Student refugee program gets a boost

All students face challenges adjusting to university life – but imagine if you came from a refugee camp and never had a bank account, a washing machine or a refrigerator. Figuring out the university experience for refugees happens at the same time as they are figuring out life in a radically different world. A new bursary at the University of Lethbridge will help make the transition a bit easier.

The Syrian refugee crisis that made headlines in 2015 spurred Dr. Anne Dymond, a professor of art history, along with colleagues and later students, to join forces. They formed a local World University Service of Canada (WUSC) committee to sponsor a refugee student.

Within a few months, they had raised the funds needed to bring a qualified United Nations refugee student to ULethbridge for a year. The first student, a Syrian living in Jordan, started his studies in the fall of 2016.

 In 2017, ULethbridge students supported the program and voted to help sustain it through a student levy. The levy and fundraising by the WUSC Club support refugee students through their first year. ULethbridge is currently sponsoring its ninth student through WUSC.

Dymond and Professor Emerita Shelly Wismath, former dean of the School of Liberal Education, were concerned refugee students would not have the financial means to continue their education beyond the first year. They pooled their resources and created a new Refugee Student Bursary.

“The new award is specifically for that second year to cover at least most of the fees,” says Wismath. “The support is great for the first-year WUSC student, but then they are on their own financially, which is too big a leap for most of them.”

 “We find that it’s often difficult for these students to find employment, and because they have no other support — in fact, they’re often trying to help others back home — this bursary will really benefit them,” says Dymond. “My husband, Philip Byrne, and I hope these funds will ease their financial burdens so they can focus on their studies and enjoy the university experience more.”

The university experience is life changing for refugees, many of whom have been displaced by war and had their education limited. In turn, other students on campus learn about global citizenship first-hand.

“The most important thing I’ve learned overall has been that even when we can’t change the world, we can do things that have big impacts on individual people,” says Dymond.

“Knowing the transformative power of education, we invite everyone to contribute to the fund. Through the Campaign for Students, gifts to the fund have double the impact with matching funds from the ULethbridge Board of Governors.”