Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences condemns Russia's hostilities and violations of international law in Ukraine and expresses its support for Ukraine and its higher education community together with other universities of applied sciences.
Haaga-Helia's principles include the promotion of international research and university cooperation. It's important for the university of applied sciences even in difficult circumstances as now.
However, Russia's hostilities in Ukraine have required exceptional action from the University of Applied Sciences. Among other things, Haaga-Helia has suspended all institutional cooperation with Russian and Belarusian actors. Future co-operation projects are also on hold for the time being.
Haaga-Helia also does not currently accept Russian exchange students, but current degree students can still continue their studies.
Together with other Finnish and foreign universities, Haaga-Helia seeks to influence the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and to support the Ukrainian people and institutions to the best of their ability.
Haaga-Helia's support to students and employees
For Haaga-Helia, it is a necessity that the peace of mind of the university of applied sciences community is maintained despite the deteriorating security situation in Europe.
Efforts have been made to strengthen peace at work and study, for example through various discussion events, where both students and employees have had the opportunity to unravel their thoughts.
There is also a strong network of professionals within Haaga-Helia, whose task is to take care of the well-being and resilience of students in particular. The network includes study counselors, a well-being expert, a psychiatric nurse, a study psychologist, and university chaplains.
When the situation is distressing, employees can also be in contact with occupational health care, and for the students help is available not only from Haaga-Helia's own welfare services and from the student union Helga, but also from the Finnish Student Health Service FSHS.
Ukrainian degree and exchange students and employees studying at the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences have been personally contacted to offer them support.
Haaga-Helia has emphasized in the communication that no one has to leave Finland and go to a country at war, even when their residence permit expires. Ukrainians studying at Haaga-Helia have the right to apply for asylum in Finland.
There are no students of Haaga-Helia in Ukraine or Belarus. Exchange students who have been to Russia have all returned back to Finland.
Community as a key value
Haaga-Helia has degree students and employees from Ukraine and Russia as well as from Russian backgrounds who are all equal members of its community and completely innocent of the escalation of the international situation.
Community is one of the core values of Haaga-Helia, which everyone is expected to respect. Haaga-Helia has zero tolerance for racism, which means that the university of applied sciences does not accept any discrimination or any other harassment against a person on the basis of, for example, his or her origin, nationality or language.
Donations by Haaga-Helia
Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences has donated 10,000 euros to the victims of the Ukrainian war. The funds have been channeled through Unicef for the benefit of Ukrainian children and paid from the investment and business income of Haaga-Helia.
Learn more about the donation:
Haaga-Helia offers Summer studies for Ukrainians
The Ukrainian higher education system is built on traditional universities, so the interest and contacts of Ukrainian university students and those who want to become students are mainly directed to Finnish universities.
However, the Ministry of Education and Culture has planned to distribute study opportunities equally among universities and universities of applied sciences. This is why Haaga-Helia offers summer studies for Ukrainians who have arrived in Finland.
Four different English-language summer implementations can currently be found in the Study Path and each of them is intended for Ukrainian refugees in Finland.
The summer implementations are:
For each course, a total of 100 places have been reserved for Ukrainians. The registration period begins on April 20th and ends on May 12th, 2022. The studies are organized between May 23rd, 2022, and July 8th, 2022.
Haaga-Helia’s implementations held in the summer will be part of the so-called Ukraine package organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
The package will include various ways to integrate Ukrainian students into the Finnish higher education system. Also, other actions are planned and will be announced later this year.
How to enroll in a course
Enrolling in the course is made easy. Instructions:
1. Get acquainted with the studies.
2. Enrol by submitting the e-form
and verify your eligibility for free-of-charge studies by attaching an image or scanned document of
- the decision of temporary protection OR
- your residence permit card
3. If you haven’t received the decision of temporary protection or you don’t have a residence permit card, please attach a copy of your Ukrainian passport.
4. You will receive information about the studies and studying in Haaga-Helia after the enrolment has ended.
Do you have questions about the studies or enrolment? Please contact us by email: openuas(at)haaga-helia.fi
