Challenge notes

Providing technical language support for students starting new courses in a second language in Europe

Tell us broadly about the issues and context around the problem to help us understand the challenge better, for example explaining the crisis type and circumstances in detail.

Since 2011 and the start of the Syrian revolution, hundreds of thousands of Syrian university students have had their education disrupted by the civil war. Those refugees who have escaped the war continue to have difficulties accessing higher education. Common barriers include: prohibitive cost; restrictions on travel from camps or to international scholarships; language skills; local universities limiting admissions; missing records of study; uncertainty about the future; lack of equipment for online education. If this situation continues, it could create a lost generation of young Syrians, which will only continue to expand with no political resolution apparent in the near future.

At the same time, the Syrian diaspora and refugee populations contain many highly qualified academics, now working in Europe and elsewhere. CARA, the academic protection charity that resettles at risk academics to the UK, has received over 100 Syrian applications alone. Many of these academics will not only have bilingual fluency and expertise in the subject, but they will also have an understanding of the educational history and culture from where the new students have come from.

Since the start of the conflict, many university institutions have started offering scholarships to help those in the Middle East and Europe access university. This, along with the influx of young Syrians to Europe, means that potentially thousands of Syrian refugees will be starting university in Europe in the coming years.

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