Foreign students in Ukraine: sweet promises and bitter problems
Corruption, racial discrimination and visa problems are a list of the main difficulties that foreign students in Ukraine face
In theory, Ukraine should be interested in foreign students. After all, according to the Ministry of Education, thanks to «overseas students», of which there are currently 53.5 thousand in Ukraine, the state budget is replenished by 800 million hryvnias every year.
They pay up to 500 million dollars for the education itself. But even bringing profit to Ukraine, students do not have a sweet life. The data of human rights organizations is shocking: citizens who come to study often become victims of scammers before they even reach the university.
Students often organize their trips to Ukraine not on their own, but with the help of an intermediary company that promises to resolve all possible problems. The reasons for this are clear: not all universities post information on their websites in English or other foreign languages. Accordingly, it is difficult for potential students to find out where and what documents they need to send.
However, one cannot be sure of the honesty of an agent, note the center «Without Borders», whose employees are engaged in monitoring and protecting the rights of migrants. Some intermediaries themselves are not sufficiently familiar with the situation in Ukraine. As a result, on the websites of some companies that «recruit» students from abroad, one can read that Ukraine is a member of the EU, and during the summer holidays, foreigners will be able to go on internships in Sweden and Britain. Such information makes the country more attractive to foreigners, but when they come to study, they face harsh realities.
The troubles start at the airport
However, agents often not only exaggerate the «comfort» of living in Ukraine, but also cheat financially. They start to extort money from students as soon as they get off the plane. Among the usual financial manipulations is overstating the cost of travel from the airport to the dormitories. «A few years ago, medical university students paid an intermediary $200 for a transfer from Donetsk airport to Luhansk. In 2010, this amount was already $2,000,» Olena Bondarenko, an assistant at the «Without Borders» project, told Deutsche Welle.
After all, unexpected troubles can befall you at the airport. In November 2011, a guy from Sudan called the staff of the «Without Borders» project. He said that he had been held at the capital’s «Boryspil» airport for 5 days. He sat in a small room with a few chairs and no bed, and all this time he was not given water or food. He told the border guards that he had come to study at Kharkiv Medical University. However, he was unable to inform the university about his detention due to the lack of access to the phone and the Internet. The student was sent back to Sudan, and the university administration did not even bother to somehow rectify the situation.
Foreigners may encounter the following problems upon arriving at their place of study. Often, students are promised instruction in English, but then it turns out that this program is conducted only in Ukrainian or Russian. And the heads of departments for international students do not always speak English, and therefore cannot help students. As a result, students sign a contract in Ukrainian, without even knowing for sure what is written in it.
Do not rush to pay
For foreign students, there is a possibility not only to spoil their mood, but also to lose significant funds. In October 2009, a group of African students came to study at Taras Shevchenko University. Their trip was organized by the Moroccan company Carrefour Event, which called itself the official representative of the university. The foreigners paid agents several thousand dollars for visas, accommodation and studies. But after arriving in Ukraine, they were forced to pay another 20 thousand hryvnias to the university, which did not receive funds from the intermediary.
A similar unfortunate situation developed with a group of Tunisian students who came to study at the National Aviation University. As the dean of the faculty for work with foreign students at NAU Andriy Kryzhanovsky said: «We really cooperated with that intermediary. But last year there was a revolution in Tunisia. At first, the payment was made in some tranches, and then it stopped altogether. We turned to the security forces, but the agent simply disappeared from Ukraine,» the dean notes.
Kryzhanovsky advises foreign students to contact higher education institutions directly. This way, they can be completely sure that in the middle of the year they will not be asked to pay for their studies a second time.
A quarrel with the university is a path to deportation?
If a student has a conflict with the university, in this case it is almost impossible to defend their rights, says lawyer Halyna Bocheva. «A student’s migration status in the country depends on the university, without whose consent you cannot even transfer to another university. If there is a conflict situation, universities, as a rule, do not do this and do not provide documents, including an insurance policy, certificates, and a return ticket,» the lawyer emphasizes.
According to the organization «Without Borders», in recent years only two foreign students have dared to go to court to challenge the decision on deportation. Nigerian Kenneth Onodjet, who studied at the Luhansk Medical University, was forced to retake one of the subjects during the summer session. After that, he went home for vacation, and upon returning, he learned that he had been expelled. The guy agreed to retake the subject, after which he was reinstated at the university. Having paid the money for a year of study, he presented his passport to extend his visa. But – he received a deportation stamp. Kenneth sought help from lawyers, and in the end the court recognized the decision on his deportation as illegal.
A similar situation happened to a student from the Congo, Biantusa Tadi Kolombe. She came to Kyiv to study at preparatory courses. The girl arrived in Ukraine pregnant and wanted to take an academic leave after the first semester. However, when she submitted her passport for a visa extension, she was also refused. As a result, the girl was not even able to register her child in Ukraine. Lawyers from the «Without Borders» project went to court, and the deportation decision was declared illegal. However, her stay in Ukraine until the next semester was never extended.
Currently, there are no organizations in Ukraine that specialize in helping foreign students. If trouble occurs, Bocheva recommends contacting a lawyer. According to her, this significantly increases the chances that the student’s application will be considered by the police, and if necessary, their rights will be defended in court.
Racial discrimination
At the same time, those students who do not have problems with their studies should also be on guard. After all, just a different skin color of a student can become a reason for aggression towards him. Cases of discrimination occur in different regions of Ukraine. In particular, in January, a Ternopil newspaper depicted Africans and Arabs as monkeys who are courting Ukrainian women. And in February, Vinnytsia social-nationalists held a march against immigration near the dormitories of foreign students.
According to the data of the project «Diversity Initiative», the majority of victims of racist attacks in 2007-2011 were foreign students. And according to a study by Elise Garvey published in 2008, about 35% of foreign students living in Kyiv reported racially motivated attacks on them.
Victims more often report attacks to the university than to the police. But educational institutions do not always want to disclose such information, notes Halyna Bocheva. «Universities are interested in ensuring that as many students as possible want to come to study at them. And they perceive information about attacks on foreigners as a potential risk that students will not come. Secondly, they do not know how to help in these situations,» the lawyer comments.
To make life easier for foreigners, an English-language guide called «Living and Studying in Ukraine» was published last year. In addition to general information about the country, newly arrived students can find information there on how to keep themselves safe in the city, as well as where to go in the event of an attack.
