Just 1% of refugees of student age are today in higher education (UNCHR 2016a). However, in many of the major refugee crises of the past special assistance for higher education students formed a significant part of overall relief efforts, and many universities continue to welcome refugees today. Often it is the more highly educated sections of society that form the majority of refugees, at least in the initial phases of a crisis (IEC and WUS 1986). The recent Syrian refugee crisis, in particular, prompted the establishment of a range of scholarship schemes as well as new initiatives to deal with the problem of students who cannot document their qualifications. This entry offers a historical overview of major international aid programs for refugee scholars, before outlining current problems facing refugee students and discussing the huge unmet demand for higher education among refugees.
Historical Overview
In 1920 an international organization called European Student Relief (ESR) was...
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Brewis, G., Bergan, S. (2016). Refugees and Higher Education. In: Shin, J., Teixeira, P. (eds) Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_40-1
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