University without walls: Ukrainian-Australian reflections on the future of universities in a geopolitically unstable world

Type of the article: Reflexive PrefaceRussia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has challenged the conventional understanding of the university as an institution inherently tied to a fixed territory and campus infrastructure. This paper adopts a collaborative autoethnographic approach to reflect on how universities transform amid war, forced displacement, and prolonged instability. Drawing on the experience of Berdyansk State Pedagogical University after the occupation of its home city, as well as on reflections developed through Ukrainian–Australian academic dialogue during a series of public lectures and scholarly discussions in Australia in 2026, we examine the reconfiguration of academic life beyond territorial constraints. Rather than presenting results in the form of discrete empirical findings, the study develops a reflexive analytical account of how institutional continuity is sustained through mobility, distributed networks, and relational forms of coordination. The concept of the “university without walls” is advanced as a way of interpreting these transformations not merely as a temporary response to crisis, but as an emergent model of a post-territorial university. The analysis suggests that, under conditions of geopolitical disruption, the defining features of the university shift from physical infrastructure to relational capacities: trust, collaboration, and the ability to maintain academic community across dispersed contexts. By situating lived experience within a broader analytical framework, the paper contributes to ongoing debates on the future of higher education in a world marked by instability, inequality, and global interdependence.Acknowledgments Yana Sychikova and Igor Lyman express their sincere gratitude to their co-author Tim Winkler and the Future Campus team for organizing the symposium and supporting the research visit to Australia. The authors also thank Stephen Matchett for his support during their stay in Sydney and for his professional synthesis of the symposium discussions.The authors are grateful to Online Education Services (OES) for their sponsorship and for organizing a warm and welcoming meeting, as well as to the organizers of the Universities Australia Solutions Summit 2026 for covering the costs associated with attending the event.Special thanks are extended to Professor Maree Meredith, a proud representative of the Bidjara people, for organizing the cultural program and for her personal support during the visit to Australia.The authors also sincerely thank the University of Melbourne and the Faculty of Education, as well as the Dean of the Faculty, Professor Marek Tesar, for organizing the public lecture, the open academic dialogue, and the formal dinner that became an important part of this scholarly exchange.Finally, the authors express their deepest gratitude to the defenders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whose courage and sacrifice make it possible to continue academic work even in times of war.