Four years of full-scale war.
1,461 days of struggle.
1,461 mornings that begin not with silence, but with air-raid alerts.
24 February 2022 – the date that forever divided our lives into “before” and “after”. The day when the full-scale invasion reshaped destinies, plans, and the very notion of security. The day when the country awoke to explosions and would never again fall asleep as it once had.
Education did not stop. It transformed while preserving its profound mission. For 1,461 days we have been proving: the quality of education is not about buildings. It is about people. About responsibility. About dignity. About support.
Higher education institutions continue to operate under air-raid alerts. Accreditation procedures proceed despite power outages. Teaching goes on even when lecturers must interrupt a class with the words: “We are heading to the shelter.” We are learning to be more flexible, more digital, more mobile. We are rebuilding quality assurance systems, updating standards, and strengthening academic integrity, because the war will not break us or our aspirations.
On the contrary.
In times of trial, quality becomes a sign of our resilience.
We see students grow up overnight. We see lecturers become not only mentors but pillars of support. We see universities transform into spaces of strength, where knowledge is also a form of resistance.
We are consciously moving towards the standards, principles, and values shared by the European community. This is part of our identity – one that is being attacked but cannot be destroyed.
24 February 2022 – the day that changed everything.
But it did not change what matters most – our faith.
Faith in students who sit their exams between air-raid alerts and create their own history of resilience.
Faith in lecturers who cultivate critical thinking even in the darkest times.
Faith in universities that remain centres of light.
Faith that quality is our internal front.
1,461 days of struggle are 1,461 days of responsibility.
And we continue to work. Because education during war is not merely a process. It is an act of struggle for freedom, dignity, and the future.