very practically for Ukraine’s restoration. In such online courses, faculty will synchronise their courses, their curricula and produce a joint module with a Ukrainian case – let us take Ukrainian business, Ukrainian economy, medical sphere, or rehabilitation. There is an endless list of cases that students can study together without an actual necessity to travel to the war zone. There are also opportunities for internships, volunteering for students, so that students mastering Ukrainian can spend several weeks with projects aimed at supporting internally displaced peoples, communities, relocated business, relocated universities – this is just a very prospective sphere of academic investment. When we talk about faculty and professors, this is definitely a research domain, as the EU is offering Horizon Europe projects. I really encourage universities to invite Ukrainian colleagues into consortia like Erasmus+ projects, and Horizon Europe projects and networks. Also, the European University alliances initiative can help create meaningful links between Ukrainian universities and the EU.
Halyna Protsyk is a Deputy Vice Rector for Outreach and Social Engagement (Internationalisation). She has been working at UCU since 2015. Her PhD focused on the political problems of international systems and global development, and she combines her administrative work with a lectureship in Political Science at the UCU. Halyna teaches courses on International Organisations, Global Governance and European Integration.
Maryna Rabinovych is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Agder. She works on the ‘Lowering the Bar? Compliance Negotiations and the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement’ project, funded by the Research Council of Norway. Her research focuses on the politics and law of EU external relations, EU enlargement and neighbourhood policies, and internal political and legal dynamics in Ukraine.
Anne Pintsch is Associate Professor at the University of Agder. She leads the ‘Lowering the Bar?’ research project and the Nordic–Baltic knowledge-based input network for the rebuilding of Ukraine (HROMADA). Her research interests include external democracy promotion, international organisations, the European Union, and political transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, with a special focus on Ukraine.