Working together to help refugees access higher education
UTS joins a consortium of 12 universities to build higher education pathways for refugees from around the world.
A student in the UTS Library. Photo: Kwa Nguyen.
UTS has teamed up with 11 universities – under the leadership of the Australian National University (ANU) – to launch the Australian Refugee Welcome University Sponsorship Consortium (ARWUSC). Driven by their strong commitments to social impact, the consortium will co-design a ground-breaking, education-led blueprint for refugee resettlement in Australia.
‘We are thrilled to be joining this new consortium, working together with colleagues from across the sector to make real change in the lives of people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds,’ said Sonal Singh, Executive Manager, Student Access and Equity at UTS.
The ARWUSC aims to create life-changing resettlement and education opportunities for hundreds of students displaced by conflict, offering them the chance, as Sonal says, to ‘realise their full potential and the value they add to our society.’
This cohort has been historically underrepresented in higher education and has had to overcome tremendous barriers to get to where they are. Accessing education shouldn’t be another one.
The group will work closely with the federal government, the Refugee Council of Australia and other key not-for-profits and businesses to explore the introduction of global best practice models of refugee education into Australia.
A group of UTS students. Photo: Kwa Nguyen.
'I hope that through this consortium we can begin to break down some of those barriers and make the pathways to education for people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds much easier,' said Sonal.
UTS’s involvement is a continuation of our strong commitment to supporting refugee and asylum seeker students through our sector-renowned Humanitarian Scholarship Program, as well as displaced academics through our Academics at Risk initiative. As Sonal points out, joining this consortium is ‘another step forward in our goal of ensuring university is accessible to all people, regardless of their background or circumstances.’
Learn more about the Australian Refugee Welcome University Sponsorship Consortium.
Consortium members
Charles Darwin University
Charles Sturt University
Curtin University
Deakin University
Griffith University
University of Canberra
University of Melbourne
University of South Australia
University of Technology Sydney.
