Exploring the Emerging Field of Online Tertiary Education for Refugees in Protracted Situations

“UNESCO believes that education is a human right for all throughout life and that access must be matched by quality.” While this statement is a worthy ideal, it does not meet the needs of all populations, especially our most vulnerable. The refugee crisis has opened up new channels for education to find its place among the supports given to refugees, and that place may be distance education. Some budding research has taken place within the field of sociology, but educational technologists are just beginning to look into the needs of this population with only one study of note published. Several online programs have been implemented and studied within sociology, including Australian Catholic University’s Thai-Burma Program, Borderless Higher Education for Refugees in Kenya and Jesuit Worldwide Learning, which currently has multiple sites worldwide. Looking forward, distance education is aligned to take its place as well. This study is a review of the literature and looks at possible paths for future research into online programs for refugees in protracted situations within the field of educational technology.