Thank you for backing the Academic Support Program for Displaced Ukrainian Students

Due to unforeseen circumstances accompanying current international conflicts, there are many Ukrainian citizens who have been forced to take refuge from their home country where they were pursuing higher education. Keio has also been working to promote discussions that raise support for Ukraine and move forwards to preserve world order in a transnational framework.For example, Keio University, as a key member of the international association of universities known as the U7+ alliance,signed an official statement with 21 other universities on March 18, 2022 about the situation.

Keio University is founded upon the principles laid out in Yukichi Fukuzawa’s “Encouragement of Learning” as an institution of learning meant to provide students holding very different backgrounds from all over the world with rich educational opportunities. This includes a humanitarian approach taken by the university during both the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Kumamoto earthquakes. Keio University has worked toward the creation of various support systems and resources for current students and other disaster victims who face physical and psychological adversity. Keio’s efforts have involved fundraising, dispatching the “Keio University Medical Relief Team,” and other projects that coordinate the support and donations of Keio alumni and related groups.

Currently, as the university aims to train the leaders of the whole society, one of its most important tasks is to foster a “campus environment where no one is left behind.” Keio University believes that “support should not be limited to current students or the borders of Japan, but should move forward into the global sphere of influence.” Keio has therefore established the “Academic Support Program for Displaced Ukrainian Students” to fulfill this mission and provide a place for Ukrainian students who have been deprived of their right to an education, even if only in the interim. When discussions to prepare for this program were underway with other Japanese universities and Pathways Japan, Keio discovered that, while multiple other universities were willing to accept undergraduate students, there were few opportunities for graduate students. Thus, Keio University, in cooperation with Pathways Japan, hopes to support Ukrainian students by hosting graduate students as “visiting international students.”

In order to promote this initiative, we require both material and moral support and are asking for your aid and cooperation so that we may assist as many displaced students as it is in our power to help.
Thank you.

Overview

Number of Positions:	Approximately 5
Eligibility:	Those who wish to enroll at one of Keio University’s graduate schools (who already hold at least a BA).
Student status:	Visiting International Student In principle, this program is open to students who wish to enroll at a graduate school of Keio University. This program requires that students spend 6 months to one year preparing for school, pass the necessary entrance examinations, and go on to complete their master’s degree.
Program begins:	September, 2022
Assistance details:	Academic Fees and Expenses, stipends for traveling to Japan/living expenses (100,000 yen per month), free dormitory or housing, etc.

Fundraising Overview

・Fundraising target:	50 million yen
・Deadline:	until March 31, 2023
・Donations sent to:	Keio University Educational Enhancement Fund