SUPPORTING REFUGEE STUDENTS
Accessing Higher Education The Global University Academy for refugee students SOAS University of London has joined a group of 14 leading universities across the globe to launch the Global University Academy, aimed at responding to the urgent need for improved access to higher education for refugees and their communities. Currently, only 7% of the world’s refugee population have access to higher education resources. To support the goal of the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, the Global University Academy
hopes to raise this figure to 15% by 2030, by developing a framework for foundation and BA degree programmes that are relevant, codeveloped and locally embedded. To develop its long-term response, the Global University Academy will seek out potential university partners whose local communities have been impacted by large numbers of refugees, to ensure a truly robust model can be co-created from the start. However, some problems faced by refugees trying to access higher education occur closer to home. Dr. Anna Lindley, Reader
in Migration, Mobility and Development at SOAS, has been working with the charity Asylum Welcome to map out the challenges encountered by refugees looking for housing in the UK once they leave asylum accommodation, in a market already strained by long-term national shortages and marked by discrimination. On the BA Global Development programme at SOAS, it is possible to study factors that affect poverty, insecurity and inequality, and the dramatic processes of social, economic and political transformation in different parts of the world, alongside staff who specialise in topics such as migration and displacement, humanitarian action, and sustainability and climate change. ANDREW OSMOND Marketing Officer www.soas.ac.uk
Discover the Answers at SOAS - The World’s University Discover the range of exciting undergraduate degree programmes available to study on our vibrant central London campus www.soas.ac.uk
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