Russian dissident claims red tape blocking university career

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 6 - A Russian dissident who is seeking asylum in Italy said on Tuesday red tape is thwarting her desire to graduate.
    Daria Kryukova, 32, fled from Russia at the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine to escape possible imprisonment for an anti-Putin blog.
    Kryukova, who already holds a degree in sociology, told Corriere di Bologna she had passed the entrance test and enrolled to study business administration and management at Bologna University, and has already taken five exams.
    However, she says she cannot graduate since her residence permit as an asylum seeker is not considered valid for matriculation.
    "I am enrolled and have taken exams, but my university career is not activated," she said.
    "It is a paradox: as an asylum seeker in Italy I can work and pay taxes, but I cannot graduate. I have written to the rector, to the professors, to the secretariat of my faculty, but there is no solution," she continued, saying that "a political act' by the university would be required.
    "The issue the student raises is real and serious: asylum seekers cannot matriculate," said Marco Borraccetti, delegate for refugee students and associate professor in EU law, adding that under current rules for Kryukova to graduate the university would need to wait for her asylum claim to be adjudicated.
    "They can enroll in any other school of any order and grade, they can work, but they cannot enroll at Bologna University" and in other universities that have not chosen the path of "suspended" matriculation, of which there are only a few in Italy. (ANSA).