The Invasion of Russia in Ukraine added to the problem of students studying in Ukraine. However, Serbia has now started accepting applications from students affected by the war.
A British medical student, Shinga Chikuraa in his interview with the German news outlet DW revealed that he thought his dream to become a doctor will remain unfulfilled when the war started. After the war started, Chikuraa tried to apply in different countries including England, France, and Germany, but as per the norm of these countries, he has to start over his medical studies.
University of Nis in Serbia has started to accept applications from students from Ukrainian universities. The university is providing medical education in English to students at the cost of 5,500 EUR per year. Chirukaa with 170 other students was in the first batch to get transferred to Serbia.
Among most of the affected students, there was a Saudi Arabian student, Shireen Rahmani. He has also witnessed the horrors of the wars. Shireen was considering the decision to move to Serbia before Russia invaded Ukraine. The horrors of the war helped her to strengthen her decision to move to Serbia for further studies. She said that the university helped her out by mentioning, “They really helped me – and not just with university matters, but also finding accommodation and adjusting to life in Serbia. That did me a lot of good.”
It has now been 10 months since Chirukaa moved to Serbia for his studies. So far, Chirukaa’s stay in Serbia has been pleasant; according to him, the university helped him out at every step. The members of the university helped each student migrate for medical studies from the application process to finding accommodation. The university has now seen hundreds of applications from students who were affected by the war.