Support for students and studying arrangements related to the war in Ukraine

Russia’s military attack on Ukraine is causing concern in the UEF community. At the same time, the international sanctions against Russia affect the studying arrangements of the university. This website contains information about support channels for students, arrangements related to studying and useful links to sources of information.

The university has set up a team to coordinate actions resulting from the situation in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Besides coordinating necessary actions, the team is preparing support measures for the students and staff. The team is led by Rector of the university.

Ministry of Education and Culture will distribute up-to-date information about the situation to the Finnish universities, and the University of Eastern Finland will follow national and EU policies in its actions and inform the UEF community about them.

The university will distribute relevant information to the students on uef.fi website, in the News section on Kamu and in the students’ Yammer group (signing in with UEF credentials required), and on Heimo website for university staff and students (UEF login required). Changes in the restrictions and sanctions may occur rapidly.

Support channels for students

If the war causes concern and students need help and support, the university offers its students a variety of support channels. We have compiled providers of help and support on the Kamu service. The students may utilise the services of FSHS, campus chaplains and educational psychologists.

In addition, providers of help include several national services such as crisis counselling by MIELI Mental Health Finland. Familiarise yourself also with the online material of Mielenterveysseurat.fi here and here Serenas materials.

Educational psychologist Katri Ruth has written about living with the feelings of concern and anxiety in the Puheenvuoroja blog of the university. The blog text mentions support channels and options for further reading.

The University of Eastern Finland emphasises that hate speech will not be tolerated in our international scientific community.

Questions about students and studies can be sent via email: studysupport@uef.fi. General questions relating to the situation in Ukraine and the security can be sent to email: ukraine@uef.fi.

Study-related arrangements

In the current situation of war, student mobility programmes to and from Russia are suspended. For the present, no scholarships are available for student mobility to Russia and Belarus.

Due to the sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus, the University of Eastern Finland will block access to its electronic services requiring authentication with the university’s username and password from the Russian and Belarusian territory, effective from 23 March 2022.

Travelling to Russia and Belarus is not recommended in the current time of crisis.

As for Ukrainian students studying in Finland, the studies will continue normally. Ukrainians studying in Finland will not be repatriated even if their residence permit is about to expire.

For the present, the EU sanctions against Russia will not affect student admissions of the degree programmes, and the decisions will be made normally according to existing legislation.