A national consortium led by the University of Ottawa will help widen access to higher education for those who have lived through forced migration.
UnborderED Knowledge is a bilingual initiative involving 13 academic, research and community partners from across Canada. It will tap into the expert knowledge of students to help them bridge the gap to pertinent jobs and opportunities in research communities.
The interdisciplinary and multisectoral partnership is expected to impact 650 undergraduate students, 42 graduate students and 30 postdoc researchers who are highly qualified and foreign-trained.
Led by Christina Clark-Kazak, Full Professor at the uOttawa Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, UnborderED Knowledge is expected to:
- Identify data on obstacles displaced researchers face for joining the labour market
- Generate bilingual training modules that will be available to the public
- Create an open-access database to clarify the grants and opportunities available
- Provide students with equitable access to education
“At a time when Canada is seeing a climate of intensified discussions on immigration, this initiative is positioned as a model for leveraging the talents of people who have experienced forced migration, contributing to diversity and innovation in education and research,” says Clark-Kazak, whose expertise with the Faculty of Social Sciences centers on forced migration. “This is an important step for transforming approaches to knowledge, making it more equitable and dismantling borders.”
The uOttawa partners involved in the initiative include: Access Alliance (Ontario); Amnesty International Canada; Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies; Canadian Museum for Human Rights (Manitoba); Immigrant Services Society of B.C. (British Columbia); Laval University (Quebec); Research Nova Scotia Corporation; Saint Mary’s University (Nova Scotia); University of Winnipeg (Manitoba); World University Service of Canada; World Education Services; York University (Ontario).
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