EDU-SYRIA First Group Discussion with Refugee Students
EDU-SYRIA held the first group discussion with refugee students’ beneficiaries of EDU-SYRIA and DAFI scholarships in collaboration with UNHCR on Thursday 09th of March 2023. The main objective of such collaboration is to highlight needs and demands and to support achieving the 15by30 Goal; increasing enrolment of refugee youth in higher education to 15% by 2030, through recognizing the significance of scholarship programs funded by The European Union and other donors in supporting access to higher education of Syrian refugees in Jordan, and strongly advocating increase the number of scholarships dedicated to Syrian refugees, as the number of refugees who need higher education is not aligned with the available scholarships.
The series titled “Delivering Higher Education to Refugees: High Demand and Limited Opportunities/ Mitigation and Possible Interventions” includes periodic group/panel discussions with refugee students, donors, local universities, the private sector, and civil society organizations. The outcome of the previous discussions will be embedded as an applicable report of results & recommendations. This collaboration is considered as a continuation of efforts undertaken in 2022 (15by30 Roundtable with Yarmouk University).
The panel contained questions addressing the obstacles that hindered refugees to access higher education and how they overcame them, and whether they have been involved in initiatives adopted by universities to support refugees and facilitate their access to higher education (bachelor, master, and vocational diploma) i.e., introduce them to the scholarship procedures, i.e., number of seats, selection criteria and career counseling based on market demand. Moreover, the students provided proposed mitigations and recommendations to increase refugee students’ access to higher education.
