Will Dowling, MD at Malvern House Ireland attended the fair and says the quality of the students exceeded his expectations.

“They were extremely interested in Ireland and the majority we spoke to were for looking for programmes for their kids,” he says. “There were a lot of families that attended.”

Kittiak’s observation is that potential market growth will depend on whether the conflict is resolved. “Every year there’s 15-20% growth in numbers of clients who go abroad to study,” she says. “We expect this year to grow as well but only if there is political stability will it be the way it was before or better.”

“We expect this year to grow as well but only if there is political stability will it be the way it was before or better”

Meanwhile, Buttumeir Ahmad, president of the Ukraine International Education Council says that there has been increased concern among prospective students who have contacted his organisation.

Over 64,000 foreign students are studying in Ukrainian universities, mostly from Asia, Lebanon and India. Undergraduate medical courses are the most popular among international students but engineering and information technologies are also attracting enrolments.

Some universities based in the capital city, including Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and the National Aviation University, have made special requests to the Ministry of the Interior  to provide security, Ahmad says.

“Except in central Kiev, the events have had no impact on foreign students in Ukraine”

“Except in central Kiev, the events have had no impact on foreign students in Ukraine,” underlines Ahmad, who adds that despite the attacks on government buildings, the Ministries of Education and Energy remain unharmed. “We understand that if these two ministries are disturbed, then the next 20 years will be disturbed for our country.”

Both Kolluri and Bernatska confirm that while the whole country is affected, the majority of the conflict is in isolated streets in Kiev.  “It’s not as bad as it looks in the media,” notes Baenatska.

From his visit last week, Dowling observed: “It was an incredible experience and eye opening for me personally. The media reports in Europe seem to be quite wrong in how they approach this. The truth is in there somewhere but it’s not really getting out.

“There are reports of masked men- I’d be wearing a mask as well if it was –20 degrees!” he added.

Kolluri of CIP is optimistic there will be an end to the conflict soon. “I think things have been very calm in the last week,” he said. “Everyone is positive it will bring change.”