In response to the crisis in Syria, the Institute of International Education (IIE) announced today that an IIE-led consortium of over 30 higher education institutions and other organizations around the world has committed over $1.3 million in emergency support for Syrian students and scholars.  The IIE Syria Consortium for Higher Education in Crisis is part of a partnership announced in September 2012 at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) among IIE, Syrian organization Jusoor, and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Thank you to all our members and partners for supporting this initiative. 

In the weeks since the CGI Commitment was announced, 27 universities around the world have joined the IIE consortium, agreeing to provide scholarships for students and serve as host campuses for professors and senior scholars. Commitments by consortium members have added $1.3 million toward the CGI goal, for a total of $3.3 million out of $5 million needed.  For example, Notre Dame Law School in the United States is offering one full scholarship for a Syrian student, two partial scholarships for Syrian students, and to host one threatened scholar from Syria, a commitment that totals over $100,000.  Central European University in Hungary and the University of Edinburgh in the UK are offering several full scholarships for Syrian students. Several higher education associations also joined the consortium and are helping to reach out to more institutions. The Richard Lounsbery Foundation, based in Washington, DC, has agreed to provide grant funds for up to four Scholar Rescue Fund fellowships for threatened Syrian professors. Foundations, corporations, and others who wish to help can continue to join IIE’s consortium or provide support for the IIE Emergency Student Fund at www.iie.org/syria. 

The 33 consortium members, located in the United States, Canada, France, Hungary, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, are:  

• American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)
• American University
• Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities
• Aston University
• Brown University
• Bryn Mawr College
• CampusFrance
• Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE)
• Central European University
• DePaul University
• Eastern Michigan University
• Emory University
• Emporia State University
• Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Felician College
• Illinois State University
• Le Moyne College
• Montclair State University
• Notre Dame School of Law
• Notre Dame of Maryland University
• Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
• Richard Lounsbery Foundation
• St. Cloud State University
• UK Higher Education International Unit
• Universidad Veracruzana
• University of Central Missouri
• University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Evansville
• University of Miami
• Willamette University

Higher Education Institutions, foundations, corporations, and others who wish to help can continue to join IIE’s consortium. For more information and to participate in this effort, please visit www.iie.org/syria.

To match students and scholars with opportunities, IIE, Jusoor, and IIT will create an online portal to enable individuals needing educational assistance to browse available scholarships and apply to participating universities directly.  IIE and IIT will serve as a resource to institutions on how best to provide support services to Syrian students and scholars, while Jusoor will help advertise opportunities widely within the Syrian community.  The online portal will also provide comprehensive information on freely accessible online learning options, so that Syrian students and scholars who cannot leave Syria or travel for scholarship opportunities can continue their education during the crisis.  The online portal will be launched in December, 2012.

IIE, IIT and Jusoor will collaborate with the U.S. Department of State’s EducationUSA network to help ensure Syrian students are aware of the opportunities that are available through this initiative. EducationUSA-Syria provides accurate, comprehensive and current information about U.S. higher education and guidance to qualified Syrian students to access opportunities for study in the United States.  

At the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in September, the Institute of International Education announced that it will lead – along with Jusoor and IIT – an initiative to provide emergency support to Syrian students and scholars. The three organizations together committed a total of $2 million. The overall goal of the Commitment is a total of $5 million in support, which would enable the following:

• Provide IIE Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) fellowships to up to 15 senior, threatened academics from Syria.
• Provide IIE Emergency Student Fund (ESF) grants to up to 100 Syrian students whose education has been interrupted by the crisis.
• Provide scholarships to up to 50 Syrian students to attend Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
• Build a consortium of universities around the world who will offer scholarships to assist threatened Syrian students, with a goal of 50 new scholarships in the next year.