The Global Invisible University (GIU), launched by Central European University (CEU) last month, transforms a temporary program for Ukrainian students fleeing Russia’s invasion into a lasting initiative for scholars and students worldwide who face war, repression, or displacement. The initiative builds on the Invisible University for Ukraine (IUFU), established in 2022, which provided credit-bearing courses to displaced learners across Europe and beyond.
Carsten Q Schneider, CEU’s interim president, described the GIU as an extension of the university’s founding mission to defend academic freedom and open societies. “We are proud to make GIU a permanent part of CEU’s educational mission,” he stated, highlighting its role in ensuring that talented students and scholars can continue their studies despite crises.
The program draws on the IUFU’s achievements, which enrolled over 3,000 students since 2022 through 450 instructors. Courses cover academic writing, psychological support, and civic engagement, with an emphasis on dialogue rather than one-way instruction. This approach challenges conventional narratives and encourages critical debate among participants.
Bridging Conflicting Narratives Across Regions
Early feedback from the IUFU revealed that Ukrainian students initially struggled to connect with narratives from the Balkans, where scholars framed conflicts differently. Balázs Trencsényi, a historian and co-founder of the IUFU, noted that Ukrainian students often found discussions of their war as an “ethnic conflict” unsettling, particularly when paired with claims about unpunished war criminals. To address this, CEU introduced comparative courses such as “Belarus-Lithuania-Poland-Ukraine: Polycentric Narratives and Legacies” and “Post-Empire Transformations: Georgia and Ukraine in Comparative Perspective”. These classes explored how shared historical traumas—such as Soviet rule—could either unite or divide students.
Balkan students, for instance, pointed out how rare cross-border educational programs had been since Yugoslavia’s collapse, emphasizing that virtual spaces could bridge gaps left by political divisions. Trencsényi characterized the GIU’s method as “permanent dialogue,” where confrontation and debate lead to new insights. The program’s flexible design, shaped by student input, has included summer schools in Budapest and Lviv, where face-to-face interactions deepened discussions on topics like liberal nationalism and post-Soviet identity. Participants represented diverse ideological views, from pro-Western nationalists to anti-communist leftists, ensuring no single narrative dominated.
One ongoing challenge involved reconciling national histories with self-criticism. Initially, Ukrainian students resisted discussions of Russian history, viewing them as irrelevant. Over time, however, they shifted their stance, demanding a historical account that acknowledged imperial legacies without erasing Ukrainian agency. As Trencsényi explained, “We want to understand them, but we want to do it on our own terms, taking into account that Ukraine is not just a periphery of the Russian (or Polish or Hapsburg) cultural space.”
Credit-Bearing Courses and Trauma-Informed Support
The GIU’s credit-bearing courses, now a permanent part of CEU’s offerings, align with the Bologna Process, allowing students to integrate them into degrees at universities across 49 European countries. Each of the 11 current courses enrolls between 70 and 150 participants, balancing depth with accessibility. Beyond academic content, the program provides English-language writing workshops, mentorship, and a graduate-level track, alongside psychological support for students dealing with trauma. These services, introduced during the IUFU’s early phase, address emotional needs while maintaining academic rigor.
The program’s structure accommodates displaced scholars through remote access or CEU’s campuses in Budapest and Lviv. Summer and winter schools, hosting 50 to 60 students each, support in-person debates on topics like liberal nationalism in the former Soviet space. These gatherings highlight the program’s ideological diversity, from pro-Western Georgian nationalists to anti-communist leftists, all engaging without a prescribed narrative. Trencsényi emphasizes that the aim is to encourage critical thinking and debate rather than enforce a single perspective. “The aim of our courses is to make the students think and learn how to debate in a productive way.”
