On 15 May 2017, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UWC (United World Colleges) entered into a Cooperation Agreement to support refugees and internally displaced persons to access secondary education opportunities, under the UWC Refugee Initiative. This initiative provides young refugees and internally displaced persons the possibility of study at the 17 UWC secondary schools and colleges teaching the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

UWC has responded to the global call in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 19 September 2016, for greater international cooperation to advance more predictable and sustainable sharing of responsibility for protection of and solutions for refugees, including through expanded access to third-country solutions. Increasing and expanding complementary pathways for the safe admission of refugees through scholarships programs is an important part of this efforts.

The UNHCR-UWC Cooperation Agreement is an example of the types of new partnerships needed to advance a comprehensive response to achieve better protection and find lasting solutions for refugees.  UNHCR fully supports the UWC programme and hopes it can grow beyond the initial 100 students that will benefit from UWC’s schools and colleges.