The invasion of Ukraine last week by the Russian State and the escalating levels of military action since are resulting in terrible suffering for the people in Ukraine and are horrifying for the rest of us around the world to witness.
For our staff and students who are Ukraine nationals, or for anyone who has family or friends there, this is an incredibly worrying time. Our thoughts are with them, and with anyone else affected by this, including our Russian staff and students, who bear no responsibility for this war and many of whom are bravely speaking out to condemn it.
The University of Greenwich is proud to be an international university and to be a home to students and staff from across the world. We are all part of a community at Greenwich that supports each other in times of need.
Our priority at this time is to support members of our community who are Ukraine nationals or have family or friends there, and we have been in direct contact with anyone who may be directly impacted with details of support available to them. We also want to offer our support to our wider community who we know are also very concerned about the situation. We have support services available for any of our students and staff that need them, the details of which can be found along with all university advice and information related to the Ukraine situation here.
In the coming weeks, we will be holding regular drop-in sessions on all three campuses, as a way for our community to come together and stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We will share details of these on the link above too.
For anyone wishing to donate to Ukraine, the latest advice is that the best way to help is by donating to the Disasters and Emergencies Committees’ (DEC) new appeal. They have announced today that they have brought together all of the humanitarian charities fundraising for Ukraine in their biggest ever coordinated appeal and the UK Government have confirmed that they will match fund the donations, pound for pound, to a total of £20 million.
We will continue to update our advice and support pages on the Ukraine section on our portal for staff and students, and we will be working closely with colleagues across the wider UK university sector to maximise our efforts and support for everyone affected.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out if we can help in any way and please continue to look out for each other.
Professor Jane Harrington
Vice-Chancellor
