Critical Conversations 2021

Critical Conversations on Refugee and Migrant Education:
Toward Commitment and Concrete Action

The coronavirus pandemic has upended educational systems and practices worldwide, but for refugees and migrants the pandemic exposed just how desperate their already difficult plight has become. Throughout 2021 the Refugee & Migrant Education Network will be hosting a series of conversations about issues within refugee education.

The series of programs will explore

  • Reimagining innovation in a time of global uncertainty;
  • Educating university students about refugees and migrants;
  • Developing effective partnerships advancing educational access to displaced persons.

 

Program 1 — Critical Conversations 2021 with UNHCR’s Filippo Grandi

EDUCATION IN EXILE:

The current state and importance of refugee education as a pathway to opportunity

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi visits refugee children from Aleppo, Idlib and Homs at Taalabay school in Bekaa Valley.

In partnership with the Gregorian University in Rome, the RME Network invites you to join us for our  first program of 2021! The discussion will feature Filippo Grandi, the 11th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

As United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, he heads the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) leading the international response to refugee crises around the world, working with governments to ensure that refugees have access to protection and support, and helping find solutions to displacement and statelessness. Mr. Grandi has been engaged in international cooperation for 33 years, primarily with the United Nations. He has served in field operations in many of the major refugee and humanitarian crises of the last three decades.

 

Fernando M. Reimers, Harvard University’s Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice in International Education and Director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative, will moderate the conversation. Dr. Grandi and Professor Reimers will focus on the realities and challenges of educating displaced people around the world.

Following their remarks, members of RME Network—both administrators as well as refugees—will join the conversation to present their projects and challenges they face in their work.

Attendees will be able to SUBMIT QUESTIONS for Dr. Grandi and Dr. Reimers prior to the event for the Q&A portion of the program.