Academic Refuge

The EU-funded ‘Academic Refuge’ project aimed to improve the capacity of European universities to assist refugees and threatened academics on campus and to promote understanding and respect for higher education values.

The full title of the project: An Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership to Promote Core Academic Values and Welcome Refugees and Threatened Academics to European Campuses

Project Acronym: Academic Refuge

Project period: September 2016-August 2019 (3 years)

The two overlapping project objectives:

  1. Improve the capacity of European universities to assist refugees and threatened academics
  2. Promote greater respect for academic freedom and greater protection for higher education values

Alongside increasing the European universities’ capacity to support those who were forced to flee, there is an opportunity for European universities to work together with refugees and threatened academics to look to the longer-term. This combines efforts such as the Academic Dugnad with the long term work of Scholars at Risk.

This project will raise greater awareness of the importance of academic freedom to a healthy higher education sector, the consequences for society at large when such freedom is repressed, and the steps we can take as a sector to protect higher education values.

Academic Refuge work packages:

1. Development and implementation of a Staff training on Welcoming Refugees and Threatened Academics to European Campuses
The Pilot Staff training took place in Oslo 19-23 June 2017 (Report, PDF)

2. Development and implementation of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on academic freedom and higher education values (launch 4 June 2018, next course starts 28 Oct 2019)
Course page on Futurelearn where you can register for the MOOC

3. Development of an electronic handbook on putting higher education values into practice (June 2019) Promoting Core Higher Education Values; Perspectives for the Field