For about two decades, Ukraine has become a student destination for Ecuadorians who want to study in another country, but perhaps do not have the resources to go to the more traditional destinations, since it offers an accessible lifestyle, opportunities and the experience of knowing a culture between the two sides of Europe. Although now with the Russian invasion the Ecuadorian students have had to leave.
According to information from programs that connect Ecuadorians with universities there, the costs of studying a degree start at around 900 dollars per semester, in addition to around 200 dollars a month you can live.
The careers they seek the most are engineering, those related to aviation, as well as medicine. Then others that many times in the country or in the Latin American region do not exist, since Ukraine since the times of the Soviet Union has been a scientific center and that culture of developing science remained and that caused interesting careers to be created. And he went to Kiev and other cities, and the first year was dedicated to leveling up and learning the language.
From young people with few resources who go with the support of their family or communities – for example, indigenous communities – to the upper middle segment. They seek studies in Ukraine and also in Russia. In addition to the experience of living in a country where the people are friendly and right now the majority who leave are worried about what will happen to their studies and how things will continue to develop in that country for those who liked their stay or they even stayed after finishing their studies.
The latter is the case of Joshua Pinzón, who arrived in Ukraine in October 2012 and after finishing his studies in microelectronics engineering, he stayed as a resident making his life there and went back to study economics and finance and then an MBA, in addition to learning Ukrainian. and Russian.
“I met the love of my life, who is Ukrainian, and we made the decision to get married in 2018,” says Pinzón, who says he has some small businesses of his own.
Now, at 26, due to the invasion, she decided to go out with her -local- partner, who is pregnant, and is on her way to Brussels (Belgium).
“I had a very nice life, with opportunities, trips, everything calm… (now) the Ukrainian community has come together a lot, even we are always sending information to people who come to our cities, giving contacts to help people… We have seen the love that people have for the country,” says Pinzón, who adds that he gets up every day and sees that there is more destruction and more deaths, and he cannot help crying for a country where he has lived since he was 17 years old. , and believes that the Ukrainian people do not want to be dominated by Putin and that is why they will fight to the end.
Javier Donoso (37 years old) is another Ecuadorian, from Quito, who went to study and stayed and started a family, now he affirms that they are still at home “all together”.
In a previous publication Donoso, who has lived in Kiev since 2008 and works as a representative and tutor for students from Latin America at AlfaZeta International Education – through which it had about 45 students in different universities in Kiev – said it has collaborated to get students out. Many of them told him that they want to get out of this situation and return to continue their studies, but there were also others who were already totally returning to Ecuador.
Donoso also expressed that in his ten years working with students, those who went to do undergraduate or postgraduate careers in Ukraine did so especially in medicine and technical careers such as electronics, mechanics and aeronautics.
Ricardo Gómez is another Ecuadorian, from Guayaquil, who lives in Ukraine, he first went to study, fell in love and returned to Guayaquil with his wife, but at the end of the previous year he returned to Ukraine fleeing from the dangers of the city, but now, Due to the situation, it is in Warsaw (Poland).
“I lived (first) in Ukraine from 2004 to 2009, there I met my wife and she came with me and four years ago we decided to make changes and return to Ukraine… When I came in 2004 I was in Vinnytsia, three and a half hours by train from Kiev. It was very different, to begin with I was from the first batch of Ecuadorians they brought… and it was cool because it drew more attention to the girls, but there was also a little more racism than now -friends of his had certain episodes-”, he says. Gómez, who comments that in the capital he meets Ecuadorians at his work call centerespecially since students are allowed to work part time.
More or less at the same time that he studied there was also Paúl Espinosa, who arrived in 2006 to study medicine until 2011, in Vinnytsia.
“Currently I live in Ecuador and with other former students who lived in Ukraine we organize a support chat that has served to help our compatriots to leave the country in conflict,” says Espinosa, who adds that the chat experience was wonderful, since they were able to help several groups – “more than 100 Ecuadorians” – reach the borders and in The chat found official information, including a colleague who lived in Ukraine who now works at the Foreign Ministry gave them personalized guidance to cross.
He remembers Ukraine as a beautiful country, although when he arrived the culture shock was strong due to the language, the climate and the food. “Personally it did not meet my expectations, the academic level was good, but (at that time) we were divided by foreigners and Ukrainians, which made education better for Ukrainians and not so good for foreigners. But in other universities they did mix them and it was better for the language… the first six months were hard, for various reasons: the first time I lived alone and in a different country where I didn’t know the language well, then I got used to it and I liked it living there is a mix between Western European culture and Soviet culture and that was interesting”, he says.
They all hope that the situation will improve soon, as Ukraine is special to them. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
