We need a Marshall Plan for refugee education

Editor’s note: This piece was updated to correct a statistic related to GDP. We regret the error.

The world is facing an unprecedented number of refugees and displaced persons, with United Nations estimates projecting more than 200 million by mid-century due to climate change and continuing conflicts. 

To accommodate this disruption, approximately 22 percent of the world’s refugee population live in refugee camps — an estimated 6.6 million people. Tragically, a person born in one of these camps can expect to live there for the rest of their life. Educational opportunities are scarce, and the chances of integrating into the society of the country of refuge are slim.  

Young adults between 18 and 24 have fled with their families to such camps. Many had completed high school or were in the early years of higher education. We estimate that of the 200,000 refugee students ready to enroll in higher education, only a small fraction will have the chance. This means that by the end of this decade, we will have a lost generation of talented young people who are desperately needed around the world.  

All too often, traffickers and terrorists target those who don’t get the chance to continue their education. However, refugee students who continue have proven remarkably resilient and overcome enormous difficulties to stay in school. They study subjects that bring immediate value back to their home communities in the camps and gradually they help improve living conditions for all.   

For most of the last century, education in general, and higher education in particular, were not priorities for most refugee agencies. In 2016, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which included primary and secondary education. In 2018, it adopted a resolution to underscore the Global Compact on Refugees which added tertiary education, calling on states and agencies to consider the higher education needs of refugees. 

At that time, we estimated that less than 1 percent had access to higher education; today the number is 7 percent — still far below the global average of 40 percent. As part of Sustainable Development Goals, the U.N. Refugee Agency has set a goal of providing higher education access to at least 15 percent of refugees by 2030.    

So the question no longer is why, but how to get even close to meeting this “15 by 30” goal. There are only a handful of scholarships earmarked for refugees, and thousands of applications for each one as soon as they are announced.  

Among the creative solutions being advanced, the University of the People, which is entirely online, has committed to enrolling more refugees than ever to help reach the U.N.’s goal. Because of bandwidth and other logistical issues, however, completion rates for most online programs are very low, between 7 and 10 percent.   

The Institute of International Education, where I am CEO, offers Odyssey Scholarships that take a different approach. These provide displaced students pursuing bachelor’s or master’s degrees with a comprehensive package covering tuition, housing and living expenses, as well as advising services, mentorship and leadership training. 

Students are returning to their camps to put their education immediately to use and recruit others to access higher education the way they did. Examples of success create a ripple effect, laying the groundwork for what will surely become universities in the camps themselves. 

The world’s existing 25,000 universities are critical to reaching the U.N.’s goal by making enrollment of refugee students part of their mission. Higher education institutions would be getting resilient, motivated students, and strengthening their alumni bodies with future leaders of refugee communities everywhere.    

Beyond the contributions of the global academic community, we need a Marshall Plan to create a new incentive structure to recognize the refugees among us as part of our common future. To help rebuilding and recovery efforts, I call on every country to devote 1 percent of its GDP to transform camps into incubators of hope rather than more Gazas. 

One percent of the world’s GDP is over $1 trillion. Even if given only once, this act could create a refugee education trust fund that would last for decades. To help manage and monitor these funds, I propose an organization that can be financed by asking the world’s nearly 3,000 billionaires to make a one-time contribution of $1 million. Volunteer leadership would receive no compensation, keeping overhead down by maximizing virtual interactions and only using space donated by NGOs, universities, and corporations. 

Impossible? 

Between 1921 and 1930, the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize winner, Fridtjof Nansen, working with the League of Nations, helped resettle and re-employ some 22 million refugees and displaced persons after World War I. He funded these efforts by donating his prize money and then having the organization sell stamps. 

Regrettably, we have not followed that model. The U.N. chose a different route, and its first demonstration project in Gaza with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency is tainted with corruption and politicization.  

It’s time to do better.  

Allan Goodman, Ph.D., is CEO of the Institute of International Education.