Refugee welcome programme ends with new challenges due to war in Ukraine

29/06/2022

On 16 June, the participants of the UAB Refugee Welcome Programme met at the SAF facilities to mark the end of the 2021/22 academic year. This year, a total of 37 UAB students participated in the programme that aims to accompany and integrate refugees into the univesity community.

The programme's volunteers offer social accompaniment to people seeking asylum and who are living on the UAB campus. This year 16 social mentoring partners were created between UAB students and refugees living at the Vila Universitària under the guardianship of the Catalan Refugee Help Commission (CEAR).

In addition, more than 15 young refugees and UAB students worked together on activities to learn about agroecology thanks to the Hortaula of the Faculty of Education. One can click on this link to hear the explanation of the project from Alexis Koivogui and Sandra Saura, who were guests on the radio show Matins de Ràdio Estel on 20 June 2022, in commemoration of “World Refugee Day” (minuts 17:29’-19:35’).

More initiatives of the welcome refugee programme included defending human rights on campus. Throughout the year, students co.created two communication campaigns which they disseminated through the social networks (the Bústia Antiracista and a collaboration on Instagram with @Reptespelcanvi from the Environmental Programme).

Apart from the campaigns, the awareness-raising strategy of the Welcome Programme also included talks open to all of the university community, such as the open debate on the war in Ukraine “Debat obert: Guerra a Ucraïna, resistències i acció no-violenta” and a round table on a feminist outlook on health and decolonisation “La salut amb perspectiva feminista i decolonial”, in collabroation with the FAS Health Programme. Over 500 UAB undergraduate students participated in training capsules on migration, LGBTIQ+ and gender issues. During the months of April and May, 14 students attended a workshop with credits entitled “Drets en Trànsit” [Rights in Transit].

Academic inclusion at the UAB

Since 2016, over 45 displaced persons from across the world have had the chance to continue their higher education studies at the UAB thanks to the #UABRefugi grants call, organised by the FAS Refugee Welcome Programme. 

Next year, the project will continue with five new students from Syria, Kurdistan and Irak, thanks to a collaboration between the UAB and JUSOOR and a call for grants for young peacebuilders, funded by the Catalan Development Cooperation Agency. In response to the crisis in Ukraine, the UAB has also decided to increase the amount of funding for displaced university students, whose figure will certainly rise in the 2022/23 academic year.

With this in mind, the UAB created a crowdfunding campaign: #BequesUABRefugi Emergència Ucraïna, which is dedicated to people who had to stop studying due to the conflict in Ukraine. People like Nikita Zalewski, a UAB student and grantholder for the 2022/23 academic year, who talks about his experience in this interview.

If you wish to form part of the UAB commitment to fighting for the educational rights of refugee students, then please consider making a donation to our campaign.

If you are interested in learning more about the Refugee Welcome Programme and/or are interested in collaborating as a volunteer to accompany refugee students and people on campus, please send an e-mail to: fas.acollida@uab.cat

This information is related to the following SDG