Durable Solutions for Refugees

Refugee girls face overwhelming barriers to accessing quality education. Beyond realities that affect many young women, such as early and forced marriage, early pregnancy, an unfair burden of domestic chores, and family financial constraints, refugee girls face further, unique challenges. With limited mobility and very few options for employment, refugee girls have limited incentives to…

Imagine having to rebuild your life in a new country. You are not a native speaker of the official languages. The food tastes different and your favourite ingredients are hard to find. The customs are unfamiliar and you feel uncertain in social settings. What would it take for you to begin to feel at home…

Since 1978, WUSC has supported over 1,700 refugee youth to resettle in Canada and continue their post-secondary education. Though they have lived many shared experiences as refugees, every one of these students has their own unique story. On Friday, the Washington Post shared Ayan Abdi’s story. Ayan is one of the students to be accepted…

By: Fatuma Omar Ismail, SRP alumnus Canadians understand the transformative role of education in a young person’s life. That’s why Canada has been a donor to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) – the only global fund solely dedicated to education in developing countries – since 2007. Canada recently hosted the Board of Directors of…

By: Tom Tunney, Senior Advisor, University, College and Cégep Programming There is no one-size-fits-all approach to providing quality education – particularly in fragile contexts. This is the message we heard at the Comparative International Education Society (CIES) Annual Conference last March. I was there with my colleagues to reflect, share, and learn about education in…

1) We combine refugee resettlement with opportunities for higher education. While most other initiatives around the world offer refugee youth temporary solutions through special student visas, WUSC’s Student Refugee Program (SRP) is the only one of its kind to combine post-secondary education with resettlement. We offer refugee youth the opportunity to build a better future…

NEW YORK, March 8, 2017 – The Institute of International Education (IIE) and the Catalyst Foundation for Universal Education have launched an online clearinghouse to connect displaced students with opportunities to continue their education in safety around the world. With support of eight international organizations, the new IIE Platform for Education in Emergencies Response (IIE-PEER) currently offers more than…

OTTAWA, February 3, 2017 – World University Service of Canada (WUSC) expresses its concern with the recent Executive Order in the United States which has temporarily halted all refugee resettlement to the United States and barred the entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. WUSC continues to stand in solidarity with the refugee community in…

On June 7, 2016, WUSC (World University Service of Canada) convened a roundtable to discuss the role of the Canadian post-secondary education community in providing support to refugees. Participants included university, college, and CEGEP presidents, professors, and students; representatives from UNHCR Canada, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and Global Affairs Canada; Canadian non-profit organizations;…

Over the past year, the number of people displaced around the world grew by nearly six million, with an estimated 12.4 million newly displaced people. The rate of new displacements and their increasingly protracted nature will only see this number continue to rise. We are at a pivotal moment where the actions of Canada and…