Displaced exiled students from Ukraine: the assessment of the UEE, one year after the beginning of the conflict.

While a year has passed since the conflict began in Ukraine, the war continues. The UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine a day before the anniversary of the conflict. 

 

We cannot forget the suffering and hardship that many displaced people from Ukraine have gone through.

Since February 24, 2023, Europe has received 8 million displaced people from Ukraine according to the UN.

France welcomed 106,000 Ukrainian citizens, most of them are under temporary protection, which is an unprecedented measure that was activated a result of a directive from the European Commission. This is the first time in 21 years that this protective measure has been activated.

This measure allowed Ukrainian citizens to benefit from a (temporary) residence permit and a facilitated access to material conditions such as access to higher education, social assistance, housing, a state allowance and the job market. On the contrary, third-country citizens displaced from Ukraine who have also fled the war, were excluded from the benefits of this measure. 

 

The measures put in place for displaced students from Ukraine. 

The French government immediately mobilized to help Ukrainian refugees with the implementation of numerous reception measures[1].

With regard to Ukrainian students, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research has set up an important reception system for those who wish to resume higher education in France.

About 2,000 displaced students from Ukraine have had access to higher education with access, in particular to grants from the CROUS (Regional Centers for University and School Works) on social criteria, emergency aid from the CROUS, meals in university restaurants, housing aid, university health services, exceptional registration measures with total exemption from registration fees, exceptional measures for the translation of diplomas, and access to work-study. 

 

The Union des Étudiants Exilés is engaged alongside displaced students from Ukraine. 

Since the beginning of the conflict, the UEE has held 453 meetings with people from Ukraine, 90% of them were with women. We held 406 meetings with students from African countries (Angola, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Cameroon, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, etc.) who fled the same conflict. 

  

Most of the Ukrainian students who were received by our staff at the permanence have had their temporary protection renewed for one year, following the initial period of six months that was granted. 

 

Despite all the supports received, some students have encountered difficulties. 

Even with all the support received by Ukrainian students, they have faced difficulties that have affected their lives, particularly their academic career. They had to deal with the lack of financial resources, problems in opening a bank account and access to student housing, as well as obtaining the equivalence of their diplomas by ENIC-NARIC (European Network of Information Centers – National Academic Recognition Information Centers). 

  

We observed that Ukrainian women supported by the UEE encountered difficulties in accessing housing as they found themselves on the street because of the directive accommodation of the French Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII) which forced them to leave their homes in Ile de France and settle at another location far from their university where they had already begun their integration. 

  

Foreign students from Ukraine fled their country and sought to continue their higher education in France. However, they have encountered many obstacles. 

  

First off, the French government did not immediately grant temporary protection status to these students, they only granted them a one-month receipt, which caused significant material instability. Then, for them to obtain a student residence permit, the government required that students go through the Campus France procedure[2], even if they were already on the French territory. This procedure was also supposed to end officially on March 15, 2022, but it was useless for these students who were already present in France because they began arriving in France from March 10. 

 

For students coming from a third country displaced from Ukraine who were in France and enrolled in French universities, the French government has imposed the following conditions for him/her to obtain a student residence permit: proof of university registration, a fixed address, a bank account with a credit balance of €7,380, the minimum required for a year, and that registration should be consistent with their studies in Ukraine. Students who could meet these conditions were able to stay in France but the others were invited to go to Spain or Portugal, countries that have opened temporary protection for all students displaced from Ukraine. 

  

These barriers have forced many students to seek informal employment to support themselves, which has had a negative impact on their education. In addition, these students are not entitled to apply for a CROUS grant based on social criteria[3], which is a financial assistance to students. 

  

Finally, the moratorium on expulsions issued by the French government in July 2022 until the start of September is no longer in force. Many foreign students have received the decisions from OQTF (Obligation to Leave the French Territory) or the non-renewal of their residence permit, thus creating great insecurity and significant precariousness for these students. 

 

 

The UEE supports an unconditional welcome of all exiled students, whatever their nationality, status, and origin. 

  

The arrangements put in place for Ukrainian students must be made accessible to all other exiled students, regardless of their status and nationality. 

 

 

In particular, we ask: 

Access to higher education 

• Create a real policy of reception within the perennial and egalitarian university institutions throughout the French territory. Schools and universities must be places for creating models of social integration and new ways of creating contacts, reflecting and sharing. 
• Make the social integration of exiled people a priority in the education system and other social systems. The French government must reduce the bureaucratic obstacles imposed on the exiled people. 
• Give all exiled people without exception, regardless of their administrative situation, real access to education at all levels and without discrimination. 

• Give exiled students, especially those in secondary education, the freedom to choose the section they want to study, without imposing vocational or technical training according to the needs of the French labor market. 
• Higher education institutions must respond to the different needs of exile students in order to facilitate their participation in student life, guarantee equality by providing the means and tools for their success in the academic process. 

 

Registration 

 

• Maintenance of exemption arrangements to be put in place in host universities. 
• Extension of the automatic exemption of registration fees to exiled students. 
• In case of absence of the diploma certificate or the transcript due to the conditions of exile, exceptionally set up orientation interviews for exiled people to best accompany students, or develop procedures for validating prior learning adapted to their situation. 
• Guarantee the right to the recognition of diplomas and competences for university registration: educational institutions must establish procedures for the recognition of the level of education of candidates and without a diploma, for example by interviews. This procedure is regulated by the 1997 Lisbon Convention, but it is not applied. 

 

Learning French 

 

• We demand the guarantee of the right to learn French beyond basic communication skills, and unconditional access to the academic or professional training of the new arrivals. 
• If the person does not have the required level in French as a foreign language, the university must offer him/her to enroll in a host program, the necessity of which should be included in the education code. The systematization of these host programs intended for the resumption of foreign studies must allow generalization, harmonization and financing of all programs (as for an example the DU Passerelle). 

 

Material living conditions 

 

• The opening of CROUS scholarships and accommodation to all students enrolled in higher education, regardless of their nationality and administrative status. 
• The opening of CROUS grants and accommodation to asylum seekers enrolled in university as soon as they enter the bachelor’s program. 
• The lack of access to housing endangers the continuation of studies of exiled people and puts them in a situation of great precariousness. Access to safe, comfortable and sustainable housing throughout the years of study at an affordable price for exiled students to guarantee their health, mental and psychological security. 

• Increase foreign student quotas in university housing and open applications in the main phase and not complementary. 
• Removal of the restriction on the number of hours of work for people holding a student visa. 
• We call for the development of the directive accommodation pronounced by the OFII during the study period, which can prove to be a discouraging device that hinders the right to access higher education. 

 

 

[1] Including an online language training, measures to promote professional integration, the creation of a platform to organize the reception of French families, financial assistance. 

  

[2] This procedure is provided for students who apply from other countries. 

  

[3] Students from third countries displaced from Ukraine are considered international students, who are not entitled to CROUS scholarships, if they do not justify a two-year residence and a tax home.