Universities have organized fundraisers and taken other measures to allow Ukrainian students to continue studying in Japan as they wait for peace to return to their home country.

The schools accepted hundreds of the students after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. The universities have covered their tuition and dormitory expenses.

But money is running out, and the war in Ukraine appears far from over.

Five Ukrainians were first enrolled at International Christian University in Tokyo as auditing students. They passed the university’s selection process in autumn 2022 and started officially taking either postgraduate or undergraduate classes in April this year.

One more Ukrainian student will join the university as an undergraduate in September.

After Russia’s invasion, the ICU said the Ukrainians would not have to pay for tuition or dormitory fees.

However, it will cost the university at least 26 million yen ($192,000) to cover the total expenses of all five students until they graduate.

“As a university, bearing the cost is challenging, but we want to support these five students until they all earn degrees,” Shoichiro Iwakiri, president of the ICU, said.

The university started a crowdfunding drive in April, which quickly reached the initial target of 5 million yen. The school has since raised the goal to 10 million yen, and donations will be accepted until the end of June.

Ksenia, who transferred to the second year of the university, is now taking an introduction to Christianity course, as well as classes in Japanese and French.

“I moved to a dormitory with many Japanese people in April, and I am very glad because I can interact with them more,” she said. “I joined a samba club and also started working part time at a restaurant, which helped me make many friends.”

After her family fled Ukraine for Germany, she came to Japan in May 2022.

Ksenia had been studying geography at the National University of Kyiv and decided to pursue her long-cherished dream of studying in Japan.

“I’m not thinking about returning to my home country now. I want to continue studying in a good environment,” she said. “I might go to graduate school in Japan.”

She said she is interested in peace studies and wants to take a class on international relations that involve various Asian countries from fall.

Toyo University in Tokyo accepted 12 exchange students from three universities in Ukraine in May 2022.

Although the exchange program was scheduled to end in March this year, the university allowed the students to extend their studies in Japan until summer next year.

Toyo University has, in fact, renewed the exchange program with the three Ukrainian universities, and it will accept new students in autumn.

Of the original 12, four continue to study at the university.

Olga, 21, was one of the seven students who returned to Ukraine. She is now a senior at the National University of Kyiv, majoring in Japanese.

“Studying in Japan was a dream and an ideal life for me, but I needed to go back to write my graduation thesis,” she told The Asahi Shimbun in March.

She also said she was worried about her family members who stayed in Ukraine.

“I always thought, ‘If only my parents were here with me,’ because only I was in safe Japan,” Olga said. “The war makes it difficult to plan, but I want to study in Japan again someday.”

She said other students decided to return home for similar reasons.

A staff member at Toyo University said the school respects the students’ wishes and responds accordingly.

“The expenses cannot be covered entirely by donations, and we also allocate funds from the university’s budget,” the staffer said. “Since it is an exchange program, participating students aim to graduate from their home universities.

“But if they want to continue studying in Japan, we will support them,” the staff member said.

The Japan University of Economics in Fukuoka Prefecture accepted 68 Ukrainian students, the most in Japan.

In spring this year, eight of the students found jobs in Japan, 24 moved abroad and two transferred to other universities in Japan.

The remaining 34 have continued studying as official exchange students since April.

The university carried out its second crowdfunding campaign in March to continue providing free tuition for them.

It has also been providing free dormitory accommodations, but it will ask the students to cover some of the costs.

JOB INFORMATION OFFERED

As the war in Ukraine continues to drag on, support organizations in Japan have started to collect information aimed at helping Ukrainian students become independent.

Pathways Japan, a general incorporated foundation that has been accepting students from Ukraine in collaboration with universities and other organizations, is providing them with information about employment opportunities.

In March, the foundation invited about 90 Ukrainian students and businesspeople to a briefing in Tokyo.

“I want you to first strengthen your Japanese language skills,” Norimasa Orii, the head of Pathways Japan, told the students.

“We will support your learning, but you also need to think about gaining employment. We will continue to provide information on scholarships and jobs,” he said.

Orii told The Asahi Shimbun that the foundation wants to prevent situations in which students have no choice but to return home.

“There may be various cases where the universities’ acceptance period ends or students transfer to other universities due to their Japanese language proficiency or major,” he said. “We want to support those who want to study or work in Japan by providing advice.”

According to the education ministry, universities in Japan had accepted 387 Ukrainian students as of March 15. But the number dropped to 352 by April 19.

“The reason for the decrease could be due to students returning home or finding jobs in Japan,” a ministry official said.

(This article was written by Hajime Ueno and Junko Watanabe.)