Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Amman (Agenzia Fides) – Currently there are more than 500 thousand Syrian refugees in Jordan. The jesuits have set up online higher education courses which have already been tested in other contexts marked by wars and by the phenomena of forced emigration . This was reported in a note by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and sent to Fides Agency.
The online education program, launched by the JRS in Amman last July, immediately found a welcome surprise: word of mouth among refugees has led to the boom of enrollments in preparatory methodological semester courses, which will then be followed by educational courses in the field of tourism, medical assistance, law and social activities run by NGOs, with award of diplomas recognized by Regis University, the University of the Jesuits based in Colorado (USA).
Higher education programs for refugees set up by the Jesuits in the areas of emergency - identified by the initials Higher Education at the Margins - start from the observation that emergency assistance such as - food, shelter , medicine - is not enough to offer refugees a future.
In Amman, some students of online courses are already engaged in medical assistance to refugees in the city hospitals. Many young Syrians involved in the initiative were students who fled their hometown at the very moment when they were about to begin their college courses.
The online education courses promoted by the Jesuits allow to direct energy towards specific intellectual and professional objectives regarding people forced to flee their homes. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 06/11/2013)
