RESPECT UNIVERSITY

Este programa solo funciona en INGLES con refugiados de paises anglofonos. RESPECT University was established to provide post-secondary instruction to refugee students under the guidance of tutors from around the world. We see this as a logical extension of our mission to link refugee and non-refugee schools worldwide.

To accomplish this:

• We use experienced teachers who want to use their knowledge and experience to help teach students in refugee schools.

• Many of our tutors develop their own curriculum on a subject in one of their areas of expertise.

• RESPECT then matches the tutor with a group of students. RESPECT facilitates the initial contact between the tutor and the students, and helps, as needed, to coordinate the learning process.

• Each class normally consists of six students.

• Teaching and learning are carried out by correspondence, using conventional postal mail services, although contact with local coordinators is maintained via email. The tutor sends a series of assignments which the students complete and then return to the teacher for comments and feedback. (Each assignment can take a month or more to be returned to the tutor because of limited postal service to areas occupied by refugees.)

If you are an experienced teacher, and are interested in volunteering to be a tutor, please complete our Tutor Information form. You will be asked for your name, contact details, qualifications and experience, subjects taught, and so on. Our coordinator will contact you, usually by email, within a week to discuss available opportunities.

If you are someone working with refugee students, and you feel your students would benefit from the educational opportunities RESPECT University can offer, complete a request form. You will be asked for contact details, number of students, subjects of interest, and so on. Our coordinator evaluate your request and determined whether volunteers are available to meet your needs. Once that is completed, we will be in touch with the contact listed in the request.

If you have any questions or comments about RESPECT University, your can email our coordinator at university@respectrefugees.org.

The Tutor’s Role

Providing the most basic education for young children is a relatively easy challenge to take on - but for young people in their teens and twenties who need education, there are fewer opportunities for them to pursue. This is where a link between a tutor and a small group of refugee students is important.

Having established the subject with which the tutor will be engaging, a RESPECT local Co-ordinator will select five or six students from the local refugee school and community. The students will be high-school “graduates”. The tutor will plan the program ahead. Each course is comprised of ten assignments, lasting about a year.

It is usually best for tutors to post the assignments collectively to the students in care of the local RESPECT co-ordinator. Deadlines for completion of assignments should be encouraged for students to do the necessary work. This will help to maintain the momentum, as will reliable communications.

Sufficient time for postal communication to take place must be allowed, and the knowledge that some students may have other work commitments too and therefore may need additional time. Tutors may keep in touch with the local Co-ordinator in order to find out when assignments have arrived, and when the students have posted their work. This helps tutors to organize time for this work.

At the end of the course, a RESPECT University Certificate of Completion will be awarded to each student who successfully completes the course, by the tutor, and where required, the tutor writes references for the students, highlighting positive aspects of their course participation.

Becoming a Tutor

The process for volunteering to become a tutor is as follows:

• Explore the RESPECT website

• Complete the Tutor Information Form.

• At any stage, contact the RESPECT University Co-ordinator with any/all questions about the role. If the questions cannot be answered directly, they will be referred to someone else who is in a position to help.

After a tutor has been accepted, the course can be planned, and then the RESPECT University Co-ordinator will link him or her to a group of about six refugee students.

Once a tutor has committed to the role, reliability is essential. If, for any reason, you are unable to continue with the role, contact the RESPECT University Co-ordinator as soon as possible. We shall understand. We will ensure someone else can continue the work, and the refugees will not be let down.