Refugee Education Initiatives 1

The purpose of REIs1, which ran between 2016 and 2019 at Central European University (Hungary), University of East London (UK) and University of Vienna (Austria),  was to facilitate the social and economic inclusion of newly arrived migrants and foster their access to higher education.

REIs1 offered university preparatory courses while validating the learning and qualifications of refugee students.

REIs1 ran two educational programs. Full-time university preparatory programs were run at Central European University and at the University of East London and was designed to impart academic skills to refugee students and assist them in applying to universities. A weekend program was run in all three universities and sought to foster social inclusion through language training, advocacy and rights education, career skills teaching and academic teaching.  

At CEU, approximately 60% of students from the full-time program entered university, while at UEL the figure was 50%.