IIE-SRF Celebrates New Partnership with Finnish Government Agency to Provide Safe Haven for Scholars in Finland

IIE-Scholar Rescue Fund announced a new partnership with the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture’s Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) to provide safe places in Finland for threatened scholars from Iraq and Syria. In partnership with CIMO, IIE-SRF will offer joint fellowships for as many as five professors to continue their academic work at Finnish institutions of higher education. CIMO will match IIE-SRF’s fellowships worth up to $25,000 USD, and the Finnish institutions will contribute in-kind support such as language training, housing, and additional assistance with cost of living expenses.

An IIE-SRF fellow from Syria also spoke at the event, retelling his escape from the violence in his home country and arrival to the United States to continue his academic work in safety. His powerful story emphasized the need for partnerships like the one between IIE-SRF and CIMO to transform the lives of scholars and ultimately the future of war-torn countries. As the fellow elaborated, "Securing the future of Syrian education is as important as providing food and shelter because you cannot feed people for their entire lives. You have to keep the [academic] structures there so that [the people] can rebuild themselves."

Read more about the partnership