Citations
Education for Refugees, from Preschool to Professorship
Global emergencies like war, natural disaster, and health pandemics have uprooted families and disrupted education at all levels as displaced students have been deprived of access to schools. Students in early childhood, primary, secondary, and higher education as well as teachers, professors, and other educational professionals have experienced delayed educational and professional development during times of crisis, disabling dreams and prospects for the future. Whether in Malaysia, Greece, or Lebanon, displaced communities have struggled to adjust to lost livelihoods, new cultures, and uncertain futures.
As the average duration of displacement has dramatically increased over the last three decades, international humanitarian organizations have been pressed to develop long-term programs and partnerships to replace short-term emergency educational provision. These challenges have been compounded by the disproportionate burden of education in emergencies shouldered by developing countries, where refugee populations vastly outnumber those in high-income countries. Over time, the educational pipeline has come to look less like a pipe than a funnel, with progressive exclusion and decreasing resources constraining opportunity as refugee children age. Workarounds developed in earlier stages have at times installed barriers for students at more advanced education stages as credentialing standardization and selective admissions disadvantage students from newly developed, temporary, and informal educational institutions outside of the national curriculum.
From connected learning hubs in refugee camps in Kenya to elementary classrooms in Canada, technological innovation and international coordination have worked to connect displaced students to well-resourced institutions and support educational continuity through crises. Meanwhile, new momentum in the development of transnational platforms for educational financing, advising, and service delivery has reinvigorated the global education community and increased commitment to education for all, regardless of circumstance. Here is a look at select recent news, features, and open research on and resources for global refugee education and scholar protection:
Ongoing Emergencies
- “Afghanistan’s internal refugee crisis” (Al Jazeera, April 2016)
- “Afghanistan: The other refugee crisis“* (Al Jazeera, September 2015)
- Central African Republic Regional Refugee Response (UNHCR, in French)
- South Sudan Regional Refugee Response (UNHCR)
- “Why Africa’s migrant crisis makes no sense to outsiders” (The Washington Post, April 2016)
- “Thousands flee isolated Eritrea to escape life of conscription and poverty” (The Wall Street Journal, February 2016)
- Iraq Emergency Overview (UNHCR)
- Mediterranean Emergency Response Overview (UNHCR)
- Syria Regional Refugee Response (UNHCR)
- “Syria’s civil war: Five years of Guardian reporting” (The Guardian, March 2016)
Reports
- “No more excuses: Provide education to all forcibly displaced people” (UNHCR/Global Education Monitoring Report, May 2016)
- “Education Cannot Wait: Proposing a fund for education in emergencies” (Overseas Development Institute, May 2016)
- “A common platform for education in emergencies and protracted crises” (Overseas Development Institute, May 2016)
- “Workshop Report: Strengthening Delivery of Higher Education to Syrian Refugees” (Al-Fanar Media, October 2015)
Pre-Primary, Primary & Secondary Education
With half and three-quarters of primary and secondary school–aged refugee children out of school, respectively, children displaced by conflict increasingly find themselves falling behind during critical development stages. Children in refugee camps can attend UNHCR-coordinated schools, but for the half of the refugee population located in urban areas, potential students are dependent on public infrastructure and resource-sharing for schooling. Massive influxes of refugees have forced countries like Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Malaysia to develop workarounds to alleviate overcrowding and increase available seats, including double-shifted schedules and informal schools. For the lucky fraction of refugee families resettled in high-income countries, their relocation often places them at the center of contentious local and national debates on security and cultural integration.
