24 January 2020

On this International Day of Education STAR is calling for equal access to higher education for refugees and asylum seekers and highlighting scholarships available for applications for refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

On this International Day of Education STAR is calling for equal access to higher education for refugees and asylum seekers

In the UK STAR’s Equal Access Campaign has been increasing access to university for refugees and asylum seekers for over 10 years and over 70 universities now offer scholarships or bursaries to help refugees and asylum seekers access higher education. On this International Day of Education, STAR is calling for more support for refugees and asylum seekers to access higher education in the UK. Globally only 3% of refugees have access to higher education. As a student network we know the power university has to transform lives, which is why we campaign for equal access to university for refugees and asylum seekers.

A full list of UK scholarships now open for applications can be found at the bottom of this article.

Part of UNESCO’s celebration of Education on the 24th January includes calls for increased access to education for refugees and displaced people, building on the work of their International Qualifications Passport to help refugees and vulnerable migrants access education worldwide. Opening up educational opportunities for refugees and other migrants is crucial to achieving SDG 4 ‘Quality Education for all’ and STAR believes that students and universities have a big role to play in enabling refugees and asylum seekers to access quality education at university level.

Our work supports the development of scholarships and access pathways for UK based refugees and asylum seekers to access higher education and provides detailed information scholarship opportunities. We also work with student campaigners across the country to make campuses more open and welcoming places and we work with UK NGO partners to coordinate access to higher education support for refugee groups in the UK. Recently STAR also took its campaigning work to the global stage, taking a pledge from UK universities to increase refugee scholarships to the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva last month.

Scholarships for refugees and asylum seekers in the UK now open for applications

In the UK over 70 universities offer scholarships and bursaries to support refugees, asylum seekers and people seeking protection to access higher education. Applications for many of these programmes are now open. You can find out more details about how to apply on STAR’s Equal Access FAQ page and a list of amazing resources and organisations who can support you.

STAR has also curated a scholarship list with the latest information about application deadlines.

View the list of scholarships and application deadlines here.

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