Building a new beginning: refugee students shaping their future through education

It is early afternoon, and Nadia is carefully working on a task in a construction workshop at ULK Polytechnic Institute in Kigali. As a civil engineering student, she is turning lessons from the classroom into practical skills through hands-on work.

Since childhood, Nadia has developed an interest in construction. Today, she’s doing what she loves the most: studying and working in civil engineering, where she likes building brick walls, bends steel bars, and makes reinforced concrete columns.

“I chose to study construction because I had loved it for a long time,” she says.

Back in Primary Five, Nadia says life was so difficult that she would take on casual work at construction sites during holidays to earn a little money to buy shoes and other small things she needed.

“At the time, I used to ask people supervising the sites, and they would tell me how much they earned. To me, it sounded like a lot of money, and that motivated me. I told myself that one day I wanted to study construction,” she says. “I was fortunate to get the opportunity, and now I am studying something I truly love.”

Just a few years ago, she never imagined she would be thus far. After fleeing wars in eastern DRC, she thought that her education journey was over.

“When we fled Masisi in the DRC, I was in Primary four, and I felt like my education had come to an end. Not only school, but it also felt like life itself had come to an impasse in every way,” she says. “Access to higher education is now giving me knowledge and skills that will help me in the future – find a job, earn money, and support my family.”

Her classmate, Evariste, a Burundian refugee, shares similar aspirations to build a meaningful future through education.

“I hope that after completing my studies at ULK Polytechnic Institute, I can create my own job or establish my own company using the skills I have gained,” Evariste points out. “This would allow me to employ other people in my community and contribute to improving our economy.”

Evariste (Left) and Nadia doing practice in a construction workshop at ULK Polytechnic Institute.

© UNHCR/Eric Didier Karinganire

Nadia and Evariste have been able to continue their education thanks to the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative, commonly known as DAFI scholarship programme.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, works closely with partners to ensure that refugees like Nadia and Evariste get access to higher education.

Currently, 7 % of refugees in Rwanda are enrolled in higher education. UNHCR’s global goal is to get 15% of refugees enrolled in higher education by 2030.

Despite the global drive, and the legal right to attend university in Rwanda, many qualified refugees don’t have access to higher education in practice due to limited financial means.

For Nadia, access to higher education has been life-changing. But she knows many of her friends back in the camp with the same ambition and potential who are unable to continue their studies because they cannot afford the costs. She wishes more young refugees like her were given the same opportunity she got.

“There are many talented and intelligent children in refugee camps, but because of limited means, they remain in the camps, which does not help them reach their potential,” Nadia says. “My message to anyone who can help: please support them in whatever way you can, so that they [refugees] too can have the opportunity to study.”