Help at hand in refugee crisis
An advisory service has been set up by the University of Edinburgh to help people affected by the ongoing refugee crisis.
A team based in the University's International Office will offer advice to prospective students and staff with refugee status.
Edinburgh will provide a range of measures to help displaced staff and students.
Staff will offer English language tuition, financial advice, counselling and support with admissions.
The University will continue to provide financial assistance for students and staff with refugee status, including £100,000 in refugee scholarship support over the next three years.
Edinburgh is a member of the CARA (Council for At Risk Academics) network and staff and student societies already engage with refugees in a variety of ways.
Edinburgh University Students' Association are also committed to welcoming and helping those affected by displacement.
Refugee support
The initiative forms part of the University's longstanding track record of offering support and assistance to students and staff seeking sanctuary from areas affected by conflict.
In the last year the University has supported 14 students and a number of Syrian academics who have fled from the Middle East and other areas.
The University recently agreed to provide a bursary to assist a Syrian CARA Fellow who is on a post-doctoral placement at Edinburgh.
Edinburgh has also provided financial assistance to a Masters student from Eritrea. The student, who has been granted refugee status in the UK, will begin their course this month.
Some of the funding has come from the Silber Fund, which is available to assist prospective postgraduate students living in the UK who have been granted refugee status.
Research
Postgraduate students at Edinburgh are involved with the LIVED project which focuses on the experiences of school-aged Syrian refugee children in the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan.
The project is supported by the United Nations Association Edinburgh (UNAE) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The Migration and Citizenship Research Group at Edinburgh focuses on research on migration and citizenship issues.
The group brings together staff and postgraduate research students from across the social sciences: Human Geography, Law, Politics, Social Anthropology, Sociology and Social Policy.
EUSA
The University and Edinburgh University Student Association are united in the commitment to welcome refugees and assist the City of Edinburgh as required.
University staff and student societies currently engage with refugees in Edinburgh in many ways.
EUSA recently delivered their first shipment of donations to volunteer organisation CalAid, with many more donations expected.
Nobel Prize Winner Max Born
In 1936 the University welcomed German CARA scholar Max Born after the academic fled Nazi Germany.
He accepted the position of Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh, where he promoted the teaching of mathematical physics while continuing his research into the behaviour of electrons.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1954 for fundamental research in quantum mechanics.
The University strongly believes in supporting talented scholars and academics seeking sanctuary in the UK. We recognise the University can make an important contribution. Offering a Refugee Advisory Service will assist refugees by pulling together the University community in order to offer assistance to people who have suffered such trauma.
The full range of measures from Edinburgh and EUSA for those affected by the refugee crisis can be found here: