What universities can do to assist refugees

Insight on how institutions can open doors for displaced scholars into and through higher education

Spotlight collection on how universities can help refugees

There are now more than 100 million people forcibly displaced around the globe and a combination of war, extreme weather and persecution means this number is forecast to rise. Higher education offers a route by which these individuals can rebuild their lives and contribute to societies in their new host countries. However, refugee scholars face multiple challenges relating to accreditation requirements, limited finances, language barriers, unstable domestic set-ups and more. This collection of resources explores the different ways institutions can assist both students and academics who have been forced to flee their homes.

How universities can support refugee students and academics

Afghan Chevening scholar Naimatullah Zafary, who was among the last people to be airlifted to safety from Kabul, explains how institutions can support refugee students and staff who arrive in an unfamiliar country after experiencing perilous journeys and severe trauma

Naimatullah Zafary

University of Sussex

Creating routes into higher education

Image of refugees at the Macedonian border

Practical ways to develop a comprehensive university ‘sanctuary’ programme

Seven practical steps to developing a comprehensive sanctuary programme that can support the immediate needs of displaced students and academics while including a broader plan for social change

Leonie Ansems de Vries, Bronwyn Parry

King’s College London

helping-hand

The role of complementary higher education pathways for refugees

Education has emerged as a pathway to sustainable resettlement for displaced people but establishing programmes requires leaders to overcome considerable challenges

Manal Stulgaitis , Gül İnanç

UNHCR, University of Auckland

A formula one team represents university collaboration to support refugee students

Simple ways universities can collaborate to bring more refugees into higher education

There’s strength in numbers when it comes to meeting the unique learning and support needs of refugee students

Rebecca Granato

Bard College

Students celebrating graduation

Six steps to improve access to UK higher education for displaced students

People who have fled war and persecution often face barriers to continuing their studies in the UK. Here are six ways universities can help to improve access

Siobhán Coskeran

Student Action for Refugees (STAR)

What can universities do to improve routes into HE for displaced academics?

Efforts to support Ukrainian academics offer lessons in how individual institutions can improve pathways into UK higher education for displaced scholars now and in the future, write Uta Staiger and Freya Proudman

Uta Staiger , Freya Proudman

University College London

Designing digital resources for refugee students

Image of the Atme refugee camp in Idlib

Increasing access to higher education for refugees through digital learning

In Lebanon, a project designed to increase access to higher education for Syrian refugees through digital learning has been piloted with success. Rabih Shibli shares lessons from developing PADILEIA

Rabih Shibli

American University of Beirut

Image of two people at a refugee volunteer centre working online

Education for humanity: designing learner-centric solutions for refugee students

Key tenets to successfully, and sustainably, designing university initiatives that support refugee learners around the globe using digital resources, based on five years of running the Education for Humanity initiative at Arizona State University

Nicholas Sabato, Joanna Zimmerman

Arizona State University

How to use technology to offer disadvantaged students pathways to higher education

Using tech to connect refugees with pathways to higher education: an emerging case study

Kate Symons and Georgia Cole share key lessons from a pilot project aiming to support refugees and learners from disadvantaged communities in Uganda into higher education

Kate Symons, Georgia Cole, Foundations for All team

The University of Edinburgh, Foundations for All

A woman waving the Ukrainian flag

How can universities support Ukrainian students? Advice from a Polish institution

Rapid response actions that universities can take to support Ukrainian students and academics, based on the experience of a Polish institution

Paweł Śpiechowicz

University of Lodz

Eight ways UK academics can help students and researchers from Ukrainian universities

From joining a working group to mentoring and collaborating, UK scholars can support Ukrainian scientists and make a difference, no matter how small

Anna K. Bobak, Valentina Mosienko, Igor Potapov

University of Stirling, University of Bristol, University of Liverpool

Support beyond university

Syrian refugees after arriving in Turkey

Helping refugees get their qualifications recognised

Tips for how higher education institutions and accreditation authorities can recognise refugees’ qualifications even when they cannot be fully documented

Sjur Bergan

Council of Europe

Displaced workers deserve more than short termism from universities

Displaced workers deserve more than short-termism from universities

Institutions must stop and think before helping reshape the career trajectories of millions of workers, says Gangaram Singh

Gangaram Singh

National University

Refugees from Afghanistan are arriving in the US and other nations, and higher education has a huge role to play in the national response

‘Making it’ in the US: education and employment for Afghan refugees

With war and displacement atop most news agendas right now, higher education has a huge part to play in the US’ national response

Emal Dusst, Colleen Thouez

Cintana Education, The New School

Image of medical students in class

The US should admit Ukrainian medical students to help them rebuild their country

A caveat for recipients of such aid would be committing to moving back to Ukraine to practise after they have completed their studies

David Lenihan

Ponce Health Sciences University

Business schools must play their part in supporting those fleeing Ukraine

As providers of education that sits at the interface of industry and academia, the onus is on business schools to step up during times of crisis

Mary Meaney , Celia Moore , Marina Moncayola Lobato

Imperial College London