Italy: Florence University welcomes two refugee students

Florence: Two refugees who enrolled as students at the University of Florence through a project by the UN refugee agency UNHCR called “University Corridors for Refugees” (UNICORE) will be will provided with scholarships.

Two young refugees who came to Italy from Africa at the start of September are enrolled in two masters degree programmes at the University of Florence as winners of scholarships from the “University Corridors for Refugees” (UNICORE) project sponsored by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, said the University of Florence in a statement.

Hermon, a 26-year-old from Eritrea, is the only woman among the young people who came to Italy with University Corridors. She already holds a degree in biology and is now enrolled at the University of Florence in a masters programme in Advanced Molecular Sciences in the College of Mathematics, Physics, and Natural Sciences.

Jules is a 25-year-old from the Congo with a degree in Agricultural Sciences, and chose to enrol in the masters degree programme in Natural Resources Management in the College of Agriculture.

The scholarships are financed by the University of Florence as part of the UNICORE project to allow young refugees to complete their educational training in a legal and safe way by attending a masters degree programme in English at an Italian university.

Students receive not only linguistic support and university tutoring, but also opportunities for socialising and orientation for accessing services available to them.

University of Florence Rector Luigi Dei said that by participating in the UNHCR project, “the University of Florence aims to develop the talents that the students involved in the project possess.”

“At the same time, thanks to their integration in the university community, the university contributes to giving back to these young people, who have had difficult experiences, the chance to look to the future and take back their studies and their lives that were interrupted,” Dei said.