The Ministry of Education on Thursday asked universities to assist Ukrainian students following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian military on Thursday launched an attack on Ukraine shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in the eastern European country.
There are 72 Ukrainian students in Taiwan, the ministry said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
It asked universities to contact students to provide assistance and help them get in touch with their families, Department of International and Cross-strait Education Director Lee Yen-yi (李彥儀) said.
Wang Chun-cheng (王俊程), vice president of Student Affairs at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), said that there are three Ukrainian students studying at the university, all of whom have been in contact with their families.
The school’s counseling center is to contact students to offer support, and allocate emergency allowances, he added.
NTHU also started the Neighbor Program to allow Taiwanese studying in Ukraine to return and continue their education in Taiwan.
The university said that undergraduate and graduate students would be welcome to attend short-term exchange programs.
Outgoing university president Hocheng Hong (賀陳弘) and Kao Wei-yuan (高為元), who is to take over as president in May, jointly launched the program to help Taiwanese students continue their education amid the conflict.
This is not the university’s first education initiative launched in response to an international crisis.
At the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced many high-school graduates to shelve their study-abroad plans, even though they had been accepted to universities overseas. NTHU established Academy For All to allow the students to experience life on campus before they start their studies abroad.
NTHU vice president for academic affairs Wu Yung-hsien (巫勇賢) said the Neighbor Program allows students coming back from Ukraine to take courses following the guidelines for students from its sister universities.
No tuition is required, he said, adding that students can sign up for all the courses offered to undergraduate and graduate students, including experimental, practical and sports classes.
The university would assist interested students with course selection, Wu said.
Although the new semester began last week, Wu said that affected students could arrange makeup sessions with their instructors.
Students who are unable to return can take free online courses offered by NTHU, he added.
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