Saylor Academy Enrolls Over 200+ Refugees for Free Online College Credits

Through Partnership with Kiron Open Higher Education, Saylor Academy’s Refugee Education Program Reaches Students in Several Nations

WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / June 13, 2017 / Saylor Academy, a leading provider of tuition-free, self-paced online courses for credit, today announced that over 200 students have enrolled for its online classes in the five months since the U.S. non-profit organization launched a partnership with Kiron Open Higher Education, headquartered in Germany.

These students come from multiple countries, including Cameroon, Ghana, Syria, Kenya, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Somalia and South Sudan. At Kiron, students can start studying immediately regardless of their legal status, documents or language skills. Due to Saylor Academy’s partnership with Kiron, students now have an opportunity to take significant steps toward graduating with an accredited university degree.

In addition to the 200+ who have enrolled in specific courses, another 500+ refugees have enrolled but have not yet selected their courses indicating the program will see some growth in the near term.

“Our vision at Saylor Academy from the beginning has been that any person, no matter their place in their world, should be able to learn and access higher education,” said Jeffrey Davidson, Director of Strategic Relationships at Saylor Academy. “Individuals seeking refugee status obviously have many obstacles to overcome; this partnership with Kiron aims to help ease one important aspect of their lives and can be a model for displaced and underserved persons around the world.”

Approximately 1% of refugees globally have access to higher education. Determined to increase that percentage, Kiron and Saylor Academy first announced their partnership in December 2016, when Saylor Academy opened its courses and platform to refugees via the Kiron learning system. This partnership allows students from around the world to learn from high-quality, self-paced, fully online courses that are complemented with live and direct online tutoring and offline services.

One student, named Adet, shares their view of the program: “I appreciate the privilege of finally being able to study with Saylor and Kiron. I am currently taking two courses and I really enjoy how detailed they are. There is lots of material and reading involved, which takes time, but leaves you with a thorough understanding of the topics discussed. So if you bring motivation and you are happy to learn, they are the best courses ever!”

Under the partnership, Kiron directs students to Saylor’s tuition-free courses, built by subject matter experts, that are aligned to college level learning outcomes. The courses enable the students to progress toward a degree by completing study tracks aligned to university programs mainly in Germany, giving them an opportunity to graduate with an accredited university degree, free of charge.

“We are thrilled that our partnership with Saylor Academy has already resulted in hundreds of enrolled Kiron students,” said Markus Kressler, the co-founder of Kiron. “Our mission is to democratize and widen access to higher education, and we are glad we have found a partner in Saylor Academy that can effectively help us pursue that goal.”

About Kiron Open Higher Education

The Social Start-up Kiron Open Higher Education founded in 2015 by Vincent Zimmer and Markus Kressler. As the world’s first online learning platform, Kiron enables refugees a unbureaucratic access to higher education and successful learning through digital solutions. The blended learning model 2.0 of Kiron consists of an online study phase for about two years, followed by additionally two years at a partner university to finish with a fully accredited bachelor degree. Thus, refugees can start studying immediately and regardless of their asylum status, language skills and free of charge. As an overall goal Kiron aims at fostering an economic as well as social integration in host countries and empowers refugees to step back into a self-determined life through studying. Consequently, the study program is embedded in an ecosystem of support services, centered around the student’s needs.

For more information visit our Website or follow Kiron on Twitter and
Facebook.

About Saylor Academy

Saylor Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working since 2008 to connect students to free and affordable education. In addition to its Direct Credit tuition-free courses program, Saylor Academy is a course provider institution in the Alternative Credit Project™ from the American Council on Education.

Contact Information

Jim Boyle
Boyle Public Affairs
jim@boylepublicaffairs.com
571-213-3979

Sean Connor
Saylor Academy
Director of Community Relations
sean.connor@saylor.org

SOURCE: Saylor Academy

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