recognition of refugee other non-verifiable tibetan national uprising day has been marked by...

Recognition of Refugee

&

Other Non-Verifiable

Credentials

NAFSA Region X: Lake Placid, NY

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

2:00-3:30pm

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Amy M. Ullrich Evaluator

aullrich@ece.org

Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc.

Yu-Wan Wang Associate Dean, International Admissions

Yu-wan.wang@stonybrook.edu

Stony Brook University, SUNY

Jody Lehr Waite Founder/Director

Jody.lehr.waite@gmail.com

Why Wait: International Higher Education Solutions

Session Objectives 3

• Define the problem, the populations & documentation

• Offer best practices for development of a university

process for admission of persons with unofficial or non-

verifiable credentials

• Discuss research & various initiatives that are currently

in process

Refugees & Displaced People by

Numbers

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• 65.3 million people are refugees, asylum seekers or

displaced persons

– That means every 1 in 113 people on the planet!

– Of those 65.3 million, 12.4 million of them were newly

displaced in 2015

• 60%+ of refugees have come from:

– Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and South Sudan (just hit 1m this

month)

• 50% of all refugees are children under 18

UNHCR report on Refugees June 2016: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-36573082

Refugees & Displaced People in

Pictures

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http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/03/world/gallery/europes-refugee-crisis http://www.bbc.com/news/world-36573082 Associated Foreign Press (AFP)

Top Hosting/Receiving Regions &

Countries

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http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.htm

Terminology

Refugee Status Determination(RSD)

Refugee

Asylum Seeker/Asylee

Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

Special Immigration Visa (SIV)

UVD (Unverifiable Document)

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Students’ Documentation Challenges

Interrupted periods of education

Unable to provide official

proof of educational

achievements

May only have unofficial

documentation

May have attended

unrecognized refugee camp

schools

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Unavailable or Unverifiable?

Undocumented:

• Lack of proper legal status and documentation

Unavailable:

• Not in the student’s possession; no documents presented

Unverifiable:

• Documents presented, but of poor quality; institution can not be contacted

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Why are the documents unverifiable?

Institution has closed or is no

longer operating

Institution is located in an

area of conflict

Contacting an institution for

verification puts a student

at risk

Student has limited/no documents available for

previous education

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Determining Documentation

Authenticity

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• Compare original documents with those in your institution’s archives (if you don’t have an archive yet, PLEASE START ONE :), compare signatures of the time period, seals/stamps, security features

• Redact the student’s personal information and post with questions on ECE’s TheConnection (https://theconnection.ece.org/) if you are unfamiliar with the country/institution’s documentation format

• Send for verification to institution’s administrative staff and specific faculty

• Use Online Verification resources

– Lists of Graduates

– Results Online

– National Databases

– Institutional Databases

List of Graduates - Example 12

University of Baghdad – Medicine

2013-14 results sample

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NAME Grade Average

Final Date of Passing

What do you do when…?

A country currently has multiple governments issuing documents? (Syria, Ukraine/Crimea, etc.)

Students are completing non-traditional programs in refugee camps/training centers?

A student only supplies partial documentation?

A reliable method of verification suddenly stops?

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Syrian Refugee Documents:

Etilaf Issued Certificates

http://en.etilaf.org/coalition-units/coalition-offices/office-of-the-national-higher-commission-for-learning-and-higher-education.html

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Etilaf Certificate: Science Track 16

Etilaf Certificate: Science Track

(Translation)

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Results Online – Syrian Example

http://moed.gov.sy/cresults2015/scientific/index.php

Literary Science

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UNWRA Diploma 19

http://www.unrwa.org/

Official

Transcript

provided

with credit

hours and

marks

earned

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Refugee Camp

Documents

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Educational Certificate 22

English document 23

Incomplete Iraqi

Transcript

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Developing Alternative Methods for Verification

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Embassy of Afghanistan, Washington

D.C.

http://www.embassyofafghanistan.org/page/consulate-services-department

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What do you do at your institution?

Do policies already exist?

• Are they formal or informal (i.e. case-by-case basis)

What do you do with insufficient documentation?

• Make exceptions?

• Cancel the process?

What resources do you have available?

• Online databases

• EducationUSA

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• Create an institutional definition for what a “refugee

student” entails

• Students may be passport holders, green card holders, F-1, J-1, or other

• This definition will dictate admissions policies, but should also be mindful that

there may be refugee students that are admitted “under the radar”

• Admissions offices should be able to accommodate

ambiguity or missing documents

• Universities should be prepared to offer accommodations including placement

tests on campus to determine level

• Working with evaluation services where appropriate, being willing to waive or absorb fees

• Using community college or college prep network where applicable/necessary

• Best practice has demonstrated that students succeed

when they are admitted in a cohort with their peers

• Institutions identify which programs or areas are strengths or have required

support networks

• Ex: for a large research university, deciding whether to invest in refugee students at the bachelors, MA, MS, or PhD level

• Communicate to stakeholder offices across campus as

issues may arise that are unique to these students

• Student billing, registrar, advising, orientation, housing, counseling

• Issues include inter-session housing, outstanding bills affecting registration, etc.

