Universities Can Play a Role in Refugee Crisis

Syria is on the verge of losing a generation. As the conflict in Syria rages into its fifth year, 1.2 million displaced women, men and children have found refuge in neighbouring Lebanon. Globally, more than 59.5 million people are displaced many of them young people deprived of numerous fundamental rights, notably the right to an education.

As the world mobilizes to assist fleeing Syrian refugees, The MasterCard Foundation is teaming up with American University of Beirut (AUB) to ensure that bright young women and men from Syria will have an opportunity to pursue an education.

AUB recently announced the renewal of its partnership with the Foundation, underscoring that some of the scholarships of its upcoming four cohorts of MasterCard Foundation Scholars will be provided to students from the most financially disadvantaged Syrian refugees in Lebanon.  Recruited and selected on the basis of their potential as change-makers and next-generation leaders, these young Syrians will have the opportunity to pursue studies in any major at AUB, harnessing their education to become their community’s next generation of socially conscious and committed experts in their fields of study.

“Universities have a very important role, and in fact a responsibility, to decrease inequities in education in general, among all disadvantaged groups,” says Dr. Fadlo R. Khuri, President of the American University of Beirut.  “Universities have to take up the challenge of providing education and educational options for refugees.  It is part of their larger commitment to equity and justice more generally, to also ensure that disadvantaged young people are given opportunities to shine.”

Universities have the ability to ensure social justice for young people is reached and a responsibility to decrease inequities in education, whether related to gender, religion, social class or status, disability, or any other injustice young people might face.

In line with this approach, the current MasterCard Foundation Scholars program also provides scholarship opportunities to Lebanese, Palestinian and African students from the most economically struggling areas of the globe.

“AUB is uniquely poised to provide Syria with the skilled experts it will need when the time comes to rebuild their country after the conflict, says Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation. “By supporting AUB as it supports some of the most disadvantaged young people in Syria and Lebanon, the Foundation is ensuring that bright young people have the opportunity to learn and grow.”