Representatives from Edinburgh will attend the world’s largest international gathering uniting to address the challenges faced by refugees. Image Alan Mackay and Sarah Hoey at the Global Refugee Forum From 13-15 December 2023, Geneva will host the Global Refugee Forum, where politicians and diplomats, refugees and refugee-led organisations, UN agencies, development banks, businesses, charities and foundations, universities, students and many others will unite to address the challenges faced by refugees, and by those who host them. The Global Refugee Forum is a central arrangement to the UNHCR Global Compact on Refugees and meets every four years to review progress and provide an opportunity for stakeholders to share good practices and pledge financial support, technical expertise and policy changes to support comprehensive responses for refugees and ultimately the objectives of the Compact. Refugee access to higher education The University of Edinburgh has been invited to attend and will be represented by Alan Mackay and Sarah Hoey from Edinburgh Global and will be involved in various meetings and events including the GRF Education Campus focusing on higher education and refugee access as part of the UNHCR campaign to have 15 per cent of refugees access higher education by 2030. Today, only six per cent of refugees have access to higher education compared with a global average of 40 per cent. This conference will support delivery of our shared goal of achieving the ‘15 by 30’ UNHCR global target - ensuring 15 per cent of refugees, or a further half a million students, can access higher education by 2030. As a University of Sanctuary we will, together with our partners at this conference, continue to strengthen our tradition of welcoming and supporting those forcibly displaced and providing opportunities to rebuild lives Alan Mackay Deputy Vice-Principal International Related links Find out more about the Global Refugee Forum 2023 Visit our University of Sanctuary site to find out more about our work in this area This article was published on 2024-06-24
