Our Story

The story of the Refugee and Migrant Education (RME) Network began in 2016 during a summer stroll in Fairfield, CT. Dr Anthony Cernera felt that universities worldwide should take up the challenge and become seriously engaged in refugee and migrant education.

“I believe that the only way to remotely attempt to tackle such a task is to connect universities all over the globe in order to cooperate, research and collaborate in the field of migrant and refugee education. That is why, as their former president, I reached out to the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU). Shortly afterwards, the Being the Blessing Foundation, of which I am the CEO, and IFCU started to cooperate and organized an international inaugural conference on refugee and migrant education. It took place at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (Italy) in November 2017. This event, ultimately, lead to the foundation of what is now called the RME Network, with more than 40 members, including universities, NGOs, not-for-profit organisation and cooperations — all joining forces to globally aid education for and about refugees and migrants.”
Anthony J Cernera, Ph.D.

A second conference on Global Initiatives in Refugee and Migrant Education: Teaching, Research and Social Responsibility took place in November 2018 at Manhattan College, New York City. In September 2022, a third conference of RME Network on Initiatives in Refugee & Migrant Education took place in Rome.