Universities suspend cooperation with Russia and Belarus

Press release from Universities Denmark, Tuesday 1 March:

Danish Universities suspend cooperation with Russia and Belarus.

The Danish universities condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is an unprovoked attack on a western democracy and thus also an attack on the values at the core of modern European states.

The Danish universities want to express support for the people of Ukraine and researchers and students there. They are facing a very grave and difficult situation.

Today the Danish Government has asked the Danish universities to suspend cooperation with Russia and Belarus.

Thus, the Danish universities have decided to suspend all bilateral institutional cooperation with Russia and Belarus in innovation, education, and research. It entails but is not limited to suspending the exchange of students and scientific personnel going forward. Also, researchers employed by the Danish universities cannot attend scientific conferences in Russia and Belarus

The Danish universities want to promote peace and protect individuals affected by the war in Ukraine. The Danish universities wish to emphasize that to us, there is a clear distinction between the state of Russia and the citizens of Russia. We want to offer our support to both staff and students from Ukraine as well as Belarus and Russia.

The Danish universities wish to show our solidarity with Ukraine. They will seek support among the European Universities to cooperate on supportive measures that may help students and university staff in Ukraine.

The rectors of the Danish universities:

Anders Bjarklev, Technical University of Denmark

Per Michael Johansen, Aalborg University

Henrik C. Wegener, University of Copenhagen

Brian Bech Nielsen, Aarhus University

Jens Ringsmose, University of Southern Denmark

Hanne Leth Andersen, Roskilde University

Inger Askehave, Copenhagen Business School

Jens Christian Godskesen, IT-University of Copenhagen