Bard College and Bard College Berlin Announce Emergency Eurasian Student Refuge Program

Bard College and Bard College Berlin announce a scholarship program to support 40 Eurasian students who are displaced and unable to continue their education due to the Russian regime’s ongoing 2022 invasion of Ukraine and its impact on the region. The Bard Emergency Eurasian Student Refuge Program is aimed at individuals from countries neighboring Ukraine impacted by the war and is designed primarily to allow students to begin or continue their undergraduate education. Students will be admitted to Bard College Berlin, as well as Bard College’s main campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, its affiliates in New York City, and Bard College at Simon’s Rock. This initiative is in addition to the Bard Emergency Ukrainian Student Refuge Program for students from Ukraine.

These scholarships are open to university students from Eurasia who have lost access to higher education due to displacement following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Students from Bard’s former partners in Russia, first and foremost Smolny College, will be able to complete educational programs disrupted when Bard was declared an “undesirable” organization and a threat to Russia’s constitutional order. Many students are now displaced due to their opposition to the ongoing war and as a result of a broad assault on liberal arts and sciences education that is taking place in Russia today. Priority consideration will be given to individuals who have participated in actions against the war on Ukraine and/or who are under demonstrable threat from their government. 

Select applicants will be considered for the spring 2023 semester, however the principal start of the Bard Emergency Eurasian Student Refuge Program will be the fall 2023 semester. Applications will be accepted through December 16, 2022. Russian nationals must be outside of the Russian Federation at the time of application. The terms of the scholarship will vary, but each will cover a minimum of full tuition. Click here or email [email protected] for more information. 

The program builds off of previous Bard efforts to support refugee scholars and students.  Bard College Berlin has welcomed more than 50 displaced students through its Program on International Education for Social Change, most of them from Syria. Last year, Bard committed to welcoming 100 Afghan students after the Taliban takeover of the country and this summer Bard College Berlin took in 12 refugee students from Ukraine. The Bard Emergency Ukrainian Student Refuge Program will provide scholarships to an additional 60 Ukrainian students. 

Post Date: 12-14-2022