European rectors have spoken of the importance of continuing to admit and teach Russian students despite their country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Shalini Randeria, president of Vienna’s Central European University, told ̽����Ƶ’s World Academic Summit, held at New York University, that her institution has begun offering virtual classes to its Russian students after they were unable to obtain visas to leave the country following president Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilisation of reservists last month.

Alojzy Nowak, rector of the University of Warsaw, told the conference that he hoped the institutions’ 650 students from Russia will be able to stay part of the university community, despite the clear risk of political backlash in Poland.

“We are in a quite complicated situation,” he said, alluding to a history between Poland and Russia that may make it hard for his country “to behave properly towards the Russian students”.

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Yet the fate of those students carries deep implications, Professor Nowak said, “because most of the graduates will be responsible for the future of Poland, for the future of Europe, maybe even to some extent for the future of the world”.

People globally are recognising shared humanities, Professor Nowak said, adding: “This is something that is extremely important and beautiful.” And Poland has had its own lessons in the power of international educational exchange, having sent 500,000 students abroad in the past 30 years, with all but a few returning. “And they changed the country, completely,” he said. “They changed universities, they changed politicians, they changed everything – not only because they became better educated, but also because they saw a different life.”

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Speaking to THE after her speech, Professor Randeria, too, emphasised the importance of maintaining links to Russia in the hope that it would make a difference in the future.

“You can’t assume just because of their citizenship they support the war,” she said of the Russian students enrolled at CEU.

“I would not admit Putin or his generals, but many Russian students are in opposition to their government’s policies. We do not want to close off these types of educational opportunities. There will be life after Putin, and we must keep these networks alive.”

Professor Randeria said the university had 86 Russian students enrolled on courses last semester, with 18 due to begin new courses this semester.

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She said some had left the country via Kazakhstan when the mobilisation was announced, but a handful of mostly female students were still in Moscow, although the university remained hopeful that they would eventually be able to travel.

CEU has shifted its admissions practices to admit more students who might be at risk if they remain in the country, including LGBTQ activists and journalists, according to Professor Randeria.

Meanwhile, efforts are also continuing to help students displaced from Ukraine during the conflict. The University of Warsaw has accepted about 2,500 students from Ukraine since the war began – and it has housed, fed and helped about 100 Ukrainian families.

It is also trying to help Ukrainian students back in their home country, working with 40 Ukrainian universities to deliver at least 600 courses remotely, mostly in English. European universities are generally not helping with that, Professor Nowak said, but Warsaw has found that a growing number of US institutions are.

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CEU has run an “invisible university” for Ukrainian students since the war began, with the institution’s academics teaming up with Ukrainian colleagues to deliver a series of virtual courses for those who are still in the country during the conflict, or have been forced to flee.

Describing the experiences of Ukrainians who studied with CEU while they were under siege, Professor Randeria said: “We had students attending those courses on their phone from cellars where they were sheltering from bombing.

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“They said those were the two or three hours a week where they could participate in an intellectual discussion which did not have to do with pure survival.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com