The University of Auckland has been given a top 10 global ranking in sustainable development goals after enrolling 800 refugee students.
Dr Gül İnanç, right, and Professor Jay Marlowe, co-directors of the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies (CAPRS) at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. Photo: Supplied/Auckland University
It was one of the first universities in the world to make refugees an equity group, with a targeted admission scheme.
About five percent of three million students with refugee backgrounds attend tertiary institutions worldwide, and the UNHCR wants that to rise to 15 percent by 2030.
The University of Auckland has been ranked sixth globally by the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which has refugee enrolments as one of the criteria.
"We're expecting this to have a big impact in years to come for universities to put a mirror to themselves and ask the question 'actually, what are we doing for the displaced youth?'" said the co-director of the university's Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies, Dr Gül İnanç.
"University of Auckland was one of the pioneering institutions that already extended their diploma programmes and offered certain scholarships for students with refugee backgrounds."
It was also supporting academics and working on programmes in South-East Asia.
"The University of Auckland, but at the same time, other universities in New Zealand can come together and collaborate in reaching out to displaced youth in the region through online diploma programmes by partnering with local institutions in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand."
The University has Undergraduate Targeted Admission Schemes (UTAS) that apply to refugee students, and which reserve places in undergraduate programmes for applicants who have met University Entrance standards but have not met the guaranteed entry score programme of their choice.
It also offers bridging courses like the Tertiary Foundation Certificate and New Start programme, alongside a range of scholarships.
The Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, which assess universities based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, now explicitly reference support for students with refugee, asylum seeker and stateless backgrounds.
The change took on board the recommendation of the working group, created by Dr İnanç.
Speaking on World Refugee Day today, she said expanding access to higher education for displaced youth meant opening the door to knowledge, skills development, professional advancement, sustainable livelihoods, cultural enrichment and social cohesion for thousands of ambitious, talented young people who are denied that opportunity and associated identity.
"Universities which choose to move their classroom beyond four walls and to share knowledge with global communities in need now, via online diploma programmes for example, will be identified as the thought leaders of tomorrow. For sure, this leadership is needed now, but also in the years to come with the certainty of future mass displacement due to climate change."
Duncan Ross, chief data officer of THE Ranking Agency, believes education institutions have a critical role to play in achieving the UNHCR's target for refugees in tertiary education.
"Achieving this goal would provide roughly half a million refugee youth with the opportunity to benefit from exposure to the new ideas one gains from higher education, to develop skills and earn a qualification that can lead to jobs and greater self-reliance, and to have the right to pursue their dreams equally alongside millions of their non-refugee peers."