Ukraine was also increasingly popular among students from countries like Nigeria and Algeria, as well as maintaining its popularity with students from other post-Soviet nations, such as Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.Ĭhinenye Ejikeme, a 21-year-old student from Nigeria, arrived in Georgia this March, but in 2019 she decided to earn her undergraduate medical degree in Ukraine. The majority, about 24 per cent, came from India, followed by Morocco at 12 per cent. The government made significant investments in the sector and offered flexible terms to those who could not afford expensive European and American universities.Īccording to Ukrainian government data from 2021, Ukraine was home to over 76,000 foreign students out of a total student population of just over 1.1 million. Promoting Ukraine’s higher education at an international level remained a key priority for the country’s Ministry of Education and Science following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Renowned for its high-quality science programmes in particular, many African and Asian students have chosen to study in Ukraine since the 1960s. Ukraine was home to some of the leading universities in the former USSR. Ukraine: a long history of international students They mainly come to our medical school, but there are students in other faculties such as business, international relations, IT and psychology,” Shengelia tells Equal Times.Īccording to data published in 2023 by the National Statistics Office of Georgia, the number of foreign students in Georgia’s both public and private universities has almost doubled from around 14,000 from before the war to just over 25,000 today. “More than 500 students have transferred to our university from Ukraine following the war. Kakha Shengelia, the president of the CU says that the latest developments in Ukraine have been a game-changer for higher education in Georgia. I knew that the education quality there was really good so I didn’t hesitate about moving here,” says Krishna, who enrolled at Caucasus University (CU) this March.ĬU is one of the leading private universities in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. “I took a one year break and then I heard that Georgia was inviting transfer students. From there, she started exploring alternative options to continue her studies abroad. “We had to stay at the border for three days in really cold weather.” Unlike a number of African and Asian students who have spoken out about their experiences of racism while trying to flee Ukraine, Krishna says that her main issue was the sheer volume of people trying to reach safety: “ We had a hard time crossing the border because it was extremely crowded.”Įventually Krishna was able to enter Romania, where she spent a few days in a shelter, before being repatriated to her home state of Kerala in India. Our families called us and that’s when we came to know that there was shelling and moved to bunkers,” she recounts.įearing that she would not survive the war if she stayed in Ukraine, Krishna immediately headed to the Romanian border. “My friends and I were in our apartment, and we didn’t know what was happening outside. Even though there were warnings about a possible Russian invasion in early 2022, Krishna says that she didn’t fully grasp the seriousness of the situation. Krishna never imagined that one day she would have to flee the country due to a war. “The study was very good, and I felt really comfortable there.” “The first option for me was Ukraine,” she tells Equal Times. Krishna is one of the approximately 18,000 Indian students ( according to Ukrainian government data from 2021) who had chosen Ukraine for their undergraduate studies before the war broke out. Every day before my birthday, I’ll remember that traumatic event,” she says. “The war started the day before my birthday. Megha Krishna, a 23-year-old student from India, was in her third year at Ternopil National Medical University in Ukraine, when on 24 February 2022, Russia invaded the country.
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