Ci-RES Project Helps Refugee Students Succeed in Algerian Universities
After fleeing their war-torn countries and seeking refuge in Algeria, many students are finding new hope after Algerian universities and a project known as Ci-RES broke down barriers and opened doors to integrate refugee students into Algerian higher education.
Ronald Tetis, a refugee from Zimbabwe, had wandered in several Algerian before finding help through Ci-RES. Tetis finally has an actual address and has exceled in his studies at Kasdi Merbah University in Ouargla, a city 500 miles south of Algiers.
“I am from a low-income family in Zimbabwe,” Tetis told Al-Fanar Media. “Given the country’s instability and successive political crises, I decided to get my baccalaureate and find a way out. Algeria was my destination.”
For him, the project was a lifeline. “It made me truly believe in a just world that provides education for all,” he said.
Integrating Refugees into Higher Education
Like other countries, Algeria took upon itself the task of integrating refugee students into its universities through projects like CI-RES.
The three-year project, which officially concluded in January, has helped refugees from as far away as Palestine, in the Middle East; Zimbabwe, in southern Africa; and Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony in northwestern Africa where a group representing the local population is contesting Morocco’s claims of sovereignty.
The Ci-RES project received support from the European Commission under the Erasmus + programme.
Naouel Abdellatif Mami, vice-rector for external relations at Algeria’s Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Sétif 2 University, was the project’s coordinator.
“We were lost. We did not know what to do; education doors were closed for us. Ci-RES then shone and revived our dreams. This project is the saviour for the future of thousands of refugees who left their homelands because of political crises, civil wars, and foreign interventions.”
Hama Nafe’ Salama, a student from Western Sahara who studies law and administrative sciences at Algeria’s Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Sétif 2 University.
Building institutional capacities for integrating refugees from widely differing countries of the Middle East and Africa into Algerian higher education was a challenge, Mami told Al-Fanar Media. Students faced problems on two levels: pedagogical and integrational.
“They didn’t know the environment and had no friends,” she said. “Some found the culture a bit different, others could not understand Arabic. Western Saharan students speak Spanish rather than French.”
She added: “They all want to go back and live a normal life in their home countries, as life in camps is quite harsh. Moreover, they lack opportunities to do postgraduate studies as they cannot afford it.”
- Also see: Naouel Abdellatif Mami Strives to Raise the Global Profile of Algeria’s Setif 2 University
Along with UNIMED and the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Sétif 2 University was one of eight university partners in the project, four in Europe and four in Algeria.
The European partners were Spain’s University of La Rioja and University of A Coruña, Italy’s University of Bergamo, and France’s University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. The other Algerian partners were Kasdi Merbah University in Ouargla, Abderahamane Mira University of Bejaïa, and Mouloud Maameri University of Tizi-Ouzou.
Anne-Laurence Pastorini, the UNIMED referent for the project, said that welcoming refugee students and staff members is not the social responsibility of European or North American universities alone but also of universities in the Global South. “That’s why we piloted this project in Algeria to support the universities here and elsewhere,” she said.
Challenges and Opportunities
Hama Nafe’ Salama is among a number of students from Western Sahara who came to Algeria in the hope of pursuing their higher education at one of the Ci-RES project’s partner universities.
“We were lost. We did not know what to do; education doors were closed for us,” said Salama, who studies law and administrative sciences at Sétif 2 University. “Ci-RES then shone and revived our dreams to pursue our education. This project is the saviour for the future of thousands of refugees who left their homelands because of political crises, civil wars, and foreign interventions.”
“Ci-RES is one of the most powerful full-impact projects at the personal individual level. Its specificity was the full involvement of students, rather than the usual focus on rectors, vice-rectors and other staff members.”
Anne-Laurence Pastorini, UNIMED referent for the project.
Mahmoud Ali Hamad, another student from Western Saharan who is studying law at Abderrahmane Mira University of Bejaïa, said: “The most beautiful thing about this project is enabling the integrated refugee students of different nationalities to have the same university life with their fellow students, in terms of education, cultural activities, and accommodation. This does not make us feel like strangers or different at all.”
