Durable Solutions for Refugees

Students from around the world arrive in Canada Every year in August and September, members from the WUSC community gather at airports across the country to welcome a new cohort of students from around the world to Canada. Through our various sponsorship and scholarship programs, these youth are given the opportunity to continue their studies…

Evidence and Lessons Learned from our Programming in Kenya A recent study by UNHCR on education for refugees reports that fewer than one in four refugee adolescents are currently enrolled in secondary school. Though hard to imagine, the situation is even worse in low-income countries, where the majority of refugees live and where fewer than…

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…