Students push for easier refugee access to universities

The Swiss students’ union VSS is calling on the federal and cantonal authorities to change the rules to make it easier for refugees to access the Swiss university system, reports The Local.

Many refugees have pursued or finished tertiary studies in their home country before arriving in Switzerland but slip through the net when they arrive here, said project coordinator Martina von Arx. Their foreign qualifications do not qualify them to access the Swiss job market; rather, they must pursue a recognised Swiss university course or training, she said. However numerous obstacles, such as high standards of language proficiency, make it difficult for young refugees to study in Switzerland.

VSS is calling for publicly funded courses to be reintroduced, saying that economics should not dictate access to education. The organisation is also calling for grants to be made available for refugees to cover the costs of living whilst studying – and that those grants should be available not just to recognised refugees but to those who have provisional refugee status.
Full report on The Local site