The Sixth 3C Forum at UKH

In cooperation with Opening Universities for Refugees (OUR) initiative, Empower Organisation and in collaboration with the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies (CAPRS) at the University of Auckland and UNHCR Iraq, the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH) is hosting the Sixth 3C Forum on Wednesday 25 May 2022.

The 3C Forum seeks to facilitate effective collaboration amongst participants leading to new initiatives to increase access to higher education opportunities for refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Our main goals are: (a) to involve as many interested stakeholders as possible to ensure that everyone who has the potential to develop solutions to the challenges of accessing higher education in the region is able to; and (b) to contribute to UNCHR’s 15by30 vision i.e., to achieving enrolment of 15% of young refugee women and men in higher education by the year 2030.

To that end, we welcome your suggestions regarding potential participants and would be equally delighted if you could utilize your networks to spread the word.

The 3C Forum will use an unconference format, the principal characteristic of which is that the agenda and themes are not defined in advance but rather emerge from participants during the course of the forum. As such, themes are dependent on participants’ own priorities and aspirations. These themes will be discussed in open-ended discussion sessions and will later facilitate working groups in creating action plans and developing solutions.

About the hosts:

The University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH) opened its doors in 2006 as the First and only Public, English-medium and Independent University in Iraq dedicated to being the region’s leading centre of excellence in research and teaching and in the dissemination and application of knowledge to further the industrial, economic, cultural, environmental, and social development of the region. In 2018 UKH became the first university in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq to be accredited internationally by the Accreditation Service for International Colleges (ASIC).

Opening Universities for Refugees (OUR) is an initiative that brings together institutions that offer, and are willing to offer, higher education courses and/or diploma and certificate programs to refugees and displaced people, and to create an open and accessible knowledge network accessible by all since 2016.

Empower is a refugee-led organization aiming to address the underrepresentation of refugees in higher education. Through their projects, they empower and enable refugee youth through education, leadership, and capacity-building, so that young refugees can pursue a meaningful future.  Through their work, Empower has reached over 20,000 refugee youth globally.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies (CAPRS) is a research institute based at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. CAPRS aims to respond to contemporary challenges of conflict and climate-induced displacement. CAPRS is driven by a transformative agenda that places social justice and human rights as core aspects of its work while working in close collaboration with refugee advocates, researchers, and community leaders to build local capacities in the Asia Pacific. 

Presented by: Bayar Mustafa Sevdeen, PhD