University of the People Pledges to Enroll 35,000 Refugees by 2030

Urges Global Universities to Take Action in Support of World Refugee Day

PASADENA, Calif., June 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As the global refugee crisis intensifies, University of the People (UoPeople), an American online university, is expanding its commitment to refugee education by pledging to enroll 35,000 refugees by 2030. The pledge, in recognition of World Refugee Day on June 20, significantly increases UoPeople's previous commitment of enrolling 25,000 refugees by 2030.

UoPeople's pledge is in support of the UNHCR's 15by30 Initiative, which seeks to raise the number of refugee youth in higher education to 15%, which equates to 450,000 individuals, by 2030. Currently, only 7% of refugees have access to higher education, compared to 42% of their non-refugee peers.

In addition, UoPeople President Shai Reshef is urging every university across the globe to join the effort. "If each of the world's 31,000 universities enrolled just 15 additional refugee students, we could close the higher education gap for refugees—and end this crisis. While we understand that no other university can make a pledge like ours, no university can say that they cannot enroll 15 refugee students."

With over 18,500 refugees currently enrolled, UoPeople already serves more displaced students than any other university worldwide. Refugee students from war-torn and crisis-affected regions like Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, are finding life-changing opportunity through UoPeople's flexible, 100% online, tuition-free model, which currently serves 153,000 students from 209 countries.

"Higher education is proven to be a life changing resource for refugees to change their status," Reshef said. "Providing higher education access for refugees can help these individuals transform their lives and the lives of those around them and contribute to the further development of societies and the global economy."

UoPeople is the first non-profit, tuition-free, American-accredited online university. Designed to open access to higher education globally, UoPeople helps qualified high school graduates overcome financial, geographic, political, and personal constraints keeping them from collegiate studies.

"Refugee students are like other students and have the same dreams. They have the same talent, capacity, and potential as other students… All we need is opportunity, and we can show the world who we are and what we can do," said Mohammed Siraj, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar now living in Bangladesh in one of the world's largest refugee camps.

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SOURCE University of the People