Success Stories:

Martha & Rev. Waitstill Sharp: recipients of the “Righteous Among Nations” title

(The refugees included Nobel laureate physicist Otto Meyerhof and writers

Heinrich Mann (brother of Thomas), Franz Werfel (''The Song of Bernadette"), and Lion Feuchtwanger (''Proud Destiny").

Dr. Kenneth Senft, a Lutheran pastor, answered the call to assist displaced

children during WWII. Many of these children went on to higher education in the United States.

Refugee Crisis: Life in Exile

• 80.000 Tibetans were exiled to India • Since the exile, several talks have occurred between Chinese representatives

and Tibetans, but no meaningful agreement has been made • On March 10th, 1959 Tibetans took to the streets in Lhasa, the capital, rising up

against China’s invasion of their homeland. This day is now referred to as Tibetan National Uprising Day.

• Tibetan National Uprising Day has been marked by self-immolation of monks and nuns in the years following 1959.

Education • His holiness has worked to provide education to young Tibetans

• Schools have been established with assistance from the government of India

• Tibetan educational philosophy is that teachers should not only train the mind, but also the spirit and body to have a correct attitude for education

• The Central Tibetan Schools Administration currently has 71 schools with an enrollment of 10,000 students

• There are 8 branches of Tibetan Children’s Village School with a total of approx. 8,000 enrolled students

Many children go without desks and school supplies

What’s working in other countries?

• Standardized procedure called UVD

NOKUT (Norwegian ENIC-NARIC):

• Standard credential evaluation or indication of educational level

Dutch EP-NUFFIC:

• Background paper & alternative pathways for refugees

CIEP (French ENIC-NARIC):

• Background paper

CIMEA (Italian ENIC-NARIC):

• Fact Sheets for countries in crisis

Danish Agency for Higher Education:

• Background paper or educational portfolio

UK & Swedish ENIC-NARIC:

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What ECE is doing

Reviewed literature

Surveyed HEI’s

Surveyed Resettlement

Agencies

Developed a pilot program with a select

agency

Launched ECEAid in

August

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Survey Results

Audience: Higher educational institutions (HEIs)

Date Created: December 21, 2015

Total responses: 61

Audience: Refugee resettlement agencies

Date Created: January 29, 2016

Total responses: 22

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Do you receive applications from

refugees?

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On average, what is the highest level

of schooling you see from refugees?

HEIs

RESETTLEMENT AGENCIES

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What type of documents are

presented for previous education?

HEI’S RESETTLEMENT AGENCIES

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Does your school have a policy for

students lacking access to their

educational documents?

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The Policies Student must put in writing

their attempts to obtain their documents and the

committee must determine if the transcript can be

waived.

Largely been only a handful of students in the past 10 years; it is not anything

formal yet. We are planning to create a formal policy.

We will review each case individually to determine how to proceed forward.

If the student is not able to obtain an official transcript,

we require a 3rd party evaluation.

We administer an entrance examination if needed.

Case-by-case basis depending on what level of study, the country they are from, and the amount of access they

have to documents or services in their home

country.

The students is considered through a special admission process. May be required to

take a placement test to determine academic

placement in courses.

This is reviewed on a case-by-case basis, depending on

the circumstances of the student and country.

Each situation is different, so it depends; we try to

assist applicant by explaining what’s needed,

what’s missing & what alternatives exist.

We generally waive the requirement for

authentication through WES or other service.

We’ll accept photocopies if we have confirmation from our resources that it is not

possible for the applicants to obtain official transcripts from

their former institution.

On a case-by-case basis. Students work with

admission staff to see what they have access too or what other options are

available

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The Challenges 47

ECE®Aid

A charitable program that provides fee waivers for evaluation reports for vulnerable populations, such as refugees

ECE partners with experienced, trusted agencies and institutions

Those third parties are responsible for selecting the recipients based on need and criteria

ECE does not provide complimentary reports directly to individuals

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ECE®Aid

www.ece.org/eceaid

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Additional Initiatives 50

Alternative Options

Granting students provisional admission, based on their performance in an ESL course

Assisting students with obtaining federal student loans and grants

Increasing online course options to incorporate refugee populations

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) Student’s Refugee Program (SRP) fee program

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Resources

• German scholarship program: http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2016/4/5702722a6/german-funded-scholarships-give-young-refugees-hope-education.html

• Norway’s new refugee “credential passport”: http://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2016/09/norway-develops-qualifications-passport-for-refugees/?utm_content=buffer2f373&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

• South Sudanese refugees pass 1 million mark: http://www.unhcr.org/en-

us/news/latest/2016/9/57dbe2d94/refugees-fleeing-south-sudan-pass-million-mark.html

• Supporting refugees to access higher education: http://www.resettlement.eu/page/supporting-refugees-access-higher-education

• The Refugee Crisis and Higher Education (2015): https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/25/syrian-refugee-crisis-and-higher-education

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Additional Reading:

ENIC-NARIC

http://www.enic-naric.net/recognise-qualifications-held-by-refugees.aspx

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Questions?

Presentation is available at https://ece.org/presentations

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