Academic Leaders Reflect on the Mutual Benefits of Welcoming Threatened Scholars
More scholars than ever before are facing repression, targeting, and violence worldwide; last year, the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) received the second-largest number of applications in its history, surpassed only by 2023. From Sudan and Ukraine to Cameroon and the Gaza Strip, academics are in need of emergency support amidst new, intensifying, and protracted conflicts and crises in their home countries. The global education crisis is growing and urgent—that is why IIE-SRF is activating its global network of more than 500 host institutions to help provide a safe haven where threatened and displaced scholars can continue their work freely and safely.
In this three-minute video, Nishi Dhupa (Associate Vice Provost for International Affairs, Cornell University), Ahmad Dallal (President, American University in Cairo), and Martin Paulsen (Head, Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen) describe why their institutions have chosen to host IIE-SRF fellows, including the mutual benefits and impact these scholars have had on their campuses. The video also features Dr. Sharif Hozoori, an IIE-SRF fellow from Afghanistan at Cornell University.
[Caption] Learn more about hosting an IIE-SRF fellow.
IIE-SRF utilizes a highly individualized process to arrange an appropriate position for each fellow to ensure the best possible fit for both the scholar and the host institution, including placing scholars at hosts within their home region when appropriate. By establishing connections with a broad range of host institutions from different world regions, IIE-SRF is able to place fellows at institutions that best fit their academic expertise, linguistic skills, and cultural backgrounds. Regional placements, which in recent years have made up approximately a third of all fellowship appointments, have enabled fellows to better preserve connections with their academic networks and continue contributing to their home academies.
While on their fellowships, scholars contribute to ongoing research or begin original research, complete pending publications, teach or co-teach classes, deliver guest lectures, and/or serve as an on-campus resource to both students and faculty. Host institutions benefit from the opportunity to learn from the scholars’ unique expertise and perspective while also addressing the critical issues facing threatened and displaced scholars and higher education globally. For example, a fellow from Afghanistan helped his host institution revitalize its dormant wheat breeding program; a fellow from Turkey used his passion for teaching to develop new curriculum and inspire students; and a fellow from Ukraine helped her host institution establish a new informatics program.
IIE-SRF is the only global program that arranges, funds, and supports fellowships for threatened and displaced scholars at partnering higher education institutions worldwide, including inside their home regions. Since 2002, IIE-SRF has supported 1,166 scholars from 62 countries in partnership with 522 host institutions in 59 countries. Learn more about hosting an IIE-SRF fellow.