admin Columbia announces the first list of cohorts for its Scholarship for Displaced
Students 2020. The programme has been ideated and initiated by the Columbia Global Centers, with an aim to provide tuition, housing, and living support for refugees and displace students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees. This inaugural endeavour will enroll 18 students in 12 schools affiliated with the renowned institute.
Scholarship for Displaced Students Programme
The Columbia University Scholarship for Displaced Students was created in 2016 under the guidance of Professor Bruce Usher at the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise in the Columbia Business School. Since its inception the programme has been instrumental in helping students from Syria pursue their degrees at certain Columbia affiliated Schools. In 2018, Usher asked Masri to take over the duties of leading the programme. Now that it was under the Columbia Global Centers, the reach of the programme had widened further to effectively enroll students from more countries into 125 courses, taught at any of the University affiliated schools. This modified and expansive programme re-launched in December 2019. A novel addition to the programme this year is a category called ‘Internally Displaced Students’.
Safwan M. Masri, Executive Vice President of Global Centers and Global Development stated, “What is most remarkable about each of our students is that they have consistently found ways to give back and help others—in spite of the adversity they have faced—and have never let go of their dreams to further their education. They are an inspiration. It is a privilege to enable their educational journey through the Displaced Student Scholarship program. I welcome them with all my heart to the Columbia community.”
Application Process
The prerequisites for applying to the programme include certain seminal clauses. The applicant must be a foreign national with a refugee status and an approved asylum certificate or must have submitted the documents needed to seek asylum in the US. They can also be individuals living in the USA with a Temporary Protection status. The applicants will be screened by the schools applied to, on the basis of their own screening criteria that have to be fulfilled by an applicant to be enrolled. A total of 1200 applicants were screened before selecting this initial batch of students. Displaced students from 13 different countries- including Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, and others -applied for this unforeseen opportunity. This first-ever University-wide programme will enroll students in Columbia’s School of General Studies, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Columbia Law School, the Columbia School of Professional Studies, the School of International and Public Relations, Columbia School of Social Work, and others.
Magazine 