Sadio Coulibaly, a master’s degree student from Mali at Sétif 2 University, said overcoming difficulties was a struggle at first.
“Being from a very different country culturally, socially, and even educationally was hard,” said Coulibaly, who is studying American and British literature and civilisation. “But soon I felt I was a son of this country. The university and this project treated us equally, with no differences between nationals and refugees.”
Mali and neighbouring countries of the Central Sahel, on Algeria’s southern border, have been beset by a decade of unrest, and Coulibaly had despaired of continuing his education. Work became his utmost priority to help his family.
“The Ci-RES project and Dr. Mami brought us back to life, by enrolling into Algerian universities to receive our training from qualified professors,” Coulibaly said. “To move from being a war refugee to being a university student, enjoying all the rights just like the country’s nationals, is truly a unique experience.”
For Haruna Sadi Mohamedou Aminou, from Niger, studying in Algeria is his way to pursue further studies in a European university. “I was about to lose hope in completing my education because of the situation back in Niger,” said Aminou, who is now an outstanding student at Kasdi Merbah University in Ouargla.
Sports and Linguistic Training
Mami, the vice-rector at Sétif 2 and the project’s coordinator, said the project was helping a total of 20 refugees, five at each Algerian university. Ten academic staff members and 10 administrative staff members are also participating.
“The aim is to welcome and help integrate the refugees into the higher education system and take care of their enrollment and academic achievement,” she said.
“We offered linguistic training and modules on human rights and law for refugees. We also had concrete cultural, scientific, and sports activities, besides the integration in the professional world.”
Arabic training was offered to non-native Arabic speakers. French, the most common language of instruction in Algerian universities, was offered to Western Saharan students who speak Spanish. English training was also offered to help students integrate and communicate with other partner universities.
Mami described one particularly touching memory of the Ci-RES project. “We led a caravan from Ouargla in the south, gathering all refugee students, all the way to Bajaïa, a seashore city,” she said. “Some students saw the sea for the first time. We then moved to Tizi-Ouzu, with another culture and vibes, before holding the closing ceremony in Sétif with our European partners.”
The ceremony included sports activities, cultural visits, and cooking. “We organised a Top Chef Ci-RES,” she said. “They were all eager to know who cooked the best dish, was it from Palestine or Western Sahara? We finally announced the best chef is Ci-RES project.”
A Focus on Human Beings
Ci-RES started in 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the pandemic lockdowns, however, the project succeeded being implemented within its initial time framework.
“Ci-RES is one of the most powerful full-impact projects at the personal individual level,” said Anne-Laurence Pastorini, of UNIMED. “Its specificity was the full involvement of students, rather than the usual focus on rectors, vice-rectors and other staff members.”
“The project’s greatest success was in its focus on human beings. This was our real aim, to work all together as a consortium to build hope for those students, to believe in themselves and be able to create new lives.”
Naouel Abdellatif Mami, vice-rector for external relations at Sétif 2 University and the Ci-RES project’s coordinator.
The Ci-RES Welcome Guide, which was incorporated into the ministry’s new “Study in Algeria” guide, was discussed with students to see if it was enough. “They were not mere beneficiaries,” said Pastorini, “they were active actors in the whole process.”
Mami said the student guide was one of three tangible outcomes of the project, along with the creation of refugee offices on three campuses, to be led by the trained administrative staff, and the writing of internal regulations. “We have also published the project’s pedagogical outcome in three languages: Arabic, English, and French,” she said.
But more important than having a welcome guide and internal regulations, Mami said the project’s greatest success was in its focus on human beings. “This was our real aim,” she said, “to work all together as a consortium to build hope for those students, to believe in themselves and be able to create new lives.”
“The impact of Ci-RES will go further through the big network and the offices that will be expanded in other campuses,” said Mami. “Thanks to this project, 22 universities have applied to Sétif to copy the same activities and open offices.”
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- Sub-Saharan Students in Morocco: Both Welcomed and Shunned
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