Education and Scholarship Opportunities

IMPORTANT: UNHCR is not currently facilitating any education pathways. The information on this page is for reference only. If you want to apply for any opportunities, please visit the websites listed below.

Complementary Education Pathways include opportunities for refugees to continue their higher education in a third country. Depending on the program, students enter the third country on a temporary student visa but may have opportunities to apply for different types of visas at the end of their studies or access asylum systems in third countries.

Education opportunities and scholarships are limited and highly competitive. They often have strict requirements for acceptance based on an applicant’s educational background and linguistic skills. Not only do education pathways have competitive requirements, but they are often reserved for candidates within certain age ranges. In most countries, student visas are only provided for the students themselves, and dependent family members (including spouses and minor children) cannot be included. It is important that you thoroughly examine the requirements of each scholarship before deciding to apply.

Each scholarship has different requirements and application processes. Often, applications are open only during specific periods of the year, and deadlines are relatively short. It is important to pay close attention to the requirements and deadlines of each program.

Accredited higher education and scholarship opportunities that have been verified by UNHCR are listed on UNHCR’s Scholarship Opportunities for Refugees platform.  The criteria, areas of study, application process, and other relevant details of these programs are different for every school. Please find the details on the various program here:

UNHCR Opportunities site.

Types of education pathways
Bachelor degree program
Master or PhD degree program
Technical degrees
Associate degrees

Minimum education qualification
Depends on the program. Normally, most programs require a high school diploma at least.

Language
Similarly, it depends on the program. For most programs, a certain level of command of the English language is required. Some programs provide language training courses prior to the academic program.

Examples of Available Programs (some specific for Afghan nationals)