Academic Refuge
ACADEMIC REFUGE (Strategic Partnership to Promote Core Academic Values and Welcome Refugees and Threatened Academics to European Campuses) has been granted financial support from the European Commission under the 2016 Erasmus+ (KA+ Strategic partnerships) funding scheme. The project is managed by the Norwegian National Agency.
Aim and general description:
Worldwide, there are 21 million refugees fleeing their war-torn countries or being persecuted and forced to flee as a result of their beliefs and public engagement. Europe became a new home for 6 percent of those displaced, who are now trying to rebuild their personal as well as professional lives. The ACADEMIC REFUGE project arises from the need to provide refugees and displaced scholars with the necessary support to continue their academic careers on European campuses.
This project aims to improve the capacity of European universities to assist refugees and threatened academics on campus. The project also strives to promote and raise greater awareness of the importance of academic freedom and other academic values in the Higher Education sector, the consequences for society at large when such freedom is repressed, and the steps to be made to protect higher education values.
The two overlapping project objectives are:
- Improve the capacity of European universities to assist refugees and threatened academics
- Promote greater respect for academic freedom and greater protection for Higher Education values
Key project activities:
- Staff training on Welcoming Refugees and Threatened Academics to European Campuses (University of Oslo, 19-23 June 2017)
- Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on academic freedom and Higher Education Values
- Electronic handbook: “Promoting Core Higher Education Values – perspectives from the field” (launch on 13th of June 2019 at the final event in Brussels)
Other resources:
“All for one” by Marit Egner, coordinator of Academic Refuge, in Europe Science, issue no. 500, 4 July 2019, by Marit Egner (University of Oslo)
Partners
Partners:
- University of Oslo (Coordinator, UNICA member)
- UNICA
- University of Ljubljana (UNICA member)
- Scholars at Risk Network (Affiliated)
Associate partners:
Project info
From
01 September 2016
to
31 August 2019
Project Coordinator
University of Oslo (UNICA member)
UNICA’s role
Partner
Relevant UNICA working group
International Relations Officers, EduLAB
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.