UoPeople Pledges to Enroll 25,000 Refugees from Around the Globe by 2030

The campaign aims to provide them with critically needed lifelines for a better future

PASADENA, CA (June 20, 2022) – In honor of World Refugee Day on June 20, University of the People (UoPeople) is pledging to enroll 25,000 refugee students from countries around the globe by 2030 to provide them with critically needed lifelines for a better future. UoPeople, the first non-profit, tuition-free, American, accredited online university, currently serves over 10,500 refugees – more than any other university in the world.

UoPeople’s pledge is in support of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHRC) 15by30 initiative which aims to enroll 15% of the world’s 3.3 million university-aged refugees by 2030. Currently only 5% of university-aged refugees have access to higher education, compared to the global average of 39%.

UoPeople President Shai Reshef is also urging each of the world’s 31,000 institutions of higher ed to enroll 15 refugees. If every university worldwide accepted 15 refugee students, it would achieve the UNHRC’s goal of enrolling 15% of all university-aged refugees.

“Sympathizing with refugees and talking about the crisis is not enough anymore. The world’s universities need to go beyond words and take action to resolve this issue themselves,” said Reshef. “Universities can easily enroll 15 additional students without a major impact on their budgets since these students only would represent a small percentage of their overall enrollment.”

Online institutions, such as UoPeople, can play a major role in helping refugees due to their more affordable costs and flexible course schedules. Students studying online can easily continue their education even while moving from one country to another. UoPeople currently enrolls more than 117,000 students from over 200 countries. The university’s refugee students come from dozens of nations, including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Myanmar.

In recent months, more than six million Ukrainians have fled their homeland since the onset of the Russian invasion, joining 100 million fellow refugees and forcibly displaced people from around the globe. Armed conflicts, religious persecution, natural disasters, genocide campaigns, climate change, and a host of other factors are fueling a rapidly expanding international refugee crisis.

The root causes of this crisis are varied, however, most of these refugees do have one thing in common – little hope for a better future due to the lack of educational opportunities. According to the UN Refugee Agency, higher education is a critical link between “learning and earning, allowing young people to thrive and transition to the pursuit of sustainable futures.”

“This is not just a human rights issue but a way for higher education institutions to address a major global crisis while at the same time greatly enriching the educational experience for all of their students,” said Reshef. “Refugees bring their spirit of resilience, diverse cultures, and unique perspectives into the classroom. We can learn much from their life experiences.”

Providing critically needed educational opportunities to refugees would not only benefit the participating universities, it also would benefit the host nations and the rest of the world, according to President Reshef. Investing in the education of refugees has proven to be sound strategy over time. Just look at the contributions of refugees such as Albert Einstein, Victor Hugo, Madelaine Albright, and Henry Kissinger.

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About University of the People

University of the People (UoPeople) is the Education Revolution. It is the first non-profit, tuition-free, American, accredited online university. Currently there are over 117,000 students from more than 200 countries and territories. Designed to open access to higher education globally, UoPeople helps qualified high school graduates overcome financial, geographic, political, and personal constraints keeping them from collegiate studies. The university offers associate and bachelor’s degree programs in business administration, computer science, and health science, as well as an MBA and M.Ed. program. Graduates of UoPeople can be found working at such companies as Deloitte, Amazon, Apple, Pfizer, Google, Microsoft and IBM. UoPeople collaborates with Harvard Business School Online, New York University, McGill University, and the University of Edinburgh and has been supported by foundations such as the Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation and Hewlett Foundation. Learn more at www.uopeople.edu.

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