Our Vision
Refugee Education Japan aims to broaden higher education opportunities for students with refugee backgrounds in Japan to help them build stable lives.
We envision a Japanese society where more higher education institutions are open to admitting students with refugee backgrounds and supporting them throughout their studies. This will enable students to gain a foothold in their new homes to build meaningful careers and stable lives. In turn, the presence and success of such students will diversify and enrich the society. Furthermore, our experience in Japan will be shared with stakeholders in the Asia Pacific region and the global community to help build momentum for complementary education pathways.
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Refugee Education Japan is an initiative of the Japan ICU Foundation (JICUF).
Background
JICUF began supporting refugee students in 2017 when it launched the Syrian Scholars Initiative (SSI) at International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, Japan. It was a natural development from the Foundation's core values of peace, justice, equality, freedom and love, and its mission to 'nurture global citizens.' Since then, our work has significantly expanded to supporting Syrian, Afghan and Ukrainian students in a consortium of universities and Japanese language schools.
Refugee Education Japan was launched in April 2024 to consolidate our work on refugee higher education.
Our Team
Aki Takada
Director,
Refugee Education Japan
Vice President,
Japan ICU Foundation
Paul Hastings
President & CEO,
Japan ICU Foundation
Hideko Matsuyama
Program Manager,
Japan ICU Foundation
Japan Office