The UB joins allies for its Support program for refugees
Coinciding with the Human Rights Day and the 70th anniversary of its Universal Declaration, on Monday, December 10, the University of Barcelona has signed four collaboration agreements with its Support program for refugees and people from conflict areas, coordinated by Solidaritat UB Foundation, to promote this collectiveʼs access to higher education. The agreements have been settled with the Barcelona City Council, the City Council of Viladecans, Nestlé España, the School of Tourism, Hospitality and Gasttronomy CETT-UB and Gaspar Espuña Foundation-CETT.
Coinciding with the Human Rights Day and the 70th anniversary of its Universal Declaration, on Monday, December 10, the University of Barcelona has signed four collaboration agreements with its Support program for refugees and people from conflict areas, coordinated by Solidaritat UB Foundation, to promote this collectiveʼs access to higher education. The agreements have been settled with the Barcelona City Council, the City Council of Viladecans, Nestlé España, the School of Tourism, Hospitality and Gasttronomy CETT-UB and Gaspar Espuña Foundation-CETT.
The signing took place in the room Puig Salellas in the Historical Building of the University. Presided by the Vice-Rector for Equal Opportunities and Social Action of the UB, Maite Vilalta, the event counted on the participation of the councillor for International Relations of the Barcelona City Council, Laura Pérez; the councillor for Solidarity and Twinning and Participative Projects in the City Council of Viladecans, Maria Àvila; the director of Human Resources in Nestlé España, Bárbara Arimont; the head of Gaspar Espuña Foudnation-CETT and director-general of the CETT-UB Campus, Maria Abellanet, and the manager of Studies of Studies of Tourism and Hospitality CETT, Elisabet Ferrer.
“The University of Barcelona ha a commitment to human rights and their protection, specifically to the right to education and freedom, and we want to develop it with all our tools”, said the vice-rector Maite Vilalta.
The agreement the Barcelona City Council approved involves the renewal of the agreement that was signed two years ago, in November 2016, to launch the two first editions of the course in the UB program Transition to Bachelorʼs Degrees and Training in Human Rights and the Culture of Peace. This course is a pioneer initiative in Spain and aims to help students from conflict areas to enter higher education studies (bachelor and master degrees and professional training) in Barcelona, as the only way to continue their academic studies. The course grants include accommodation and maintenance, as well as legal advice, psychological assistance and academic and social accompaniment, among others.
In the current agreement, the UB and the Barcelona City Council launch the project Vies Segures Alternatives (VISA) per a estudiants refugiats (2018-2020), which includes the development of the third edition of the transition course to bachelor studies; the assessment and systematization of the UB Support program for refugees, and the proposal of an agenda of institutional actions for the future. Also, another new item in this agreement is the monitoring and individual accompaniment of the students, not only regarding their training process but also their access to the labour market. The VISA project will be carried out under the shelter of Pla director de cooperació per a la justícia global de Barcelona (2018-2021).
Regarding the agreement with the City Council of Viladecans, the municipal government of Viladecans will contribute to the accommodation of the students in the UB program aiming to benefit their personal autonomy process as well as their social integration.
Nestlé España will offer two paid grants during 2019 (one per semester) to people who benefit from the UB program so that they enter the team in their central office, in Esplugues de Llobregat. The company includes this action within the Global Youth Initiative: Nestlé needs YOUth, an initiative launched in 2014 with the aim to offer opportunities regarding work and studies, to young people aged under thirty.
Last, CETT-UB and Gaspar Espuña Foundation-CETT will offer people in the UB program a grant to take one of the postgraduate courses in their offering.
UB Support program for refugees and people from conflict areas
In September 2015 the University of Barcelona launched the UB Support program for refugees and people from conflict areas. The program includes support actions for refugee students through grants for university enrolment, Catalan and Spanish language courses, mentorship programs, accommodation, legal advice and psychological assistance. In the same lines, the UB organizes several activities on information, training and awareness on the refugee crisis and takes part in European and international projects, such as inHERE (Higher Education Supporting Refugees in Europe) and RESCUE (Refugees Education Support in MENA countries).
The program has worked on an internal working network with fifteen groups, departments and areas of the UB to develop these activities and projects, together with a collaboration interuniversity network, and an external network which includes collaboration agreements with public administrations, educational centers and entities working in the field. In this sense, the program has been chosen for the Best Practice Catalogue in the welcoming of refugees in the inHERE project as an example of a strategic and collaborative focus with several agents, working on sustainability.