Feelings of misunderstanding, sadness and frustration predominate these last few weeks for Ukrainian Maria Shaidrova. The 28-year-old has been working as a PhD student at Tilburg University (TiU) for five years, but since the war has mainly focused on Ukraine. Maria is from Irpin, a suburb of Kiev. There has been heavy fighting in the city in recent weeks. She expects ‘help and involvement for Ukraine’ from the people in the Netherlands, but the help offered by Dutch universities mainly led Maria to disappointment.
It started for Maria with an email about the war from the University of Amsterdam (UvA), where she completed a master’s degree in 2016. The contents were astonishing. Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian students could receive support from the university. “In the e-mail they were addressed as one group.” She then saw similar posts from other universities on Facebook. Although, according to Maria, the universities “do not all say the same thing”, the core remains the same for her. “It gives the impression that the war is experienced the same by Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians.”
This shows little ‘sensitivity to the position of Ukrainians’, says Maria. In recent weeks, she sent letters and e-mails to universities with “at least 175 Ukrainian students and alumni” asking them to adjust their reporting and aid initiatives. NRC spoke to nine of them. They are registered at universities throughout the Netherlands.
Freeze collaboration
According to various spokespersons, the reports from the universities were largely based on the letter of the ministry. In the letter addressed to, among others, the umbrella association Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), Minister Dijkgraaf (Education, D66) requested that partnerships with educational and knowledge institutions in Russia and Belarus be frozen. The ministry also made 1 million available to support Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian students. At present, approximately 495 Ukrainian, 1146 Russian and a few Belarusian students are studying at a Dutch university. In addition, 134 Ukrainian and 413 Russian employees work in the Netherlands.
UNL dropped in a press release managed to freeze all cooperation with Russia and Belarus. The umbrella association also states that help is offered to ‘Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian students and employees of Dutch universities’. And that “emergency funds will be set up at all universities for Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian students and employees in the Netherlands who run into money problems as a result of the war”. Universities also provide “psychological help” as needed.
Also read: ‘Ukrainians are not used to doing nothing’. But a job in the Netherlands is not easily found
Maria believes that the universities should take into account how the various groups experience the war. Now, she says, “Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians are all portrayed as victims.” According to Maria, this does not take into account that in those groups there are also people “who do not disapprove of the war”, because “80 percent of Russians voted for Putin”. She does not think that Russian and Belarusian students do not deserve help, but that “it should be discussed how someone views the war”.
The Ukrainian Daryna Oratovska (28), alumna of Utrecht University, agrees. According to her, “universities could have maintained a tactful way of communicating.” In addition, she would have preferred “that separate emergency funds had been created by universities with its own guidelines for each group”. The news now hurts her, because “my donations to the emergency fund can go to people who may support the war.”
The Ukrainian embassy is ‘deeply concerned’ about the joint emergency fund
Russian student Arina (19) would also have “preferred to see the aid differently.” She doesn’t want to use her last name NRCafraid of negative reactions. Arina has no intention of applying for money from the emergency fund. It is not necessary yet, she has a Dutch savings account. She also “would have preferred that the money from the emergency fund first went to Ukrainian students”.
She talks a lot with Ukrainian friends and family about the war and feels “responsible”. Not as a person, but as a “Russian”. For the things Putin “does in the name of Russia.” She finds it “difficult to say” whether 80 percent of Russia has rallied behind him. According to her, few Russians dare to speak out against Putin.
In a survey, most universities say they are “aware of sensitivities” but “want the best for all their students.” A UvA spokesperson says that the university has a “duty of care and feels for all current students affected by the war”. And the spokesperson for Utrecht University says that “the university does not want to hold students responsible for a war that they can do nothing about themselves”.
Embassy enabled
The universities do try to take the sensitivities into account. For example, ‘Utrecht’ organizes separate meetings about the war and the aid from the emergency fund is a gift for Ukrainian students and a loan for Russian students. “Because Russian students are expected to be able to access their money again after the sanctions are lifted.” General meetings for ‘all students’ have been held at the UvA. Also, “small-scale gatherings have been organized specifically for Russian or Ukrainian students.” Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) organized general walk-ins for all students, but makes it clear with regard to the payment of emergency support that this does not apply to ‘students with parents on the sanction list’.
That is not the end of the matter for Ukrainian students and alumni. They asked the Ukrainian embassy to contact the Ministry of Education and the universities. In a letter, seen by NRC, the embassy says that “they have received complaints about the reporting from the universities” and that they are “deeply concerned about a joint emergency fund”.
The umbrella association writes in a response to the letter to the embassy that “they have never intended to equate those affected by the war”, but that they “want to help all those who experience the consequences of the war”. The Ministry of Education states that it is not aware of the letter, but that a conversation has recently taken place with the Ukrainian ambassador. Education also believes that institutions should determine for themselves how and in what way they support students. However, the ministry has recently decided to make 2.5 million extra available for students from Ukraine.
Also read:This report about a Ukrainian host family in Hillegom
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of April 14, 2022