Delivering Higher Education for Syrian Refugees
SPARK’s Workshop Entitled ‘Delivering Higher Education to Syrian Refugees’
On the 6th and 7th of October, SPARK, in collaboration with Al-Fanar Media and the Institute of International Education, is holding a workshop entitled Delivering Higher Education to Syrian Refugees. This two-day workshop will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will be held at Koç University’s Research Centre for Anatolian Civilizations, this workshop is a response to the hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrian youths who are presently on the sidelines of higher education. As many Syrians are applying for overseas educational scholarships SPARK is striving to ensure that the best, regional, approaches are implemented; as for the same amount awarded to each Syrian student awarded for an EU or US scholarship, many more could be placed in the neighbouring regions’ universities.
The workshop in October will be a small event studying the present geographical efforts in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey with a focus on the question: “Are the ideas we already have good enough to reach the number of refugee youth that exist, or do we need new ideas?”. New regional approaches are needed to increase higher educational access, as fewer than 6% of Syrian youths are enrolled in universities. We believe this must happen as soon as possible so another year does not go by with Syrian youth sitting on the sidelines of higher education.
The SPARK Scholarship Scheme
SPARK is presently offering scholarships for ten Syrian students, who want to play an active and meaningful role in their host communities or in Syria. These are scholarships for the 2015/16 academic year for young displaced Syrians currently residing in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq (KRG) and Turkey and can be used to cover tuition, food, study costs and accommodation in these countries. In collaboration with the University of Gaziantep and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SPARK has already provided 80 scholarships to young Syrian refugees in Turkey in the 2014/15 academic year and has also conducted a Youth Entrepreneurship Programme for young Syrian refugees and summer universities. One such example of the training run by SPARK is within the vocational Institute for Agricultural Technology (IAT) in the Aleppo governate in Syria, which will enable young Syrians to tackle the issue of food shortages for those people who have remained.
We currently have active programmes in KRG, Lebanon and Jordan.
If you are a young Syrian planning to study, currently residing in Jordan, Lebanon, KRG, or Turkey and would like to receive a scholarship you can find more information at: http://www1.he4s.eu:90/UserRegistration/Introduction. Applications must be submitted no later than 1 October 2015.