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Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, lives in a permanent state of alert. Located 40 kilometers from the border with Russia, it is not always easy to stop the missiles and rockets launched by Russia. The most violent attack in recent weeks partially destroyed one of the buildings of a local university, Beketova, located approximately two kilometers from the largest of all higher schools in the region.
The University of Karazin was created in the Russian Empire, survived two world wars, witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine.
The largest university in eastern Ukraine is now experiencing yet another war in its history. This time, four of its buildings have already been bombed. With the border so close, there are no safe conditions for in-person classes, going back to the time of the pandemic.
The entire face-to-face operation is now concentrated in the central wing of the main building. A way of concentrating heating, not dispersing electricity and having centralized access to shelters.
Olena Muradyan, director of the faculty of sociology, is one of the minority of professors who still go to the facilities also for reasons of administrative coordination. “We have a lot of remote classes, but sometimes we have to meet with other faculty directors and so it makes sense to come here”he tells us in his office which now houses 4 more administrative staff.
War is a subject that is closely related to the topics covered in Sociology courses. The faculty even has students who attend remotely from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. “Talking about the situation is still difficult for many, not everyone is prepared to share their story, not least because there are students who lost family members in the war”adds this teacher.
On the same 4th floor, we attended an online economics class with 20 students. 20% of students are abroad and enter for example from Germany. They consider that, despite everything, remote classes are a way to keep in touch with their home country, but they all underline the desire to return home as soon as possible.
With no face-to-face students, almost no teachers, under the same circumstances, schools are the most affected public services in Kharkiv. The city has seen the return of more than 50% of its population, but lives in constant fear of a possible lethal air attack from Russia. Opening the map of the region, only the areas of the province closest to the Donbass still remain under Russian occupation.