HOPES - Higher and Further Education Opportunities and Perspectives for Syrians.
HOPES is a direct reaction to the Syrian crisis with the objective of empowering young people from Syria to build their own career paths by directly addressing their education
needs. Funded by the European Union´s Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis - THE MADAD FUND - the project provides a wide range of educational offers to
Syrian refugees in host countries in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq.
The portfolio includes academic counselling to up to 42,000 young Syrians as well as the provision of language courses to 4, 000 of them, more than 300 full academic scholarships
and higher education short courses for more than 3,500 student refugees. HOPES is implemented by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in collaboration with its
partners from British Council, Campus France and EP-Nuffic.
Target groups will be Syrian refugees of post-secondary-age as well as young people in host communities affected by the high influx of refugees.
The objective of the action is to improve prospects for young Syrians and to contribute to the preparation for post-crisis reconstruction on Syria. The project will increase participation and
provide better access to quality further and higher education opportunities in the neighbouring region for vulnerable Syrian youth as well as host communities.
Location and Duration:
The life-span of the project will be 4 years, from April 2016 until November 2019. The project will be physically present in the project countries Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq.
Activities and Results:
* Academic Counselling: Education Officers located in the five target countries will inform Syrian refugees and vulnerable host communities about access to tertiary
education opportunities in host countries. The overall outreach is estimated at more than 42,000 contacts.
Scholarship Fund: More than 300 full academic scholarships will be provided through a Scholarship Fund, thus facilitating further study opportunities at local institutions.
Scholarships will be mainly awarded to candidates at Bachelor level and with a particular focus on students who had to interrupt their studies in Syria due to the
conflict.
* English Access Programme: 4,000 students will benefit from university-based English and study skills courses. Learners attending the courses will improve their English
increasing their ability to apply for and receive scholarships and access other educational opportunities in their host countries. The acquisition of language skills will
also improve their opportunities for employment where these are available.
* Calls for Proposals: Two Calls for Proposals will be published to fund innovative education offers by local providers targeting refugees and vulnerable host communities.
A particular focus is on credit-based short courses as well as on flexible, creative learning interventions. The programme also supports capacity-building of local institutions. It is
estimated that at least 3,500 Syrian refugees in the region will benefit from these interventions.
* Stakeholder Dialogue: The project will facilitate coordination of stakeholders in the region addressing the educational needs of refugees in order to exchange good practices,
coordinate interventions and assure effectiveness. Two regional policy conferences as well as country-based dialogues will be organized to develop joint strategies for
addressing the needs of the refugee population.
The HOPES project is funded by the European Union´s Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis - THE MADAD FUND. Launched in December 2014, the overall objective of the
Trust Fund is to provide a coherent and reinforced aid response to the Syrian crisis on a regional scale, responding primarily in the first instance to the needs of refugees from Syria in
neighbouring countries, as well as of the communities hosting the refugees and their administrations, in particular as regards resilience and early recovery. The Trust Fund has
already reached a total volume of €727 million with contributions from the EU budget, 20 EU Member States, and Turkey.
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/neighbourhood/countries/syria/madad/inde...
Contact:
Stefanie Kottowski, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Mail: hopes@daad.de