Admitted to study, prevented from travelling
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It is spring 2022. I am 25 years old. I am sitting on the sofa in my studio apartment in Espoo, holding my laptop. My heart is pounding as I read my email: ‘Congratulations, you have been admitted to the University of Helsinki!’ The three-year struggle with applications is now behind me! The worst is over.
It is October 2025. Hassan Herzallah is 21 years old. There is a tent, a generator running on solar panels and, when the sun shines, electricity. ‘Congratulations, you have been admitted to the University of Helsinki as an exchange student!’
For students from the third countries, getting admitted to study does not depend only on the application process itself but also on whether they are actually able to travel to the place the campus is located in. Residence permits and travel documents may constitute insurmountable obstacles.
Hassan is a writer and journalist who reaches his audience through the internet (as long as there is electricity and the internet is working). Israeli troops prevent the freedom of movement in Palestine, and the infrastructure has been greatly damaged in the war of aggression. As a result, getting his travel documents from the consulate in Tel Aviv or Ramallah in the West Bank in order to get to Finland has proved impossible.
Internationality has become an ideal for the academic community – and for good reason. Multivoiced and global scientific cooperation expedites development and broadens our understanding. The academic community also has an important duty to give a voice to oppressed people in a world that is becoming increasingly inequal. With Israel having bombed the higher education institutions in Gaza, reducing them all to rubble, does the international academic community have a duty to support Palestinian research and higher education studies? We believe it does.
Supporting global mobility is also work for peace, and we must foster it as an educational institution. All students are equally valuable. Conflicts should not prevent anyone from moving towards their dreams, learning new things, learning about other people and a world without oppressed or oppressive states.
Academic freedom constitutes the freedom of university teachers and students to teach, study, conduct research and acquire information without unreasonable interventions or restrictions imposed by institutional regulations or public pressure. Too rarely is global mobility addressed as part of this issue. Members of academia have very different opportunities in different places around the world depending on the relations their home countries have with Western nations. There are resources to aid researchers working in challenging conditions, such as the Scholars at Risk network. Where are the similar resources for students? Every researcher was first a student.
The National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL) and the National Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK) launched the Students at Risk project aimed at helping students in crisis areas. However, the unions had to discontinue the project due to lack of predictable funding. With the rise of global inequality and conflicts, genuine academic freedom requires resources to support students in challenging situations, much like the University of Helsinki has done by aiding students from Ukraine. If we would invest in structures like Students at Risk and offer support for student mobility in areas where it faces the most challenges, could Hassan Herzallah get to start his studies in Finland sooner?
Nikola Eerola
Member of the Board
Helmiina Toivo
Member of the Board
Further reading on Hassan’s situation:
https://voima.fi/artikkeli/2025/gazan-ja-helsingin-valissa/
https://www.hbl.fi/2026-02-03/studieplats-i-helsingfors-men-hassan-21-sitter-fast-i-gaza/
https://newlinesmag.com/writers/hassan-herzallah/
Hassan’s own Substack:
https://hassan7erzallah.substack.com/
