HOPES conference on employability of Syrian refugees concludes

AMMAN — The EU-funded Higher and Further Education Opportunities and Perspectives for Syrians (HOPES) project on Wednesday concluded the second regional conference on higher education and Syria crisis, at the Le Grand Amman Hotel.

More than 110 representatives from the Middle East and Europe attended, including students enrolled in the Syrian and Jordanian HOPES programmes, a statement sent to The Jordan Times said.

Representatives from ministries, embassies, higher education institutions and key stakeholders involved in tertiary education in the context of the Syria crisis from Egypt, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Europe also participated in the conference.

The two-day event entailed extensive debates, through multiple panels, on the state of higher education systems in the region.

The panels highlighted various initiatives and approaches to improving the learning process for refugees from Syria as well as local students, as Syrian and Jordanian HOPES students shared their concerns, ambitions and future plans after graduation during the “What’s next for me?” panel, the statement said.

The debates triggered further discussions on the language needs of students and the necessity to find more innovative and realistic solutions for employability in light of the prevailing situation in host countries, according to the statement.

According to the statement, the aim of the conference is to enable participants to better understand the needs and expectations of beneficiaries in the HOPES project.

More so, the goal too is to explore in-depth recommendations for better-coordinated programmes and innovative sustainable and viable approaches in host countries.

Carsten Walbiner, HOPES project director, Manar Fayyad, president of the German Jordanian University (GJU) as well as Corinne André, head of cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Jordan, addressed the panels of the conference.

HOPES is a 12 million euro regional project, funded by the EU’s Madad Fund, the Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian Crisis.

It is implemented by the German Academic Exchange Service together with the British Council, Campus France and Nuffic.

The project improves the education and employability prospects of students and provides access to quality higher education opportunities for refugees from Syria as well as young people in the host, the HOPES explained.

HOPES activities include full academic scholarships at different levels, English courses, academic counselling, support funding for innovative short-term education projects and stakeholder dialogue events, the statement concluded.