Today, we commemorate the fourth anniversary of the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We clearly state who the aggressor is and which sovereign state was attacked.
As a faculty, we stand on the side of respect for international law, freedom, and peace. Our solidarity is not merely declarative, but long-term and systematic. The number of students from Ukraine at our faculty has increased from 28 in the academic year 2021/2022 to 124 in the academic year 2025/2026, representing more than a fourfold increase. The most significant growth has occurred at the Bachelor’s level. We do not view this development as a statistic, but as the concrete stories of young people whose lives have been affected by war.
In cooperation with the Faculty of Arts, we introduced Slovak language courses to enable Ukrainian students to fully integrate into study programmes taught in Slovak. We organized meetings with Ukrainian students to identify their specific needs and challenges. We also implemented a summer school for Ukrainian students to support their academic integration. Within the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Erasmus+ programme, we have provided space for researchers from Ukraine and created a safe academic environment enabling them to continue their scientific work.
We are aware that war also brings tensions within our society. We openly address questions of fairness and tolerance. Supporting Ukrainian students and researchers is an expression of academic solidarity — not at the expense of domestic students, but in support of the value framework upon which the university environment and democratic society are built.
We do not forget. We stand with Ukraine and with the values that protect freedom of life, education, and scientific research.
