Stress‐Testing the “Universities Without Walls” Vision 2030: Lessons From Displaced Ukrainian Universities in Wartime

ABSTRACT Russia's full‐scale invasion forced dozens of Ukrainian universities to relocate, while some had to operate for extended periods without a stable campus. This study uses their experience as critical empirical cases to assess the applicability and analytical sufficiency of the European University Association's Universities Without Walls: A Vision for 2030. The empirical basis was a comprehensive audit of relocated universities conducted in 2024–2025. The article includes all 21 universities that were operating predominantly online at the time of the audit. The audit combined official and institutional data, monitoring of open sources, visits to new locations, and 21 group interviews with 179 members of university management teams; these materials were supplemented by a targeted analysis of strategies, missions and visions, and by SciVal bibliometric indicators. The findings show substantial but incomplete alignment between the practices of relocated universities and Vision 2030. The framework productively captures openness, organisational flexibility, transnational collaboration, societal engagement and autonomy, but its limitations become apparent where universities operate without a stable campus, under prolonged security constraints, and must adapt quality assurance and support academic communities. The observed alignment reflects practices developed in response to displacement rather than the deliberate implementation of Vision 2030.