Ukrainian Students at Invisible University in Budapest

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been dragging on for almost a year, has begun to destroy the existence of Ukraine from many directions, and Ukrainian intellectuals are also struggling to survive. University courses for Ukrainian students have been organized in Budapest. This is a kind of therapy for them, in addition to the continuity of high-quality university education, hvg.hu reports.

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Central European University (CEU) launched its Invisible University for Ukraine (IUFU) program in spring 2022 for Ukrainian students whose studies have been interrupted by the war.

The program includes both those who have fled the country and those who are still living in Ukraine. The organizers of the ‘Invisible University for Ukraine’ wanted to recall the various underground and exile education initiatives in Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the tradition of Invisible Colleges in the region after 1989.

"This is not just a one-sided educational situation. These students come with stories that they talk about amongst themselves and in front of the speakers. It's also a kind of therapy, in addition to the high-quality of education they receive, of course, and the credits they receive for their courses are recognized by their home universities," professor of history at CEU and one of the initiators of the IUFU Balázs Trencsényi says. One part of the project is a week-long winter university in Budapest. Here, 26 students from 11 Ukrainian universities are taking part in a course of face-to-face teaching.

"In the spring, we organized four online mega-courses for 140 students from 30 institutions, involving 70 lecturers, while offering mentoring and academic courses in English. In July, we met in Budapest and Lviv in the form of a summer school, where we worked with the students to develop the program for the next semester. On this basis, we continued online in the autumn with seven thematic courses for more than 200 students, and we also provided research grants for 60 students," the professor highlights about the history of the Invisible University so far.