Our daily reality: inside Ukraine’s HE sector as war rages on

I remember that winter of 2022 very clearly. We were sitting in a shelter together with students, trying to talk about different things – about studies and when we might return to them, about how we could support the local defence forces, and about what our role should be in those uncertain days.

At the time, it seemed the main goal was simply to get through the next few weeks, stabilise the situation, and preserve the learning process. During those days, I recorded short video messages on Facebook every day – from the university, from shelters, sometimes simply from different locations across our campus. It was a way to show our students, partners, and colleagues around the world that we were still working, holding on, alive, and enduring.

Back then, I could not have imagined that four years would pass and the war would remain part of our daily reality, shaping not only our working conditions but also the strategic logic of the university’s development.

Sumy National Agrarian University is located just 30 kilometres from the border. During the first months of the full-scale invasion, this proximity was felt almost physically. Many staff members and students were forced to leave, the educational process had to be urgently shifted into an asynchronous format, and at the same time, the university took on the role of a volunteer and coordination hub for local communities and agricultural producers.

For an agrarian university, food security quickly became not only an academic topic but a practical task of regional resilience. Over time, however, it became clear that the main challenge was not organising remote teaching or adjusting schedules. The most difficult task was to preserve a sense of the future – a sense of perspective and direction.

When you work in a frontline region but must still compete for students, research funding and international partnerships with universities in western and central Ukraine, as well as with European institutions, a special kind of internal motivation emerges. Additional capacities come into play – faster decision-making, readiness for change, and a constant search for new opportunities. Paradoxical as it may sound, the war has made us more agile, more open to cooperation, and more strategic in our actions.

That is why, just before last year, we adopted a new development strategy for the university. Its essence is captured in our new slogan: “Turning challenges into opportunities”. For us, this is not a communication formula but a real management philosophy: every constraint or risk is treated as a potential driver of development through internationalisation, digital transformation, new educational formats, and research aligned with emerging global challenges.

The most difficult task was to preserve a sense of the future – a sense of perspective and direction

In this process, international partnerships have become a key pillar of our resilience. During the first months of the war, support from foreign universities was not only professional but also deeply human. Opportunities for academic mobility, access to online resources and training, joint lectures, and the inclusion of Ukrainian scholars in international research networks helped us avoid what might have been the greatest risk for any university in crisis – professional isolation.

We are sincerely grateful to all international partners who have supported and continue to support Ukrainian universities. At the same time, over these years, we have also felt the emergence of a new reality. In many countries, there is a growing sense of fatigue regarding the war and the constant Ukrainian presence on the international agenda.

This is not about negative attitudes. Rather, Ukrainian researchers have become very active, persistent, and, in many cases, highly competitive in the struggle for international resources and opportunities. We have learned quickly how to operate within global academic systems – and this, too, has become part of our institutional transformation.

An important role in this process has been played by our faculty and researchers who have worked or completed fellowships at leading European universities during the war. They have not only gained new experience and competencies but have also become natural ambassadors of our university abroad. Through personal academic connections, new partnerships emerge, joint research is launched, and international publications and projects are developed. What began as forced mobility has evolved into a powerful mechanism for strengthening our international integration.

Cooperation with UK universities, particularly the Royal Agricultural University, has been especially important for us. The academic twinning program has become not simply a project but a model for long-term institutional development. Last week, we celebrated the second graduation of students from our joint program sustainable agriculture and food security. Alongside teaching, this partnership includes a range of research initiatives, from soil studies to the training of specialists in modern analytical methods, the development of joint learning modules, and the formation of international research teams.

We also deeply value the people behind this cooperation. Among them is Mark Horton, pro vice-chancellor of the Royal Agricultural University, who has become one of the key drivers of support for Ukrainian universities and, in particular, our partnership. We sincerely hope that he will soon have the opportunity to visit Sumy and see firsthand how international academic solidarity operates in practice.

The war continues to affect the university’s physical infrastructure as well. Last year, drone attacks damaged three university buildings, including research facilities. For our team, this was a serious test and a moment that forced us to reassess, once again, the level of risk we operate under every day. The recovery process was difficult and resource-intensive, but it also strengthened our sense of internal capacity and responsibility for our own development.

During the first months of the war, support from foreign universities was not only professional but also deeply human

Today, the university has truly changed. It has become more digital, more international and far more flexible in its management culture. Yet perhaps the biggest changes relate to safety and the daily organisation of academic life. A significant part of teaching and research activities has been moved into equipped shelters. During periods of heightened risk, students attend classes, take exams, work on projects and even carry out laboratory tasks underground. For faculty, this required a complete rethinking of teaching formats, and for the institution, it meant creating a safe educational environment beneath the surface.

This experience has also revealed the level of trust within our student community. Despite difficult conditions, constant stress and the need to study in shelters, students remain committed to the university and openly say that they value stability, support and a sense of community. In many ways, these years have created a new type of relationship between the university and its students – more partnership-based, more conscious and more mutually responsible.

Many challenges still lie ahead. Some members of our staff are serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Many students combine their studies with work or volunteer activities. Emotional fatigue from the war is a reality that cannot be ignored. And yet, there is also a strong sense of movement forward and a clear understanding of our role.

If these years have taught us anything, it is a simple lesson: real international partnership is not only about agreements or projects. It is about trust, responsiveness and the willingness to stand together in difficult times. Every joint lecture, every research initiative, every opportunity created for students contributes not only to the development of a single institution but to the resilience of the entire higher education system.

For Sumy National Agrarian University, these years have been a period of hardship – but also of profound transformation. Today, we are not merely maintaining stability. We are building a university that is more open, more international and more competitive than it was before the war.

And that is why our strategic principle remains unchanged: we do not simply respond to challenges. We learn to turn them into opportunities – and in this we see the foundation of our future.

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