Facilitating access and participation through higher education access programmes and connected education for students with refugee backgrounds

Blog post Part of special issue: The right to education for forcibly displaced people: Exploring ideas on participation, connectedness and technology

Facilitating access and participation through higher education access programmes and connected education for students with refugee backgrounds

Rovincer Najjuma, Lecturer at University of Edinburgh Michael Gallagher, Senior Lecturer at University of Edinbrugh Rebecca Nambi, Senior Lecturer at Makerere University Daniel Shephard, Lecturer in Comparative Education and Education Policy at University of Edinburgh Frankie Randle, Higher Education Specialist at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency 19 Jun 2026

Achieving 15 per cent refugee enrolment in higher education by 2030 remains a significant global challenge. Currently, only 9 per cent of refugees access higher education, far below the 42 per cent enrolment rate among non‑refugees worldwide, underscoring an urgent need for coordinated, equitable pathways into higher education.

Higher Education Access Certificate (HEAC) programmes are among the key interventions designed to provide bridging and remedial pathways that support refugee learners’ entry into and transition to higher education in host countries. However, substantial gaps persist in the design, delivery and accreditation of HEAC programmes across higher education institutions (HEIs) and national systems. These challenges are compounded by the absence of a connected education framework, one that would guide relationship‑centred pedagogies, coherent programme design and the purposeful integration of technology. As a result, HEAC implementation remains uneven, leading to inconsistent standards, limited recognition of prior learning and credit transfer, and lack of portability for HEAC certificates across institutions and borders.

‘Higher Education Access Certificate [HEAC] implementation remains uneven, leading to inconsistent standards, limited recognition of prior learning and credit transfer, and lack of portability for HEAC certificates across institutions and borders.’

This blog post summarises insights from a three‑stage Delphi workshop conducted with experts involved in designing and implementing Uganda’s Higher Education Access Certificate programmes and refugee students who have completed HEAC programmes and are contending with accreditation and portability challenges as they seek access in other HEIs, or return to countries of origin, and those currently enrolled in HEAC programmes across HEIs in Uganda. The Delphi workshop is part of a broader Global South that aims to identify, prioritise and codevelop a shared vision for harmonising and diversifying HEAC design, delivery and accreditation within a connected education framework. More so, the study builds and extends our earlier on the role of institutional practice, non-educational actors and social networks in shaping refugee student life worlds in Ugandan higher education.

HEAC practitioners and refugee students collectively envision and reframe HEAC from a remedial or bridging pathway to a foundational, nationally recognised and portable qualification delivered within a connected education framework. Central to this vision is the proposed HEAC digital passport, designed to enhance portability, verification and durable transitions for diverse learners. Key insights emerging from the Delphi dialogue include: standardisation of HEAC, extended academic mentorship and psychosocial support, blended and online delivery, inclusive curricula with defined progression routes, and alignment with regional qualifications frameworks to enable recognition and transfer within and across national education systems.

To achieve the HEAC vision, experts reconceptualised HEAC as a foundational and durable national qualification, moving away from perceptions of it as a short-term, compensatory intervention. This shift resonates with wider on addressing equity and widening access in higher education, arguing that access pathways should be structurally embedded and recognised rather than marginal or remedial. A significant aspect of this reframing was the recognition of connected education as critical for expanding flexible, technology-enabled and interoperable learning ecosystems, especially for displaced and underserved learners. Refugee students also highlighted the need for pathways that support durable transitions within Uganda, across the East African Community (EAC) and to countries of origin, strengthening the case for a HEAC Digital Passport – a secure and verifiable credential aligned with national and regional qualifications frameworks.

Further insights generated include the need to formalise HEAC as a nationally regulated qualification recognised across public and private universities. Ensuring alignment with regional and continental frameworks, such as the and AUDA‑NEPAD’s continental harmonisation instruments, and the . Aligning HEAC with regional and continental frameworks is vital for enhancing legitimacy, comparability and recognition across refugee-hosting countries and countries of origin. Aligning HEAC programmes with regional qualifications frameworks and continental quality assurance initiatives, such as the , can further enable standardisation of HEAC and portability of HEAC credentials, and can enhance mobility of HEAC graduates across institutions and national borders.

Digital access, blended delivery and connected education were identified as key levers for widening access and enabling more flexible modes of delivery, particularly through blended and online modalities that reach learners in refugee settlements and remote areas. To avoid exacerbating digital inequalities, HEAC experts advise institutions to invest in ICT infrastructure, subsidised data and digital literacy initiatives. To enable portability, the digital HEAC passport would enable secure, verifiable and portable credentials, mitigating challenges of documentation loss and institutional reluctance to recognise HEAC certificates issued by different institutions.

‘The digital HEAC passport would enable secure, verifiable and portable credentials, mitigating challenges of documentation loss and institutional reluctance to recognise HEAC certificates issued by different institutions.’

An approach to HEAC provision that is centred within a connected education framework and aligned with national and regional higher education quality assurance frameworks can potentially address gaps in the design, delivery and accreditation of HEAC programmes. Addressing these gaps facilitates harmonisation, credit transfer and portability of HEAC certificates, and subsequently enable access, participation and durable academic transitions for refugee students within host-country education institutions, and beyond.

Rovincer Najjuma, Dr

Lecturer at University of Edinburgh

Dr Rovincer Najjuma is a lecturer in Digital Education and the Global South. She works in digital education in development contexts in collaboration with line ministries, international non-governmental organisations and universities. Her research focuses on access, participation, inclusion, and transitions to, through and out of higher education, particularly for forcibly displaced populations. Towards this end, she works on a series of digital learning projects for marginalised populations throughout Uganda.

Michael Gallagher

Senior Lecturer at University of Edinbrugh

Michael Gallagher is a senior lecturer in Digital Education and a Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. His published work includes critical perspectives on educational technologies, the digital mobilities of marginalised groups, and futures educational research. He works often on digital learning in forced displacement contexts with UNHCR, UNESCO and other international non-governmental organisations, and is co-founder and chief digital education officer of Panoply Digital, a consultancy dedicated to appropriate use of educational technologies in developing contexts.

Rebecca Nambi

Senior Lecturer at Makerere University

Rebecca Nambi is a senior lecturer in the Department of Humanities and Language Education at the Makerere University’s School of Education. Rebecca’s areas of research and publication include adolescents’ literacy, educational research, entrepreneurship skills for the youth, digital literacy in higher education, English and Literature education at secondary school level, and refugee students in higher education.

Daniel Shephard, Dr

Lecturer in Comparative Education and Education Policy at University of Edinburgh

Daniel Shephard is a lecturer in Comparative Education and Education Policy. Daniel’s research is at the intersection of education, development and forced displacement, with a disciplinary focus in sociology and methodological expertise in the use of mixed methods, primary data collection and social network analysis.

Frankie Randle

Higher Education Specialist at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency

Frankie Randle is a connected higher education specialist at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Frankie leads a consortium of universities globally providing access to higher education in crisis contexts through digital learning. He is also a digital learning expert at UNHCR, working towards ensuring refugees are included in university.