First Jordanian University to lower fees for all refugee students
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Al Yarmouk University aiming to facilitate the access of refugee students to higher education.
JORDAN | UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Al Yarmouk University aiming to facilitate the access of refugee students to higher education in the undergraduate and graduate programmes of this prestigious institution by reducing financial barriers.
Thanks to this initiative, several thousand refugee students of all nationalities will have the possibility to study everything from Architecture to Law to Medicine in Al Yarmouk University starting from the first semester of the academic year 2023-2024, at a lower fee. Exempting them of the international students’ fees will provide them the opportunity to study at the lower, regular (non-competing) rate of a Jordanian student.
“UNHCR welcomes that refugees will be charged the same fees as their Jordanian peers”, said UNHCR Representative Dominik Bartsch, “this important step will allow more young refugees to live up to their full potential professionally, whether in Jordan or in their home country”.
Later this month, UNHCR is launching a series of roundtable meetings with boards of trusties and presidents of other public universities in the Kingdom, in an effort to cooperate with these institutions to ensure refugee students can access quality education without major obstacles, as part of the 15by30 goal. 15 stands for 15 per cent enrolment of refugee students at higher education institutions, while 30 stands for by 2030. UNHCR contributes US $45,000 to assist Al Yarmouk University in establishing three smart hall rooms, to support the development of the infrastructure of the country’s higher education scene.
The 15by30 goal is part of the broader Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), and is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2015. The goal recognizes that education is essential for achieving sustainable development and reducing poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. This includes investing in teacher training and professional development, improving infrastructure and learning materials, and leveraging technology and innovation to enhance learning outcomes.
This comes timely as the United Nations celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights later this year, and this initiative aligns with Article 26 on the right to education for all. The generous collaboration by Al Yarmouk University reflects the continuous hospitality of Jordan as a host country to hundreds of thousands of refugees, and the contribution of its national institutions to preserve the basic rights of refugees.
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