Seventy-eight refugees who are eligible for a higher education, have been enrolled in three different American colleges in Greece, as part of the “Education Unites: From Camp to Campus” scholarship program, an initiative organized by the U.S. embassy in Athens.
The colleges participating in this program are the American College of Thessaloniki – Anatolia College; Deree – American College of Greece, and Perrotis College – American Farm School.
“The beneficiaries of the program will attend preparatory English classes, courses in various fields based on their previous knowledge and academic training, and fundamentally, they will have the opportunity to continue their education and acquire skills and credits that they will be able to use either in Greece or in any other country they move to in the future,” the embassy said in a press release.
After reviewing over 400 applications and interviewing dozens of refugees and asylum seekers, the three U.S. affiliated colleges have selected the first group of fellows that began their academic studies.
For the first semester of the academic year 2017-2018, forty-eight students will attend Deree in Athens; fourteen students will attend the American College of Thessaloniki, and sixteen students started classes at the Perrotis College in Thessaloniki.
Classes have started for the young Afghan man who dreamt of becoming a pilot; the young lady from Pakistan who wants to become an electrical engineer; the Syrian law student from Aleppo who left her studies unfinished, and the Syrian man who wants to pursue economic and entrepreneurship studies. In addition, there are dozens of other young students who can now aspire to a professional career, a better future, and the possibility of making an essential contribution to any community where they will settle.
As a young Syrian wrote in his application: “… the thought that I will have the opportunity to study, and do what I do best, has already put a smile on my face.”
Source: US Embassy via Greek Reporter >>>