[3] From 1938 and during World War II, Ruke-Dravina pursued doctoral studies in comparative Indo-European language research, but was not allowed to complete the studies as public defense of a thesis in this subject was not allowed in the German-fortified Latvia.
She was involved in a number of projects associated with land-targeting and place-name research at the Latvian language archive.
She continued her academic activities, initially at Lund University, where she taught in Baltic languages in the 1950s, and later at Stockholm University, where she earned a licentiate degree in Slavic languages in 1954, and defended her doctorate in 1959 (Diminutive im Lettischen).
[3] Between 1948 and 1970, Ruke-Dravina worked as a lecturer at the University of Lund, where she was an associate professor in Baltic and Slavic languages.
She became the chair of the Department of Baltic Language and Literature at the Institute of Slavs and Balts at the University of Stockholm before 1984.