EU-funded scholarships empower Syrian refugees

Last updated on Friday, 27/08/2021

Focus on a brighter future: EU-funded scholarship programmes are helping young Syrian refugees pursue an education, learn hands-on job skills and become self-reliant in tough circumstances.

For Syrian refugees living in difficult conditions across the border from their war-torn homeland, finishing school, obtaining a degree or taking part in job training can seem out of reach in their daily struggle to get by.

But thanks to projects financed by the EUR 1.9 billion EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, these young people with hopes and dreams just like yours can apply for scholarships – and set their sights on a brighter future.

Given the recent Global Refugee Forum, here’s a look at some of these initiatives and the Syrians they have helped.

 

EDU-SYRIA

Maram Malsi, who came to Jordan’s capital Amman in 2011, was able to take up medical lab studies thanks to EDU-SYRIA.

‘I was very happy and had big dreams to study and be a top student and then the crisis in Syria started,’ she says. ‘The scholarship is very important to me – it is my opportunity to complete my higher education.’

The EUR 17.6 million project – which has also received funding from the European Neighbourhood Instrument in addition to support from the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis – gives Syrian refugees living in Jordan access to the country’s higher education system. The goal is to help them secure jobs and stable livelihoods through both knowledge and know-how.  
  
Launched in 2015 and set to continue through 2022, EDU-SYRIA is implemented by German Jordanian University in partnership with four other local institutions.

Scholarship recipients, who also include vulnerable Jordanians from communities that host refugees, can pursue a wide range of Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes – from IT and engineering, to journalism and architectural conservation. Vocational training includes a focus on business and finance, as well as hospitality and restaurant management.  

 

SPARK

Picture: Syrian refugee Rasha Rifaai became a nursery teaching assistant in Lebanon thanks to the EU-funded SPARK project. © European Union 2017-2018, Johanna de Tessières.

Rasha Rifaai, who fled to Lebanon in 2014 after finishing high school, was able to pursue studies in early childhood education thanks to the SPARK project. After being awarded her degree, she landed a job as a nursery teacher’s assistant. And that has helped her family.

‘My parents don’t have anyone else to rely on,’ she says. ‘This job has improved our financial situation.’

It was also fulfilling on another front. 

‘I did this to move forward in life but also to achieve some of my dreams and aspirations,’ she adds. 

The EU Trust Fund’s EUR 18.5 million initiative with some 2 484 beneficiaries gives refugees and disadvantaged local youth in Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey access to scholarships for Bachelor programmes. In Lebanon, it also provides vocational training scholarships to both Syrians and vulnerable young people.

 

HOPES 

   

Picture: An EU-funded HOPES scholarship enabled Syrian refugee Mohammad Al-Deiri to continue his studies in Jordan and fulfil his father’s dying wish. © European Union 2017-2018, Johanna de Tessières.

The EUR 12 million HOPES initiative has helped thousands of Syrians and young people in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey through scholarships, academic counselling, university-based English and study skills courses, as well as funding for innovative short-term education projects. 

Implemented from April 2016 to November 2019, it boosted the prospects and resilience of Syrian refugees and assisted often overwhelmed local communities that host them.

Thanks to a HOPES scholarship, Mohammad Al-Deiri became the first Syrian living in the sprawling Zaatari refugee camp to graduate from a Jordanian university. 

In March 2018, he successfully defended his Master’s thesis in education – and fulfilled his father’s dying wish.

‘The feeling you get with this scholarship is like when a road you feared was closed suddenly opens before you,’ Al-Deiri says. 

To date, the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis has financed almost 6 000 scholarships.