REACT – Refugees and Recognition – An Erasmus+ Project

Are you

• a university staff member working in international admissions?
• in charge of recognition of foreign qualifications?
• a credential evaluator?
• an immigration officer or integration adviser for newly arrived refugees and migrants?
• looking for ways to recognize qualifications when the documentation is missing?

This project page will help you when dealing with refugees’ qualifications.

REACT Q-Card for Admission Officers

On behalf of the project’s consortium, NOKUT is proud to present the REACT Q-Card for Admission Officers. In addition to the digital version of the Q-Card, a physical copy can be requested by contacting NOKUT.

The REACT Q-Card for Admission Officers represents a first-aid kit for staff working with providing access to further studies for refugees, displaced persons and persons in a refugee-like situation. The Q-Card is a result of the successful testing of the Toolkit for Recognition of Refugees’ Qualifications at Oslo Metropolitan University (NO), University of Bremen (DE), University of Utrecht (NL), LUISS University (IT) and the University of Limerick (IE). The Q-Card provides recommendations for action at higher education institutions working towards enabling access to further studies for refugees, displaced persons and persons in a refugee-like situation.

Final dissemination seminar 2020

The final dissemination seminar of the REACT project was held in Brussels on the 17th of January, 2020.

Webinar on results of testing at higher education institutions

This webinar presents the results of the testing of the Toolkit for Recognition of Refugees’ Qualifications that has recently taken place at higher education institutions from Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Ireland. The format of the webinar is a roundtable discussion with representatives from the higher education institutions, where the process of testing the methodology and the results achieved as part of this process is discussed.

Date and time: Tuesday, 19th of November 12:00–14:00 CET – see the recording from the webinar

Participants: NOKUT (NO), NUFFIC (NL), Oslo Metropolitan University (NO), University of Utrecht (NL), University of Bremen (DE), LUISS University (IT) and University of Limerick (IE)

Target groups: Higher education institutions, national recognition agencies and stakeholder organisations.

Recorded webinars on refugees country briefings

Five refugees country briefings, which provide practical and up-to-date information on the educational systems of Iran, Ethiopia, Somalia, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo, represents the first results of the project. To make the knowledge developed within these country briefings as accessible as possible, the briefings were launched in live-webinars held by experienced credential evaluators. Links to recordings of the webinars can be found below. The refugees country briefings can be accessed through the results-section, at the bottom of the page.

Iran: 29. January, 10.30–11.30 CET – see the recording from the webinar
Ethiopia: 7. February, 10.30–11.30 CET – see the recording from the webinar
Somalia: 28. February, 10.30–11.30 CET – see the recording from the webinar
Venezuela: 7. March, 10.30–11.30 CET – see the recording from the webinar
DRC: 26. March, 13.00–14.00 CET – see the recording from the webinar

If you have any questions regarding these webinars, please contact us.

About the project

The overall goal of the project is to enhance the mobility, employability and access to further studies for refugees, displaced persons and persons in a refugee-like situation – including those without official documentation of their educational background.

The project builds on the recently completed Erasmus+ project "Refugees and Recognition", which developed a common methodological approach to the recognition of refugees’ qualifications. Taking this work a step further, the REACT-project will develop and test this methodology in major refugee-receiving countries and in cooperation with higher education institutions.

The aim is to establish a more efficient and consistent approach to the recognition of refugees’ qualifications in Europe.

Read our info brochure on REACT (pdf) | Web version

Main project activities

• Testing and adaptation of the toolkit developed in the previous project, in close cooperation with higher education institutions
• Provide recommendations to higher education institutions and identifying best practice cases that illustrate pathways for admission of refugee students to further studies
• Developing five refugee country briefings
• Developing e-learning modules based on the refugee country briefings

Project Consortium

• NOKUT (Norway)
• CIMEA (Italy)
• NUFFIC (The Netherlands)
• KMK (Germany)
• QQI (Ireland)
• Oslo Metropolitan University (Norway)
• LUISS University (Italy)
• Utrecht University (The Netherlands)
• University of Bremen (Germany)
• University of Limerick (Ireland)
• European University Association (EUA)
• European Students Union (ESU)
• Kiron Open Higher Education
• Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials (CICIC)

Timeline

• Kick-off seminar in Oslo, April 2018
  – The meeting agenda (pdf)
  – Minutes from the meeting (pdf)
• Fact-finding seminar in Rome, 1. June 2018
  – The meeting agenda (pdf)
  – Minutes from the meeting (pdf)
• Developing refugee country briefings
• Training-seminar for higher education institutions, The Hague, 26. November 2018
  – The meeting agenda (pdf)
  – Minutes from the meeting (pdf)
• Developing e-learning modules
• Testing of the toolkit in cooperation with higher education institutions
  – The meeting agenda (pdf)
  – Minutes from the meeting (pdf)
• Identification of best practice cases for admission of refugee students
  – The meeting agenda (pdf)
  – Minutes from the meeting (pdf)
• Final dissemination seminar, Brussels 17. January 2020
  – The meeting agenda (pdf)
  – Minutes from the meeting (pdf)

Results

• The REACT Q-Card for Admission Officers (pdf)
• See the recording from the webinar 19th November 2019 | Presentation (pdf)
• Country briefing for:
  – Iran (pdf) | See the recording from the webinar | Presentation (pdf)
  – Ethiopia (pdf) | See the recording from the webinar | Presentation (pdf)
  – Somalia (pdf) | See the recording from the webinar | Presentation (pdf)
  – Venezuela (pdf) | See the recording from the webinar | Presentation (pdf)
  – DRC (pdf) | See the recording from the webinar | Presentation (pdf)
  
  

From the final seminar in Brussels