AFRICAN STUDENTS who fled Ukraine last year are being told to return one year on or risk not completing their degrees.

According to one leading activist, African students are being told they need to return to the war-torn country to sit final exams despite the safety risks.

Korrine Sky is the Founder of Africans in Ukraine Education Fund and a Refugee Education Activist, who was forced to return to the United Kingdom last year after fleeing Ukraine.

Speaking to The Voice, she said: “If they do not write this exam they will not be getting their degrees and I just think that is a completely unreasonable ask.

“Especially at such short notice, because some students did return back to Africa or India.

“How are they supposed to raise the money to come back to Ukraine?

“There is an on-going war, it’s very dangerous and anything could happen to these students.”

She added: “None of the universities are saying how they are planning to ensure the safety of the students.”

Ms Sky was studying medicine at Dnipro Medical Institute, in Ukraine.

She says scholarships helping students to return are only being offered to Ukrainians and African students are once again facing discrimination during the war.

She said: “When people started applying for these scholarships, they started getting responses saying that ‘these scholarships are for Ukrainians only and you may have better luck in your home countries.’”

Ms Sky created a website called Africans In Ukraine Education Fund, as an online resource providing  a list of scholarships, and other practical information  to help  those in need and says she is “shocked” that African students continue to face discrimination.

She claims African students who are being allowed back into Ukraine, are being made to sign a “consent form” which says “should they get into any harm, should they be bombed or die, trying to come back to Ukraine, the university is not liable for that.”

According to Ms Sky, the African students who stayed in other parts of Europe, were given temporary visas and are not considered refugees, but are considered “Third Country Nationals” who are being ordered to leave in the next two weeks – or face deportation.

Ms Sky told The Voice, the African students who fled Ukraine to The Netherlands must leave by 4th March or they will be deported.

She said: “The government are saying we will give you £2000 if you leave the country but this does not apply to Ukrainians, it only applies to the African students and the Asian students – who went to these European countries.”

Ms Sky is now calling on the universities to make their scholarships open to all students – not just Ukrainian nationals – because they are all indirect victims of the war.

She has started a petition, which has over 35,000 signatures, calling for a support package and scholarships to be put in place for African students, whose studies have been disrupted by the war in Ukraine so that they can continue with and finish their studies. 

She said: “My solution would be to ask the universities, they have already made scholarships, to make those scholarships available to all who were displaced by the war, as opposed to just making it just for Ukranian students.

“I think that is very unfair and quite discriminatory.”

Despite the on-going devastating war in Ukraine, a number of African students who were given temporary refuge across Europe are now considering returning.

“A number of them are thinking if they go back to Ukraine, it will be easier for them to apply for a visa to go somewhere else,” she said.

Ms Sky revealed to The Voice, she is in touch with 2,000 African students and says many continue to face racism, violence and discrimination in Ukraine right now.

“They are sharing videos of what is happening right now and they are still experiencing aggression and violence at the borders,” she said.

She says there is a blatant “lack of empathy” for African students, which is very telling.

She added: “The European solidarity has kind of shocked me because wars happen all the time and I have never seen that outpouring of compassion and empathy given to a group of people, but it has not been extended to anybody else.

“You see the difference, we were in the queue together, we fled the war together but the only difference is this individual is a European and this individual is African and as a result of that, the treatment is completely different.

“That says a lot.”

She also wants there to be an option for students to transfer to other universities to complete their studies where it is safe.

Ms Sky who is British and Zimbabwean, told The Voice, African students are facing several issues, including having gaps in their learning because of the war, which means their qualifications are not being recognised by key institutions and in Africa.

She said: “The students that went back to Nigeria and Ghana, they were told that due to that period of online learning their degrees are not recognised in Ghana, Nigeria or South Africa.

“Now the students who are in Nigeria and other African countries who returned home are in this precarious situation where they need to now get out of Nigeria and Africa in order to use their medical degrees.

“Now because they have been out of Nigeria for six to ten years studying abroad, trying to obtain a visa to now try and go to another country is extremely difficult.”

From the students Ms Sky has spoken to, she said many just want a chance to complete their studies and they do not mind starting again from year one if they have to.

She added: “Students are ok with starting from year one, most of them said they don’t mind if they can consolidate their learning to allow students to continue and graduate and fulfil their dreams.”

Open letter

Ms Sky has written an open letter demanding action and immediate help for the African students who want to complete their studies.

She said the standard of education and online learning that was provided for medical students during the war was “very patchy.”

She said: “If there is no electricity, their lessons are getting cancelled.

“Also, a lot of these students are in their clinical year, which means they are suppose to be in the hospital having that patient interaction and that can’t be done online.”

Ms Sky said sadly many people who thought the war would not escalate have been left shocked at the situation they have found themselves in through no fault of their own.

She said: “A lot of students stayed in and around Europe and some went back to Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, so people were generally dispersed.

“The hope was either we would be able to come back to Ukraine and carry on with our education.

“This was right at the start, so people didn’t know whether this was going to escalate or if it was just a warning.”

She added students who were granted temporary visas, from The Netherlands, Germany and Poland, are having to make difficult decisions about their futures as these visas are now beginning to expire, which means there could be a rise in immigration status issues in the coming weeks and months.

To sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/what-next-for-african-students-who-fled-ukraine-aiuef-official?source_location=search