The Ukrainian university is still reeling after a missile attack in April, with Russian troops closing in once more
Sumy State University Congress Center after a Russian missile strike. Photo credits: State Emergency Service of Ukraine / Telegram
The Sumy State University in eastern Ukraine is looking to set up an international fundraising campaign to rebuild its campus after a devastating Russian bombing back in April. But Russia is trying to close in on the city once more, with troops advancing only 25 kilometres away, three years after Ukraine’s military forced them out of the region.
The university is located in the city of Sumy, not too far from Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia and some 330 kilometres east of Kyiv. The university suffered significant damage from Russian missile strikes on the city back in April, which resulted in 35 deaths (including two students at the university), and over 100 injuries. The university's international affairs office and several buildings were destroyed, causing approximately $5.3 million in damage, according to Alla Krasulia, head of the university’s international affairs department.
The building of the international affairs department, which is also a place of teaching and research for the institute of business, economics and management, were turned into rubble, Krasulia told Science|Business. “The destruction was nearly total, not a single piece of equipment, furniture or teaching material survived.”
Despite the bombing, the university continues courses and research, including with international partners, and is now setting up a fundraising campaign to start rebuilding the campus. Since the attack, the university has already managed to partially repair the roof of its congress centre, which was also destroyed in the bombing. The university removed about 290 m³ of rubble from that building alone.
Ivan Kozii, vice-rector for scientific and pedagogic work said the university does not have a lot of money and is looking for ways to attract international grants and rebuild parts of the campus, as well as ways to cut overhead costs by saving energy and installing a solar station.
The university now has some 6,000 students, but cohorts used to be higher before the war. “Many students, their parents, are asking different questions about security, about how we can continue our education process, how we will continue living in Sumy, but we believe in our future, in the resilience of Sumy, and we wait for support from our colleagues,” said Kozii.
However, setting up an international fundraiser while the government is tracking every single money transfer coming in from abroad is proving to be quite difficult, said Krasulia.
“We face technical and organisational issues with our banks, because we've got martial law in Ukraine and there are some restrictions in how we can raise funds in a foreign currency,” said Krasulia. The university has set up a working group to look at this issue and to provide international donors with a smoother administrative process.
Krasulia said the university is also looking to participate in academic mobility programmes for its students and researchers, as well as training or conferences.
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In addition, the university is working to secure its digital infrastructures with the help of European partners. “Our European partners offered their support in the area of cloud-based storage, because we need to relocate some of our resources to a secure place,” said Krasulia. A digital marketing laboratory was also destroyed in the bombing.
The university also needs additional laboratory equipment and materials. Liudmyla Ponomarova, head of the applied chemistry department, said the university has the basics “but we need more.”
State of Ukrainian research
With government funding for research severely limited by the war effort, universities and research institutes will need foreign aid to rebuild the infrastructure lost to the war.
According to a survey by Ukraine’s National Research Foundation 26% of responding research institutions said their buildings had suffered “considerable” or “heavy” damage since the war started in 2022. While most research infrastructures are fully operational, 12 are still not able to continue their work at full capacity.
According to the survey, the war factor affects Ukraine’s entire scientific infrastructure, from the level of funding to energy supply. Research institutions are having trouble paying staff and allocating funds for maintenance, consumables and advanced training. While there has been no decrease in funding in absolute terms, the cost of energy, utilities, materials and reagents has increased.
A new report by the European Commission says Ukraine will also need to reform its research system to enhance coordination and remove duplication and inefficiencies in research infrastructures.
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