Global Task Force on Third Country Education (GTF) Minimum Standards: Complementary Education Pathways
The Global Task Force on Third Country Education Pathways (GTF) promotes and supports the expansion of tertiary education as a complementary pathway for refugee students. Increasing the number of higher education pathways will not only help grow the number of refugees enrolled in higher education to 15% by 2030, as set forth in the Refugee Education 2030: A Strategy for Refugee Inclusion, and pursue the renovated goals of the Third Country Solutions for Refugees: Roadmap 2030 as a continuation of the efforts done through The Three-Year Strategy (2019-2021) on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways.
One of the main objectives of the GTF is to promote minimum standards for the design of complementary education pathways and to provide assistance and capacity building to ensure new and existing programs meet these standards. The GTF developed Minimum Standards to support the efforts of multi-sectorial stakeholders and higher education institutions engaged or interested in offering tertiary education opportunities to refugee students.
The Minimum Standards & Effective Practice
| Standard | Programs commit to: | Example of Effective Practice |
| 1. Protection & Safeguarding | Ensure access to legal rights, supporting students to obtain travel documents, visas, etc., obtain informed consent about consequences of departure from country of asylum, facilitate student travel, provide clear & transparent guidance about legal status options, facilitate access to legal assistance & resources. | WUSC Student Refugee Program (SRP) is a unique sponsorship program that combines higher education opportunities with protection and permanent resettlement for refugee youth in Canada. Safeguards include education, job, financial and medical services, and permanent residency approval before arrival, which protects against refoulment. |
| 2. Application & Admission to Education Pathway Programs | Open & transparent application process, accessible to all students and promoted in channels that are known and accessible to refugees, provide reasonable support in application process, secured admissions. | To support the efforts of the organizations offering higher education opportunities, UNHCR launched the Opportunities Portal, where refugee students can find relevant information about the scholarships provided by multiple initiatives. |
| 3. Funding | Provide or secure funding for all application related costs, visa & travel costs, full cost of the program of study, subsistence costs, including health insurance, living expenses, local transportation, and accommodation. | JICUF is a foundation that offers scholarship opportunities for refugee students; they adequately fund their opportunities that will provide all the necessary costs to enter Japan and, once there, entirely funded to cover access to services education and daily expenses. |
| 4. Integration & Psychosocial Support | Language training at no cost, access to services such as career placement, social organizations, internships, extracurricular activities, etc., academic & psychosocial support. | DIME`s Habesha Project offers opportunities in Spanish, but language proficiency is not a requirement to apply. Habesha Project will provide a One-Year integration period, which will include an Intensive Language Course and Academic Regularization before higher education studies. |
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