Higher Education
supporting Refugees
in Europe

LCC International University (LT)

The one-year programme works with a cohort of 12-15 students from war-affected areas (mainly Syria and Iraq) who are accommodated on our university campus in Klaipeda, Lithuania for a minimum of 1 semester and up to 2 semesters. The size and scope of the programme can be adjusted over time, based on demand, experience and funding.

The programme offers the following:

  • Academic courses with a focus on English language instruction
  • Career counselling into university degree programmes
  • Community life with a focus on an engaging residential environment
  • Trauma counselling, conflict resolution and mediation
  • Religious and cultural dialogue where diversity is respected and celebrated
LCC International University Photo

Students in the LCC programme with the mayor of Klaipeda, Lithuania © LCC International
LCC International University Photo

Students at the opening of the exhibition “Yazidi life in the Khanke-camp” © LCC International

During the programme student profiles are created for recruitment purposes to place students in universities around the world. Students are admitted on the basis of a scholarship from the admitting university that is adequate to complete the intended programme of studies.

Impact
Duration: one year.

War-affected students: 16 (6 from Syria, 10 from Iraq (6 Yazidis), the plan is to have 10-15 new students in the programme each year
Strategy & Mission
The initiative is linked to the university’s mission to provide education in this part of the world. For 25 years we had focused on the countries of the former Soviet Union, investing in youth who we believe will be the future leaders of their societies. With the war in Syria, we shifted our attention in trying to also help the war-affected youth from the Middle East, mainly Iraq and Syria. As we already are a very international community, this larger diversity has only supported our identity more. The new initiative has impacted the institutional strategy in that our geographical scope for our mission has become larger.

The initiative builds on the core strength of the institution – to provide higher education in English to the capable students. We serve students from Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, and so on, so this initiative to help war-affected students does build on the core mission of our university.
Collaboration
We are working with many NGOs and humanitarian organisations, UNHCR, UNESCO and others. These links were developed as we were preparing the new programme (this took about 1,5 years before the launch of the initiative).

We are also building links with other universities that would be ready to cooperate and accept the students who go through our programme.

We continue to look for more possibilities for cooperation.
Funding
The initiative is funded through teachers partly volunteering and the university fundraising for the entire programme costs. The rough estimate is 5,500 € per student/year.