Ukrainians strive to maintain their daily routines despite the ongoing war. But what is the reality of being a lecturer during such tumultuous times? Do young people still want to study journalism? Three Ukrainian academics share with us their insights and experience.
When Students Become Professionals
On April 1, 2022, online classes resumed at the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, where I was teaching the courses “Social and Cultural Journalism” and “Event Marketing” at the time.
I was lucky enough to see the students of this group live at the beginning of the academic year, in September 2021, because then classes resumed for about a month after the quarantine.
In April 2022, I found myself in Krakow, at Jagiellonian University, where I was given the opportunity to work and go online to conduct classes.
Students were in different cities at that moment.
One was under fire in Dergachi.
The others were in Ukraine (Sloviansk, Kharkiv), Poland, Canada, Germany, etc.
I didn’t know how to start, so I decided to tell them: We will meet online, I will be here on a schedule so that we feel connected. In one of the groups, I was told that there was no connection with a girl from Mariupol. I turned to the activists’ chats, who told me that terrible things were happening in the city and that they were unlikely to look for anyone in particular.
In one of the groups, I was told that there was no connection with a girl from Mariupol.
Later, they said that the girl had gotten in touch. One student was in Sloviansk, and when I asked her where she had been “flown to”, she tried to cheerfully say that it was where the train station was, it was not my neighbourhood.
From the first days of the full-scale invasion, I saw students from previous years, who had worked on cultural journalism or decision journalism, put on helmets and start working as journalists in the war.
Vasylisa Stepanenko, Artem Lystopad, Vitalii Zalevskyi – I remember them back in the pre-quarantine period in my classes. Now they are experienced journalists who help people from all over the world learn about the war in Ukraine.
In the group of master’s students at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, to whom I taught the course “Event Management and PR in Digital Media” in the first semester of 2022–2023, one volunteered for the front. In May 2022, one of the master’s students of my group escaped from the occupation in Zaporizhzhia region, where the occupiers took away her father’s business.
The next 2022–2023 academic year began in a similar mode. Ukrainian students from different cities and countries got in touch. I had groups of various levels at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Among the part-time students of the KhNU master’s programme, there was one military man who contacted me almost from the field. I received telegram messages from 3 students saying that they were performing tasks in the occupation, in the Zaporizhzhia region, so they could not connect, and if they did, they said that the time had changed according to the Russian regime.
I received telegram messages from 3 students saying that they were performing tasks in the occupation.
Student Enrollment During War
The statistics on enrollment in journalism has not changed. Young people want to study journalism because it is one of the ways to counter Russian propaganda and information warfare.
Among the students are Internally Displaced People who came to our rear region from the occupied and frontline territories. There are students who live in the occupied territories and are unable to leave – they study remotely. This is difficult because of the poor quality of the Internet connection in the territory where they live.
One student similarly came from occupied Kherson to defend her bachelor’s thesis, which posed a threat to her safety. Four months later, the city was liberated, and she went to serve in the Armed Forces.
One student similarly came from occupied Kherson to defend her bachelor’s thesis, which posed a threat to her safety.
There are graduate-journalists who are fighting on the front line (the editor of the local TV channel C4, journalists of the local website “Young Bukovynian”). One of our graduates went missing and eventually managed to escape from the encirclement. A soldier who was demobilised due to injury returned from the war and entered journalism. In January of this year, a graduate of our master’s programme went to war. Andrii Hrechaniuk, a teacher of the department, is fighting.
Students became volunteers. They weave camouflage nets and organise actions to support the front.
Students became volunteers. They weave camouflage nets and organise actions to support the front.
There is a volunteer centre at the university. Our graduate, an immigrant from Mariupol, works at the All-Ukrainian Volunteer Headquarters for the Defense of Ukraine. The city is overcrowded with IDPs – they make up 15% of the population. Due to problems with their accommodation, two student dormitories had to be given to them for living. As a result, only students of the 1st–3rd years of study were able to settle in and study full-time. The rest have to study remotely.
The city is overcrowded with IDPs – they make up 15% of the population. Due to problems with their accommodation, two student dormitories had to be given to them for living.
Because of the war, all tender purchases at the university have stopped, so it is difficult to organise the educational process – there is a lack of paper, printer refills, etc. Teachers are purchasing these things on their own.
Tracking the Triumphs
The Department of Culturology and Media Communications (until 2022–2023 Department of Journalism) at Kharkiv State Academy of Culture.
061 Journalism
In 2022, 19 students received bachelor’s degrees in journalism (16 studied under the programme “Social and Cultural Journalism and 3 under the programme “Advertising and public relations in the socio-cultural sphere”). In 2023, 33 students received bachelor’s degrees in journalism (20 studied under the programme “Social and Cultural Journalism and 13 under the programme “Advertising and public relations in the socio-cultural sphere”).
In 2024, 7 students from “Social and Cultural Journalism” and 5 from “Advertising and Public Relations in the Social and Cultural Sphere” will graduate.
Graduate achievements:
Vasilisa Stepanenko (BA in Journalism, Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, 2021) is a Ukrainian independent journalist and video producer. She worked at the Kharkiv Post newspaper, as a producer and presenter at Simon TV channel. Since January 2022, she has been working with the Associated Press. From the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she and her colleagues covered the brutal siege of Mariupol (violations of human rights and social justice). The team, which included Vasylisa Stepanenko, created the documentary 20 Days in Mariupol, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2023. The film had its international premiere at the Sundance International Independent Film Festival in January 2023, where it won the Audience Award. The Ukrainian premiere of the film took place at the Docudays UA festival in Kyiv. In 2024, the film won an Oscar in 2024 for the Best Documentary Feature.
Artem Lystopad (bachelor’s degree in journalism 2021, master’s degree in journalism at Kharkiv State Academy of Culture 2023) started his career as a student. He worked as a journalist at BezBrekhnya; Objective. News (2018–2022), worked for 1+1, and until February 2022, he worked with JEDAI, an information and entertainment program without politics and economics on the 2+2 channel. Since June 2022, he has been working as a journalist at the Lithuanian TV3 televizija channel.
Vitalii Zalevskyi (Bachelor of Journalism, Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, 2022) is a correspondent for Channel 5.
Alyona Rudenko (Master of Journalism, 2022), since the fall of 2022, has been working as a TV journalist at the City Information Service in Kamianske, Dnipro region.
Oksana Dmytrenko (Master of Journalism 2022), in 2022–2023 worked with the Ukrainian Weekly.
Daria Vizir (MA in Journalism 2023), worked at Channel 9 in Dnipro until the end of 2023.
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