SSE Riga Rector Anders Paalzow:
“Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine. SSE Riga staff and students right now are very focused on trying to provide immediate help to our Ukrainian students and their families. We will support them.” 



Message by Lars Strannegård
President, Stockholm School of Economics

24 February, 2022

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a serious violation of international law and has created a very uncertain geopolitical situation. The human suffering that the invasion entails will be extensive. It is my great hope that the Russian troops will be withdrawn and that the attacks will end soon.

The Stockholm School of Economics’ sister organizations SSE Riga and SSE Russia are particularly affected. Our Ukrainian students and program participants are now given extra support. Teaching elements at SSE Russia, where the international faculty is involved, will be located outside of Russia until the Russian aggression against Ukraine ceases. 

SSE Riga has been operating in Latvia since 1994 and SSE Russia in Russia since 1997. Ever since their inception over a quarter of a century ago, the purpose of the activities has been to conduct science-based education with academic virtues as a basis: truth-seeking, open dialogue, rigorous argumentation, intellectual courage and the will to learn from others.

The Stockholm School of Economics' values ​​are expressed in the School’s educational mission, which is abbreviated to FREE. We want our students to develop into free-thinking individuals who seek facts and are scientifically based in their decisions. They should be reflective and self-aware, empathetic and culturally literate, and entrepreneurial and responsible.

It is this educational mission that accompanies all of SSE’s activities, including SSE Russia. These fundamental academic values ​​are today more important than ever, and at a time when serious abuses are taking place in Ukraine we should do our utmost not to lose these values ​​in a Russian context. After 25 years of presence in Russia, we believe that it is important, insofar as it will be possible given the precarious situation in the region, to continue to run our education there. It is my conviction that knowledge, science, and education are lights that must continue to shine in a world that is now darkening.