JICUF Co-Hosts a Conference on Refugee Education at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand
- Aki Takada
- Jun 24
- 4 min read
On June 12 and 13, JICUF co-hosted a Global Task Force on Third Country Education Pathways Community of Practice meeting at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The other co-hosts were the Institute of International Education, the Canadian Government (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada: IRCC), Refugee Education Australia, Pathways Japan, and Payap University. The theme of the meeting was “Preparing Displaced Students from Burma for Education” and approximately 70 representatives of governments, NGOs, UNHCR and higher education institutions as well as students participated from Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea,Thailand, and the US. As the title suggests, the meeting focused on finding durable solutions for displaced Burmese youth. The protracted refugee crisis along the Thai/Myanmar border has been referred to as the “forgotten hellscape,” as international attention turns to newer conflicts such as Ukraine and Palestine.
Julia Zajkowski, Senior Protection Officer at the UNHCR Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, kicked off the meeting by providing an overview of the latest refugee situation in the region. The total population that the UNHCR protects in the region reached 17.3 million at the end of 2024, which was a 76% increase from 2015. The two main refugee situations in the region are Afghanistan and Myanmar. Myanmar has produced 5.1 million forcibly displaced people of whom 3.6 million are internally displaced and 1.5 million are refugees and asylum seekers. 700,000 Burmese are in Thailand of which 600,000 are stateless.
Burmese youth in the border area face multiple obstacles when trying to access higher education. The first is the lack of legal status in Thailand. Without a passport, they are unable to travel outside the country, but returning to Myanmar to obtain a passport entails serious risks. Second, most youth receive education in one of the 63 “Migrant Learning Centers (MLCs)” which are unaccredited by the Thai and Burmese governments. Because of the MLCs’ status, the certificate the stuents obtain upon completion of secondary education are not officially recognized as a high school diploma. This is why many of the best students enroll in GED programs, but not all countries recognize the GED, and with the door to US institutions all but closed by the current US administration, opportunities are even more scarce. Third, there is of course the lack of funds. Even if students are accepted to universities, most cannot enroll without a generous financial aid package.
In the next session, existing education pathways for displaced students in the region were introduced, namely the programs in Australia, the Philippines and Japan. While these efforts are laudable, the numbers of students admitted to these programs are two digits; literally a drop in the bucket. Panel discussions on how refugees obtain information about educational opportunities in third countries and on how to prepare them for university admission followed. It is a challenge to overcome the gap between the preparatory programs available and the typical admissions requirements for both undergraduate and graduate programs in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan and the Philippines.
Payap University, the host of this meeting, shared how they decided to accept the MLC credentials by signing MOUs with individual schools. Payap waives 40% of the tuition and the rest is covered by donations. Perhaps the fact that some Thai universities like Payap have found ways to accept MLC credentials can serve as a model for institutions in other countries.
On Day Two, participants were divided into two groups to visit the NGO Beam Education Foundation and Chiang Mai University to learn how they supported Burmese refugees. The Beam Foundation offers a wide range of programs from compulsory education to vocational training to higher education scholarships and has served thousands of students since its establishment in 2010. Chiang Mai University, like Payap, has admitted Burmese students and provided scholarships.
After the site visits, Burmese students currently studying at Payap University and Chiang Mai University shared their experiences applying to universities and spoke about their lives after enrollment. Some mentioned the struggles of keeping up with classes because the GED programs did not cover certain subjects. They highlighted the shortcomings of the GED as a tool for university admission and appealed to those in attendance to develop a pipeline that was better attuned to the students’ circumstances and needs. The GED was expensive, not accepted universally, and its content was US-centered and foreign to the Burmese students.
In the final session, participants broke out into small groups to come up with action plans. The co-hosts of this meeting hope to organize a followup online meeting to discuss how participants have utilized these action plans.
The meeting concluded with an inspiring speech from Tyler Arrell of IRCC, who pointed out that the work that the participants were doing had once been considered “impossible,” and that everyone needed to shout from the rooftops for more people to join the effort. He encouraged us to keep going, and never take no for an answer.
It was particularly meaningful for JICUF to co-host this in-person meeting with colleagues from the US, Australia, Canada, Thailand and Japan, when refugee initiatives around the world have been severely impacted by budget cuts following the US administration’s dramatic policy change. Participants were able to renew the sense of camaraderie and solidarity to recharge, refocus, and search for ways forward together.
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