Swansea Uni holds official welcome for Ukrainian students from partner university

Swansea University has welcomed its second group of Ukrainian students from Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University.

Swansea University has held countless events in order to show continued support for the country as a result of the invasion by Russian forces. In the latest event held by the university, Ukrainian students were given a warm and official welcome to South Wales and the university at a reception held on campus, where the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Boyle, as well as Universities UK addressed the students.

In his opening speech, Professor Boyle said: “We are very pleased to welcome you to Swansea. We hope you will play a full part in the life of the University. We hope soon that we can also welcome your lecturers, so that we can build our collaboration in teaching and research.”

Swansea University has a partnership with the Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University which is based in the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine. The new group of students were the second group of 16 to arrive from the university in Mykolaiv.

At the event, the students were joined by the previous group of Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University students, alongside other Ukrainian students now studying in Swansea.

Jamie Arrowsmith, Director of Universities UK International explained that universities in Ukraine “wanted support in enabling them to continue their work teaching students”. He also mentioned that the “twinning initiative came from that request and is aimed at building partnerships between the UK and Ukrainian universities for long term”.

The Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science, Professor Lisa Wallace also said: “Swansea University stands with the people of Ukraine, as the Vice Chancellor has underlined. We organised the event to show our Ukrainian students that they are a much-valued part of our university community, as well as to highlight the practical support available to them.

“We are proud to be an international university. Our Ukrainian students add to the richness and diversity of our campus community. We are fortunate to have them with us.”

Feature Image Credit: Swansea University

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