ACA’s members DAAD and OeAD have started two very valuable initiatives supporting students (DAAD) and researchers (OeAD) at risk and with a refugee background.

DAAD’s new Hilde Domin scholarship programme is intended to enable threatened students and doctoral candidates who are denied the right to education in their country of origin to take up or continue their studies in Germany. The aim is for them to complete a degree or doctorate at a German university under secure conditions. The selected students and doctoral candidates are enrolled in degree programmes of their choice and according to individual qualifications. They receive a scholarship that covers living expenses as well as the costs of the study or research project. In addition, all scholarship holders can take part in an accompanying programme in the social sciences to further their professional and personal development.

On a similar topic, as part of the EURAXESS TOP IV and Bridge II projects, the OeAD – as part of EURAXESS Austria – has published the Guide on Labour Market Integration of Refugee Researchers containing relevant information on employment, support and other opportunities for refugee researchers in Europe. This guide is to help refugee researchers navigate through the relevant resources for career orientation and training available within Europe and therewith assist in the integration into the European labour market. The information ranges from language courses to research and higher education funding programmes as well as to academic mentoring programmes. The guide contains resources for refugee researchers, staff supporting them and country-specific information. It covers the topics such as counselling techniques for the work with refugee researchers, basic legal information for refugee researchers and early career development counseling.