This International Workshop builds upon the momentum generated by the conference organised by the Global Platform in Lisbon in April 2018 as well as on the commitments made in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda and the Global Compacts for Refugees and Migrants as well as the first Global Refugee Forum to be held in Geneva on 17 and 18 December 2019.
This event aims to promote collective efforts to achieve a systemic solution to the problem of delivering more, better and faster higher education opportunities for refugees, students at risk or in forced displacement. It seeks to generate greater mobilization of the higher education sector to contributing to deliver a true global academic response to the equally global challenge of empowering young people through quality higher education, in particular in conflict-affected societies, fragile settings and protracted crises.This event aims to promote collective efforts to achieve a systemic solution to the problem of delivering more, better and faster higher education opportunities for refugees, students at risk or in forced displacement. It seeks to generate greater mobilization of the higher education sector to contributing to deliver a true global academic response to the equally global challenge of empowering young people through quality higher education, in particular in conflict-affected societies, fragile settings and protracted crises.
Against this backdrop, this International Workshop will have a five-fold aim:
- to discuss the lessons learned and the best practices of HEIs in dealing with the integration of refugees and other students in forced mobility into the academic system;
- to identify the main existing gaps and how to collaborate around them to come up with joint solutions of the 21st century;
- to launch an updated Report on “Higher Education in Emergencies: a road map to achieve sustainable change”;
- to discuss further a broader project that has been developed since 2014 aimed at setting up a Rapid Response Mechanism for Higher Education in Emergencies (RRM) and invite participants to join it;
- to launch a global campaign to raise a voluntary “youth education solidarity“ contribution (“the YES!-levy”) within the global academic community
This event will mainly bring together the academic community – representatives of HEIs, associations of HEIs, student associations – whilst representatives of international and regional bodies, donor agencies and foundations, the private sector, civil society groups, youth and the media will also contribute with their reflections and experience to the outcomes of this family reunion.
