Academic Refuge

The EAIE is an Associate partner of the Erasmus+ project Strategic Partnership to Promote Core Academic Values and Welcome Refugees and Threatened Academics to European Campuses (Academic Refuge). In conflict zones and oppressive regimes, academic freedom and scholarship are often at risk. Some scholars from affected regions seek refuge at European universities. Through the Academic Refuge project, the EAIE and other project partners are looking to provide the necessary information and best-practice advice for universities looking to host at-risk scholars and develop a mechanism to better respond to future crisis.

Status: Finalised
Period: September 2016–August 2019

Context

Europe is currently experiencing a refugee crisis at its doorstep with the influx of refugees proving a challenge for the continent. Simultaneously, academic freedom is breached and higher education values come under attack close to home and further afield in an increasingly unstable world. Higher education institutions feel a heightened need to accommodate refugee students and scholars arriving in their countries. Under such circumstances, reiterating and promoting the core principles of higher education and scholarship becomes more crucial than ever.  In the midst of these developments, the Academic Refuge project seeks to provide knowledge and equip institutions with tools and practices to deal with the challenges they are facing with hosting refugee scholars, promoting academic values and building a preparedness for future crises. 

Content

The project aims at the following deliverables:

  • The development and implementation of 'Staff training on Welcoming Refugees and Threatened Academics to European Campuses'
  • The development and implementation of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on academic freedom and higher education values
  • The development of an electronic handbook on putting higher education values into practice

As part of the Academic Refuge project, the EAIE will:

  • Publish a Pathways to practice e-book as course material for the staff training
  • Contribute to the online handbook on putting higher education values into practice
  • Contribute to project events where applicable
  • ​Highlight and spread the project topic and outcomes through various channels and activities to ensure they reach the broadest possible audience 

Project partners

Download Pathways to Practice e-book
Read blog post on the project