In recent weeks, all ongoing collaborations with Russian (academic) institutions have been frozen and many students, academics and other staff have made efforts to help students who have had to flee their country. We have listed a number of new initiatives and changes below.
Exchanges
A decision has already been made to freeze all collaborations with Russian institutions. As a result, the student exchanges with institutes from Russia cannot take place for the first semester of 2022/2023.
Become a mentor in the UNE Mentor programme
The UNE Mentor programme has a fixed number of places for Ukrainian students, researchers and cultural workers who have to flee the war and for Belarusian and Russian students, academics and cultural workers who have to flee because of a danger of political persecution. The programme connects these groups with experienced experts and looks for suitable mentors who can help students in need.
Mentors are provided with a starter pack to help them get the conversation off the ground and an up-to-date list of relevant information about facilities and provisions. In recent weeks, more than 300 mentors and refugee students, academics, curators and artists have been linked together.
Would you like to join?
Click here for more information about the initiative.
Academic transfer: offer a workplace or research facility
Ukrainian academics who are looking for a place at one of the Dutch universities can now turn to a new national platform: AcademicsNLforUkraine. Universities can offer workplaces and research facilities here. Universities can also indicate on the platform where researchers can turn to for help in the academic community.
Click here for more information.
Study places for refugee students
Student refugees will receive a library card free of charge if they show their passport or identity card at the library desk. This gives them unlimited access to the locations as well as access to wifi/internet. Student refugees who have reported to Student Services with the request to register as a student will receive a library card as soon as the request is submitted. This means that the student will not have to wait for the outcome of the registration and enrolment procedure.
Moving forward: how will we keep an eye on what is needed?
We are in contact with the municipality of Amsterdam for any requests for assistance that may be received relating specifically to us. In addition, there are regular consultations with the other Amsterdam universities of applied sciences and universities about initiatives that could be taken together, including those involving the municipality. These include language education, summer schools and the range of study places available.
Stay up to date
Keep an eye on uva.nl/Oekraïne for the latest news and updates about the crisis in Ukraine.
This article was first published on 2 May by University of Amsterdam.
Receive the Funding Newswire each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.
