Connected Learning: Expanding Higher Education Access for Refugees

On 18 January 2018, the INEE Tech Task Team, together with UNHCR and members of the Connected Learning in Crises Consortium, explored innovative higher education programming for refugees through an interactive webinar. 

Jigsaw Consult and Refugee Support Network recently completed a year long research study examining how higher education can be provided effectively to refugees in low-resource environments. This webinar provides a unique opportunity to unpack this research and interact directly from Connected Learning programs implementers who spoke to the opportunities and challenges they face in adopting blended tertiary learning approaches.

The Jigsaw Consult research included eight field visits to 15 refugee higher education programmes, in-person interviews with more than 300 refugee students and more than 100 programme staff and sector experts. The two main outputs from the research are a landscape review and an empirical research study.

The landscape review provides a desk-based overview of the sector, mapping 43 programmes across five main categories of provision. The research study provides an in-depth perspective on camp-based and urban programmes, based on extensive fieldwork and concentrating on the work of Jesuit Worldwide Learning.

The presentations in this webinar reviewed the study and explored the potential insights for the sector, focusing on the key analytical themes: accessibility and participation, academia and organisational structure, technology, pedagogy, and impact and future.