Times Higher Education: Rebecca Granato Discusses the Need for Increased Educational Access for Refugees from the Global South

Times Higher Education recently spoke with Rebecca Granato, director of the Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives and Associate Vice President for Global Initiatives at Bard College, and other experts in higher education, about how public perception and policy impact the lives of refugee students.

The article claims that while progress has been made in meeting the “15by30” target proposed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a goal of enrolling 15 percent of refugee youth in higher education by 2030, challenges remain in reaching that target.

In the article, Granato says that countries including Brazil, Cameroon, Jordan, Kenya, and Rwanda have made policy changes to improve refugees’ higher education prospects. Efforts include improving schooling, boosting work opportunities, and negotiating “complementary pathways” for refugees to undertake degrees in neighboring countries.

But such initiatives could be “a hard case to make” in countries whose citizens also had low rates of university participation, according to Granato. “Refugees are often perceived both by the population and the government as a burden and as detractors from the emerging opportunities [for] the national students. They’re often also perceived as a security risk,” she says.

In the article, Victoria Galan-Muros, chief of research and analysis at Unesco’s International Institute for Higher Education, explains that efforts to tackle such problems have been most prominent in higher income countries in Europe, where the Ukraine crisis has prompted rapid reform of refugee policies. But governments need to step up and assist displaced people coming from other regions, including the Global South, as “it’s a liability to not provide higher education opportunities for more refugees,” she adds.

Since 2021, the Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives has offered tailored university preparatory programs aimed at bridging the gap between refugee learners and the higher education institutions they wish to join. Over 450 displaced or refugee students in Kenya, Jordan, and Bangladesh have completed Hubs programs and gained the skills they need to enroll in a university or a diploma track. 90% of graduates have moved into degree-granting programs.

Post Date: 06-14-2024