Books for Friends – Ukrainian partner university welcomes books from donation project

Bücher aus Ukraine-Spendenprojekt Books for Friends

Eight parcels containing up-to-date literature for research and teaching have arrived at the library of our partner university, Chernihiv Polytechnical National University (CPNU) in Ukraine. The funds for the approximately 80 books came from the “Books for Friends” fundraising campaign. Staff, partner companies and alumni of the university, as well as guests at the 2025 graduation ceremony, had donated over 6,000 euros for this purpose by January 2026. The donated titles had been specifically requested by lecturers at CPNU. CPNU is delighted with this “valuable treasure” of books representing the “gold standard of global scholarship”.

Support for Ukraine, which has been suffering under Russia’s war of aggression for more than four years, takes many different forms. In this case, it takes the form of many thousands of pages of valuable knowledge contained in up-to-date specialist publications, which are now available to students, lecturers and researchers at Chernihiv Polytechnical National University (CPNU) for learning, teaching and research.

The university sent the books to its partner institution in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, at the beginning of August. They were purchased using donations raised during last year’s fundraising campaign for CPNU: staff, partner companies, alumni of the university and guests at the 2025 graduation ceremony had contributed around 6,000 euros.

The team of the donation campaign (from left): Dr. Oleksandr Velihorskyi, Barbara Wieners-Horst (Alumni-Büro), Joachim Linden (Bibliothek)

With the help and expertise of the university library in Sankt Augustin, this money was used over a period of several months to purchase the required books, some of which were highly specialised. The collection comprises modern specialist literature in fields including computer science, mechanical engineering, business administration, architecture, marketing, communication and psychology. The CPNU is now delighted with this ‘valuable treasure’ from the ‘gold standard of global scholarship’.

After it took some time to clarify important issues relating to export controls, customs and transfers, eight bulging parcels were finally handed over to the Ukrainian courier service at the beginning of August. Everyone involved was relieved and delighted when the parcels finally arrived in Chernihiv, complete and undamaged, and are now being added to the collection of the university library there.

Bibliothekarin mit Büchern an der Partnerhochschule der H-BRS in Tschernihiw

A member of staff at the University Library in Chernihiv is going through the new arrivals

The partnership between H-BRS and CPNU has been in place for several years now, and in recent years, researchers and students from Ukraine have repeatedly visited H-BRS. Since the start of the war, the H-BRS has provided assistance on several occasions, both directly and through fundraising campaigns. The donations have already been used to set up a much-used Maker Lab for students. And on several occasions, when the power has gone out yet again, events have only been able to go ahead thanks to the large power banks funded by H-BRS donations.

Even in the fifth year of the war, support remains urgently needed, as the war not only poses an immediate threat but also jeopardises the long-term prospects of Ukrainian students.

Chernihiv lies just 70 kilometres from the Russian border. As early as March 2022, and on numerous occasions since, the city and the university have been and continue to be targets of Russian missiles.