Sanctuaries of Study: An Online Initiative for Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Dublin City University (DCU) was granted the status of “University of Sanctuary” in December 2016, the first Irish university to receive this designation, awarded by the City of Sanctuary, an organisation that supports... [ view full abstract ]

Dublin City University (DCU) was granted the status of “University of Sanctuary” in December 2016, the first Irish university to receive this designation, awarded by the City of Sanctuary, an organisation that supports efforts in the UK and Ireland to build a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary. Fifteen scholarships for asylum seekers and refugees have been made available; one provided by each of the five DCU faculties and the remaining ten provided by DCU’s online education platform, DCU Connected. This paper will report on the journey undertaken by a team within DCU’s National Institute for Digital Learning as they put in place the framework needed to create these scholarships. The paper will also reflect on the experience of supporting the transition of the DCU Connected scholars into higher education, and on supporting these asylum seekers/refugees through their first year. The scholars took up places on a range of DCU Connected undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. As the majority of the scholars are asylum seekers living in direct provision centres there were particular challenges to overcome in creating an infrastructure through which the scholars could become successful online distance learning students.