UBC Reports | Vol. 50 | No. 4| Apr.
1, 2004
By Cristina Calboreanu
From its inception, the WUSC Student Refugee Program has
changed the lives of more than 700 student refugees by providing
opportunities for them to resume their studies and live a
secure and prosperous life, but its influence goes even further.
“We talk about the sponsored students and how their
lives have changed, but our lives change as well,” says
Syma Khan, chair of WUSC-UBC. “You learn about these
issues in class or you see them on the news, but to actually
meet someone who has lived through political instability and
who has lived in the refugee camps and to be able to interact
with them on a personal level and to become friends is really
amazing and really enlightening.”
“The partnership with university campuses is what
makes the student refugee program unique. Students and university
leadership across Canada are leveraging more than $1 million
every year to make the program possible,” says Barbara
Levine, director of Canadian Programs and Partnerships at
the WUSC office in Ottawa. “This program helps activate
the human and intellectual resources of the university, especially
the capacity and commitment of Canadian students, and it also
goes towards helping Canada meet its international obligations
in terms of refugee resettlement.”
A recent impact study of participants in the program between
1978 and 2000 found that both sponsored students and volunteers
with the local committees have significantly higher rates
of civic participation and leadership, including volunteering,
membership in civic organizations, and political participation,
than the average Canadian citizen. For Levine, that means
that the program is achieving its goals.
“We do not see the student refugee program as an end
in itself,” she explains. “It has always been
about creating opportunities for people to understand their
responsibilities as global citizens. It’s about creating
active citizens who understand that their obligations go beyond
their immediate family and local community.”
With UBC placing a high emphasis on promoting global awareness
and citizenship, Levine sees inspiring opportunities for WUSC
to work with the UBC administration.
“We’re very excited about the initiatives that
UBC has taken around global citizenship, and we look forward
to working together,” says Levine. “There are
real challenges for universities in terms of what internationalization
means, because it’s about transforming our institutions
and transforming ourselves to be better, more engaged citizens
of the world.”
