When volunteers at the Calais “Jungle” camp in Northern France asked Omer AKA Dream, how they could help refugees like him, he was clear. “We need a library,” he told them. “Bring books.”
It was while working in the new Jungle Books Library that Dream, 32, from Sudan, came across two academics from the University of East London, Corinne Squire and Aura Lounasmaa. The women were travelling to France every couple of weeks as volunteers with other students and academics to deliver a short, accredited, undergraduate course on life stories for inhabitants of the camp. Dream signed up.
By day, he studied social and philosophical texts, poetry, and autobiographies by Nelson Mandela, and Malala Yousafzai, as well as writing his own poetry. By night, he risked his life attempting to get to England.
Before fleeing militias in Sudan in fear of his life, Dream worked in events management. He travelled overland to Libya, then to Italy on a boat that was robbed, misdirected and robbed again by bandits. He arrived in Calais with almost nothing. “I wrote my poems on a phone given to me by a volunteer,” he says.
Two years on he has successfully claimed asylum in Britain and has recently graduated from UEL’s 10-month foundation OLive-UP programme, part of its Open Learning Initiative designed to help refugees and asylum seekers prepare for British higher education. There he again met Lounasmaa, a lecturer in UEL’s school of social sciences, who was leading the course. In September he will return to the university to begin a BA in international relations.
Under OLive, which is part funded by European money through Erasmus, and run in partnership with the Central European University in Budapest, the University of Vienna and the European Network Against Racism, UEL provides seminars and workshops on English language, academic writing and research, computer skills and migration issues for around 40 refugees and asylum seekers. Some travel to London from as far as Cardiff and Newcastle.
Rebecca Murray, director of Article 26, a charity promoting access to higher education for those fleeing persecution, says more and more institutions are offering help for refugees and asylum seekers: “Universities cite public good and also say they come across individuals who are talented, determined and committed to their studies, and that can be a force of nature.”
Birkbeck provides fee waivers and extra financial support for 20 asylum seekers not eligible for student finance, and workshops advising on skills needed at higher education level.
The University of Warwick is one of a number of Universities of Sanctuary welcoming students seeking asylum, and offers up to four undergraduate scholarships for asylum seeker students not eligible for student loans, while the University of Nottingham offers £1,000 a year to refugees eligible for loans, in recognition of the extra challenges they face.
Despite the financial support, it can still be difficult for refugees to study, particularly when rules around immigration status are constantly changing. At UEL, students on the foundation course can get a fee waiver, but must pay their own maintenance – particularly tough for those whose immigration status prevents them from working.
Then there’s Brexit. UEL has European funding in place until November but, in applying for funding for its 2019 OLive programmes, it has had to agree to a cut in its share and to take on any risks arising from Brexit. “That makes it difficult for students but it also makes it difficult for institutions,” says Lounasmaa.
Nevertheless, OLive-UP will expand next year, with three places for refugees and asylum seekers on UEL’s education foundation course, as well as the existing three in social sciences.
Meanwhile, Dream is looking forward finally to becoming an undergraduate. He says his priority is to finish his BA. After that? “The sky is the limit for studying,” he says. You can lose money, friends, a home, he adds: “Only knowledge lasts.”