The National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL) and the National Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK) have received financing of EUR 85 000 from The Centre for Peace Mediation of the Finish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the establishment of a Students at Risk grant scheme. The goal of the project is to provide the students working as human rights defenders, who are denied the right to education or other human rights, due to their activities in their own country, an opportunity to continue their studies at a Finnish higher education institution. The aim of this programme is to promote academic freedom among international students and to support the priorities of Finland's human rights policies.

For the management of the scheme, SYL and SAMOK will establish the Students at Risk association, which will coordinate the launch of the pilot call.

There are already similar national schemes supporting students at risk like the Hilde Domin Programme in Germany, Students at Risk in Norway, and programmes for Ukrainian and Belarusian students in Poland, as well as an ongoing call for establishing such a scheme at a European level.

More information about the Finish programme (in Finnish) is available here.