- “More than half UN schools in Middle East targeted in conflicts” (BBC, May 2016)
- “Lebanon Public Schools Welcome Syria’s displaced children” (France 24, May 2016)
- “Refugee kids face learning challenges in early school years” (Reuters, May 2016)
- “Refugees Reach Settlement In Legal Fight To Attend N.Y. High School” (NPR, May 2016)
- “Eagle Heights elementary school has more Syrian refugees than any other in Southwestern Ontario’s largest school system” (The London Free Press, May 2016)
- “Refugee education programs become embroiled in national debate” (Idaho EdNews, May 2016)
- “Migrant And Refugee Children Find A Home In Greece’s Intercultural Schools” (The Huffington Post, April 2016)
- “How to Educate a Generation of Syrian Refugees? Makeshift Classrooms and the Teacher Next Door” (Yes! Magazine, April 2016)
Higher Education
As a medium of emergency response, international higher education systems are well-equipped to mobilize resources and facilitate learning for the millions of college-aged students displaced by conflict and disaster. Refugee students require targeted programming to develop proficiency in the language of instruction when lacking and a network of support structures including financial aid, counseling services, flexible instruction and performance evaluation, and career guidance able to chart school-to-work pathways sensitive to complex immigration contingencies. But while digital, distance, residential, and blended-learning educational services have created the conditions for rapid-response educational service delivery in emergencies, the lack of coordinated financing structures, patchwork credentialing systems, and institutional conservatism have left colleges and universities scrambling to catch up to a rapidly escalating crisis.
- “European cooperation enables Syrian refugees in Turkey and the Middle East to take up university studies” (European Commission, May 2016)
- “Japan to take in 150 Syrians as exchange students after criticism of harsh refugee policy” (The Japan Times, May 2016)
- “WES bid to help refugees lacking academic records” (The PIE News, May 2016)
- “Syrian refugee students rebuild from Beirut” (BBC, May 2016)
- “Varsity education offers refugee students fresh hope for the future” (The New Times, May 2016)
- “Universities Build a ‘Connected Learning’ Network for Refugees” (University World News, via The Chronicle for Higher Education, March 2016)
- “Refugee higher education lacks flexibility and context, study finds” (Times Higher Education, January 2016)
- “Universities pledge scholarships for Syrian refugees” (The PIE News, September 2015)
- “The Refugee Crisis and Higher Ed” (Inside Higher Ed, September 2015)
Academics/Intellectuals
Academics and other intellectuals often face heightened vulnerability during periods of unrest as political forces looking to consolidate power attack individuals and institutions perceived as ideological threats. The need for coordinated systems to extract threatened scholars from conflict-ridden regions has led to the establishment of funds, fellowships, and visiting professorships at higher education institutions, providing haven for endangered professionals while allowing them to continue in their careers and contribute to capacity-building for hoped-for returns. Nevertheless, protracted conflict increases concerns of a permanent “brain drain” from afflicted regions as new lives and professional paths are forged abroad.
- “Turkey refuses EU travel to highly skilled Syrian refugees: report” (Deutsche Welle, May 2016)
- “Syria loses students needed to rebuild its future” (BBC, April 2016)
- Syrian Academics in Exile (New Research Voices, April 2016—Vol. 1, No.2)
- Researchers in Exile (New Research Voices, January 2016—Vol. 1, No. 1)
- “The UK universities offering a lifeline to Syrian academics” (The Guardian, October 2015)
Global Funds, Organizations & Resources
In the period of rapid internationalization that accompanied global warfare in the 20th century, numerous transnational resources emerged to coordinate effects on opposite sides of the mobility divide: massive waves of involuntary migration and increased educational mobility. Capacity-building has been a joint project of the public and private sectors, driven by special projects, NGOs, and supranational organizations supporting students, scholars, and institutions alike.
- Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER)
- Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA)
- UNHCR Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI) Scholarships
- The Education Cluster (Inter-Agency Standing Committee)
- U.S. Educational Resources for Immigrants, Refugees, Asylees and other New Americans (U.S. Department of Education)
- EUA Refugees Welcome Map
- European Resettlement Network resource collection
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
- Global Partnership for Education
- Institute of International Education (IIE)
- Institute of International Education Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF)
- Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE)
- InZone
- The Jamiya Project
- Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins (JC-HEM)
- No Lost Generation
- The Philipp Schwartz Initiative
- Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict (PEIC)
- Scholars at Risk Network (SAR)
- United Nations
- World University Service of Canada Student Refugee Program (SRP)
*Commentary pieces. Presence in collection does not entail endorsement of the opinions represented.