#RefugeesWelcome at King's

This mass displacement has had a devastating impact upon millions of people, affecting them individually and damaging the peace and prosperity of their communities. Young adults have had their education disrupted, and their employment opportunities shattered.

For almost two years, King’s College London’s student and staff have been working with multiple partners across the world, providing support to displaced refugees as part of the Sanctuary Programme.

This work is particularly important as refugee numbers remain high, and host communities begin to adapt.

To mark Refugee Week, we’re taking a look at some of the projects underway at King’s to support displaced young people.

Online Learning

This week, the Partnership for Digital Learning and Increased Access (PADILEIA) has launched two free online courses, aiming to support the education of tens of thousands of displaced young people, and accessible from any computer, smartphone or other device with an internet connection.

The new courses consist of quizzes, testing understanding of oral English. Those who join are also able to chat to other learners in English, and write short responses to some simple discussion questions.

As well as running online courses, PADILEIA is working towards offering targeted classroom-based learning, maximising the programme's reach to Syrian refugees as well as youth from local disadvantaged communities.

It's hoped that the student's education will open up opportunities to enrol in Higher Education at institutes around the world. Beyond this, the project aims to help young people to become employable, socially-conscious and entrepreneurial graduates, reflecting the skills needed to develop inclusive societies, rebuilding countries fractured by years of conflict.

Language lessons in Greece

King’s is taking part in a pilot project with the Open Cultural Center, facilitating educational and cultural programmes with refugees currently living in Greece.  Refugees and international volunteers, including those from King’s, will soon be working together to offer English language courses for children and adults.

Scholarships

Since 2016 King’s has provided Sanctuary Scholarships for students who are asylum seekers, or have been granted limited leave to remain, and who have no access to Student Finance.

The scholarships support tuition fee and living costs per academic year of an undergraduate programme. To date, King’s has offered thirteen scholarships – five in previous years and eight for September 2018. One of the most recent recipients said: ’This Sanctuary Scholarship is hope renewed for me and my family. Words can’t truly express my gratitude, it is a blessing and a fresh start for me. My aspirations to go to a world-renowned University and begin to realize my career ambitions are being fulfilled and it all feels like a dream!’ 

Student volunteering

Student Action for Refugees is a KCLSU society, aiming to raise awareness of refugee issues and promote the integration of refugees and asylum seekers into society.

They run three volunteering programmes, helping nearly 100 children complete their English, Maths and Science homework each week, and navigate their way through university applications. They've also fundraised for Christmas presents for students, and run events including panels and film screenings across the year to raise awareness of key issues.

Further information on PADILEIA:

King’s works with Al al-Bayt University, Jordan, the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, Kiron Open Higher Education, Berlin, and FutureLearn, UK to bring knowledge and expertise together and provide higher education for displaced refugees. The project officially launched in May 2016 after receiving a funding grant from the Department for International Development (DFID) under its new SPHEIR (Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education Innovation and Reform) initiative, a scheme designed to catalyse innovative partnerships in low-income countries to improve the performance, governance and influence of higher education systems and institutions, managed by the British Council, Universities UK International and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).