DePaul University is helping Ukrainian college students stay in class, even during war.
GianMario Besana, Associate Provost for global Engagement and Online Learning at DePaul University, told WBBM over a Zoom call on Sunday, "we have a relationship with Ukrainian Catholic University in western Ukraine."
That school, and others, then reached out to DePaul when the war started.
"We scrambled," Besana said, "and we reached out to the...faculty members. We had an initial list that had about 65 classes and then matching our availability with the interest of the Ukrainian students we ended up with (more than forty) classes and about 100 Ukrainian students."
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The Ukrainian students are taking the online classes at DePaul free of charge.
Besana said the program is also good for the students here in Chicago.
"They're super honored. They have responded with the usual grace in dealing with these students and they are telling us they greatly appreciate the opportunity to put a concrete name and face and personal story behind what they hear on the news."
And Besana said it's also meant to help Ukraine when the war is over saying all those involved are "Very carefully not causing brain-drain from the country and trying to keep the students there to be ready for when the reconstruction time will come to have this generation of young men and women to be the spine of the reconstruction."