Mentoring scheme launches to support Ukrainian students

A new mentoring and financial aid scheme will support Ukrainian art students and universities.

The UAx Platform, launched at the Tate Modern, is a partnership between the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA), the Abakanowicz Arts and Culture Foundation and an international network of 280 higher arts education institutions.

It will offer war-affected students and staff wishing to stay in Ukraine a network of mentor schemes and institutional partnerships with European universities, as well as an emergency bursary fund for students in severe need.

ELIA has put its largest ever financial grant towards the programme.

The platform will include a "Sister School" network, which in its first year will consist of partnerships between five Ukrainian universities and five institutions in Germany, Estonia, Poland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. 

By year three, 15 Ukrainian institutions will become partnered and fully subsidised ELIA members for three years, with access to its networks, resources, programming and other opportunities.

“The need of the higher arts education sector in Ukraine was clear. They did not need an evacuation. They needed support to keep the institutions alive. Support to allow students to keep studying and support to help these young artists keep making art,” ELIA Executive Director Maria Hansen said.