SNHU Global University is a comprehensive, context-sensitive, and scalable solution to bring high-quality, low-cost tertiary education to refugees worldwide. Our program offers refugee youth and others affected by displacement - including youth from marginalized refugee-hosting communities - the opportunity to pursue online competency-based BA and AA degrees through our innovative College for America platform. With US-accredited degrees, graduates will have the knowledge, critical thinking skills and credentials to pursue meaningful employment and to transform their futures.
The ongoing refugee crisis is a dramatic acceleration of a decades-long trend. The average duration for protracted displacement is now 26 years, leaving entire generations without higher education or employment opportunities. Education is the most overlooked “durable solution” to the global refugee crisis. By providing high-quality tertiary education, we are recognizing the agency, creativity, and capabilities of refugee youth and their potential to contribute to political, social, and economic solutions for themselves. Our pilot program in Rwanda proves that this model can work even for youth with significant academic gaps, language challenges, and social disadvantages.
Our approach is made both feasible and sustainable through our flexible, low-cost degree and versatile partnership model. Unique even in the US context, our innovative competency-based degree enables learners to proceed at their own pace, while US-accreditation offers internationally-recognized credentials, leaving students with the mobility needed to contend with future uncertainties. The flexibility of our model means it can be adapted to any context, including protracted camps, urban contexts, emergency environments, and resettlement programs - enabling it to reach displaced youth worldwide. By documenting evidence from our program, we hope that others can also use this model to bring higher education to youth around the globe.
