A path to higher education and employment for refugees

Out of the more than 70 million displaced people worldwide, only three percent have access to higher education. The Global Education Movement (GEM) is on a mission to change that with the first large-scale initiative of its kind to help refugee learners get bachelor's degrees and create pathways toward employment. Hear from students and the program's executive director, Chrystina Russell, about how GEM's flexible, competency-based model sets graduates up for success and empowerment wherever they are.

Saida Aden Said: I still have
this horrific image in my mind.

I could see people falling down,

gunshots.

I was so terrified.

Really, I was crying a lot.

Someone who knew my father and my mom
grabbed my hand, and he said,

"Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

And I was like, "Where's my mom?
My mom? My mom?"

Noria Dambrine Dusabireme:
During nights we would hear shots,

we would hear guns.

Elections were supposed to happen.

We had young people going in the street,

they were having strikes.

And most of the young people died.

SAS: We boarded a vehicle.

It was overloaded.

People were running for their lives.

That is how I fled from Somalia.

My mom missed me.

Nobody told her where I went.

NDD: The fact that
we did not go to school,

we couldn't go to the market,
we were just stuck home

made me realize that if I got an option
to go for something better,

I could just go for it
and have a better future.

(Music)

Ignazio Matteini: Globally,
displaced people in the world

have been increasing.

Now there are almost 60 million
people displaced in the world.

And unfortunately, it doesn't stop.

Chrystina Russell: I think
the humanitarian community

is starting to realize
from research and reality

that we're talking about
a much more permanent problem.

Baylie Damtie Yeshita: These students,
they need a tertiary education,

a degree that they can use.

If the students are living now in Rwanda,

if they get relocated,
still they can continue their study.

Still, their degree is useful,
wherever they are.

CR: Our audacious project
was to really test

Southern New Hampshire University's
Global Education Movement's

ability to scale,

to bring bachelor's degrees
and pathways to employment

to refugees and those who would otherwise
not have access to higher education.

SAS: It was almost impossible,
as a refugee person,

to further my education
and to make my career.

My name is Saida Aden Said,

and I am from Somalia.

I was nine years old
when I came to Kakuma,

and I started going to school at 17.

Now I am doing my bachelor degree

with SNHU.

NDD: My name is Noria Dambrine Dusabireme.

I'm doing my bachelor of arts
in communications

with a concentration in business.

CR: We are serving students
across five different countries:

Lebanon, Kenya, Malawi,
Rwanda and South Africa.

Really proud to have 800 AA grads
to over 400 bachelor's graduates

and nearly 1,000 students
enrolled right now.

So, the magic of this is that we're
addressing refugee lives as they exist.

There are no classes.

There are no lectures.

There are no due dates.

There are no final exams.

This degree is competency-based
and not time-bound.

You choose when you start your project.

You choose how
you're going to approach it.

NDD: When you open the platform,
that's where you can see the goals.

Under each goal, we can find projects.

When you open a project,
you get the competencies

that you have to master,

directions

and overview of the project.

CR: The secret sauce of SNHU

is combining that
competency-based online learning

with the in-person learning
that we do with partners

to provide all the wraparound supports.

That includes academic coaching.

It means psychosocial support,

medical support,

and it's also that back-end
employment support

that's really resulting
in the 95 percent graduation,

the 88 percent employment.

NDD: I'm a social media management intern.

It's related to the communications
degree I'm doing.

I've learned so many things
out of the project and in the real world.

CR: The structured internship
is really an opportunity

for students to practice their skills,

for us to create connections
between that internship

and a later job opportunity.

(Music)

This is a model that really
stops putting time

and university policies
and procedures at the center

and instead puts the student
at the center.

IM: The SNHU model
is a big way to shake the tree.

Huge.

It's a huge shake to the traditional way
of having tertiary education here.

BDY: It can transform
the lives of students

from these vulnerable
and refugee communities.

NDD: If I get the degree,

I can just come back and work
everywhere that I want.

I can go for a masters
confidently in English,

which is something that
I would not have dreamt of before.

And I have the confidence
and the skills required

to actually go out
and just tackle the workplace

without having to fear
that I can't make it.

SAS: I always wanted
to work with the community.

I want to establish a nonprofit.

We advocate for women's education.

I want to be someone
who is, like, an ambassador

and encourage them to learn

and tell them it is never too late.

It's a dream.