The ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia has severely impacted the education of Indian medical students in Ukraine. To assist them, the Ukrainian government rolled out an academic mobility and transfer programme by way of which students can avail a transfer to another university.
However, a few medical students from Kerala who attended Kharkiv National Medical University claim that Makeway Education, an Indian agency which helped them with their admission into Ukraine universities, is withholding their transcript certificates. It is only with these certificates that the students can register for the transfer programme.
Even attempts to get the certificates directly from the university have yielded no result. The students allege that, despite sending multiple emails to the university administration, there was no response.
Sandhra, a fifth-year medical student, applied for the transfer programme and got accepted into Alte University, Georgia, in January 2022. Even after three months, she has been unable to attend the classes as she is yet to receive her transcripts. She is among many who are in a similar plight.
"We are yet to get a confirmation from Kharkiv University regarding the release of the transcript certificates. When we called the agent, he told us the university had sent him the transcripts. However, he is yet to forward that on. The agent has stopped returning our calls," Sandhra told The New Indian Express.
Even when students are unable to attend these classes, many have already paid 25% of the semester fees of the universities they were transferred to, which roughly amounts to $1,250.
Ukraine's academic mobility programme lets students temporarily relocate to universities in Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Slovakia, among others. However, when the conflict is over, students must return to their parent universities in Ukraine. The transfer programme, while offering the same, does not require students to return to their parent university in Ukraine.
"The agent is not answering our calls. The Ukrainian university has also not responded. The university in Georgia will only allow us to attend the class if we provide our transcript certificates. Because of the outbreak of war, we have already lost a whole semester. And if we don't get the transcript in time, we might lose another year," said Jasmine, a fifth-year medical student at Alte University in Georgia.
Shajas Shahal, the director of Makeway Education, could not be reached for comments.
