Accommodation at Točná helped Ukrainian families of VŠE students find temporary housing in the Czech Republic.

Accommodation at Točná helped Ukrainian families of VŠE students find temporary housing in the Czech Republic. 

From the very beginning of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the Prague University of Economics and Business has shown an active and solidarity attitude toward Ukrainians who find themselves in a challenging and dangerous situation. In response to this crisis, VŠE launched a pilot aid project to provide concrete support to those affected. 

As part of this project, VŠE immediately made its accommodation capacity available at its training center in Točná to provide free accommodation to the relatives of Ukrainian students studying at VŠE. In total, VŠE actively cared for 25 Ukrainian women and children who had to flee their homes from the threat of war and seek safety in another country. Thanks to this initiative, VŠE was able to provide these people with a roof over their heads and the opportunity to survive the worst times in safety on the territory of the Czech Republic. 

VŠE also provided intensive Czech language courses to the relatives of the Ukrainian students, which enabled most of them to find work and thus provide for themselves and their families. In this way, VŠE helped them integrate temporarily into their new environment and build a temporary new basis for their lives. 

It was also important that the children of the accommodated Ukrainian families were not forced to interrupt their education because of the war. Thanks to the high-quality internet connection that VŠE provided to the housed refugees in its training center, it was possible to continue their schooling and education in their original Ukrainian schools as part of online learning. This allowed them to maintain continuity in their mother tongue education even when away from home. 

During the first half of 2023, when the situation in Ukraine had relatively stabilized, Ukrainians gradually began to return to their homeland, to their homes. The last residents left the Czech Republic on 30 June, 2023. We firmly believe that when they returned home, they managed to find the safety of their families and friends who could not leave the country and had to stay in Ukraine. 

With this project, VŠE proved that it is a socially responsible higher education institution that emphasizes solidarity and care for those in need. VŠE was able and willing to respond quickly to the humanitarian crisis and effectively helped those in need overcome a challenging period.