Education as a path to opportunity and belonging

Lilas is a Syrian student who has been living in Istanbul with her family since 2014, where she completed middle and high school. Today, she is a third-year Special Education Teaching student at Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa. Becoming a teacher was Lilas’ childhood dream. As she learned more about the field, she realized that her strengths closely matched the skills required for the profession.

Lilas speaks about her university with a strong sense of belonging. “Being part of this department, this faculty and this university makes me proud,” she says. Since beginning her studies in 2024, Lilas says she has continued to grow through the memories, experiences and knowledge she has gained on her journey towards graduation.

Her educational journey, however, has also brought financial challenges. The tuition fee was considerably high for her family and that was one of her biggest concerns when choosing her university. With her family determined to support her education, Lilas decided to focus on her studies while also looking for ways to contribute to the cost.

Receiving the Higher Education Cash Grant (HECG), provided in collaboration with UNHCR and the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), helped her cover part of her tuition costs and eased some of the financial pressure on her family.

“The grant made my family feel that we were not alone,” she says. “We saw that there are institutions that value and support education.”

After graduation, Lilas hopes to work as a special education teacher and gain hands-on experience in the classroom. In the longer term, she dreams of establishing her own special education institution and pursuing postgraduate studies. For her, working in special education is not only about supporting children, but also about reaching their families and helping challenge misconceptions about people with special needs.

Her own experience has also made Lilas reflect on the importance of equal access to higher education. “I know there are friends who have great potential and motivation but cannot pursue university education because they do not receive the support they need,” she says. “I hope every person in need can be seen and supported.”

For Lilas, university education is about much more than attending classes or earning a degree. It is also an opportunity to develop critical thinking, confidence and communication skills, while connecting with people from different backgrounds and cultures. She particularly values the diverse social environment that university life offers.

For many refugee youth around the world, access to higher education remains limited. Türkiye, however, has made significant progress, achieving a refugee tertiary education enrolment rate of nearly 12%, bringing it closer to UNHCR’s global 15by30 target of ensuring that 15% of refugee youth have access to higher education by 2030. This achievement highlights Türkiye’s strong performance in expanding access to higher education for refugees and reflects its continued commitment to inclusive education, self-reliance and long-term solutions.

UNHCR Türkiye remains grateful to Sweden’s International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, for its generous support, which enables the HECG programme to continue, and all donors whose flexible funding makes it possible to carry out necessary interventions.

In cooperation with YTB, UNHCR has been providing cash grants to refugee and asylum-seeker students from various nationalities since 2014, with the programme expanding in 2022 to also include Syrian students under temporary protection. Since its introduction, the programme reached more than 10,000 students. Currently, The programme reaches approximately 700 beneficiaries annually. Through this support, UNHCR aims to ease the financial barriers refugee students face in their educational journeys, empowering them to build their futures and reach their dreams.

Sustaining this progress will require continued policies and funding that support refugees’ access to higher education and human capital development, fostering self-reliance and longer-term socio-economic inclusion.