Tackling the international refugee crisis from a (higher) education perspective – either in Europe or within the conflict-affected regions and neighbouring countries – remains both a topic of concern and a concrete action line of several ACA members.

ACA’s Swedish member organisation – the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR) – is organising on 12-13 June 2017 an international conference on the important topic of Refugees’ impact on Bologna reform – Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and inclusion in the light of increased migration. The event will take place in Malmö, Sweden and is organised by UHR in partnership with the Swedish Ministry of Education and Research and Malmö University. The conference promises to provide an opportunity to share experiences and aims to inspire and encourage higher education institutions and stakeholders within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) to develop their schemes for RPL and other initiatives. It will present good examples on procedures and methods for RPL with special focus on inclusion and provision of more appropriate learning opportunities and access to higher education for newly-arrived refugees. The conference’s language is English. Registrations are open and participation is free of charge. Registration requires answering a short survey in the registration form about own view of RPL practice.

On 30 January 2017, the project's launch in May 2016, it is helping to provide access to tertiary education for Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey. At the event, the HOPES project director, Carsten Walbiner, presented amongst others the project’s first results: 205 scholarships were already awarded to Syrian students to start their university studies in 2016/2017. The HOPES project is, however, not only allocating scholarships; it also provides counselling to Syrian students, offers language- and preparatory study courses as well as innovative education courses and supports coordination and exchange of information between education stakeholders in the region. In May 2017, the first regional HOPES conference will take place in Jordan. For further information on the project’s current achievements, please consult the event’s page, citing also the various speakers of the day.

Refugees’ impact on Bologna reform – conference page

DAAD Brussels event – Perspectives for Syrian Students: Higher Education Scholarships for Refugees