Borderless Education: The Provision of Tertiary Degree Programs to Long-term Refugees

Lead: Wenona Giles, Centre for Refugee Studies, York University (wgiles@yorku.ca)

 

The initial stage of this project includes a Workshop to be held at York University on April 9^th -11^th, 2010. One of the main goals of the Workshop is the development of a knowledge 'audit' to ascertain what is known about refugee tertiary education in long-term refugee situations, the gaps that exist, and the measures that have been taken to date to address these gaps. The Workshop participants will also begin to develop a strategy for mobilizing academic knowledge into pragmatic solutions, thus ensuring educational opportunities for long-term refugees in the global south. The Workshop will bring together researchers, academics, graduate students, and practitioners from across Canada and internationally to promote exchange and discussion on several specific aspects of tertiary education for forced migrants who have either been unable to complete or to initiate their education due to a lack of opportunities in countries of refuge.  We expect to further our understanding of the impact that the absence of tertiary education has had for long term refugees in the global south and to consider possibilities for the future provision of tertiary education to these groups of people, as well as explore the potential role of Canadian institutions.  Currently, there are a number of international initiatives led by both Canadian and international scholars and practitioners that are at various stages of addressing this issue. The knowledge gained from this Workshop will contribute to the development of large-scale collaborative multi-year funding applications to support the provision of tertiary education in long term refugee camps in selected sites.