Funding programme

The Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) provides funding for actions in the field of asylum, legal migration and integration, return and countering irregular migration.

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Call overview

This call aims to increase the impact and the sustainability of complementary pathways linked to education  offered to refugees.

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Background

At international level, the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted at the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 2016, and the Global Compact for Refugees, adopted in 2018, called for expanding legal pathways for refugees so that they can become systemic and globally available. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Third Country Solutions for Refugees 2030: The next phase of the Three-Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (2019-2021) refers to higher education pathways as a means to underpin the goals of the Three-Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways.

Read more in the call document.

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Objectives

The general objective of the topic is to increase the impact and the sustainability of complementary pathways linked to education by increasing the number of admission places offered to refugees and the quality of the programmes.

This should be achieved via one or more of the following specific objectives:

• Facilitated enrolment of persons in need of protection displaced in a non-EU country in European higher education institutions or recognised institutions offering vocational education and training, with a particular focus on areas of studies linked to the needs of the EU labour market;
• Creation of the necessary (facilitated) procedures and support structures to enable admission of skilled persons in need of international protection through complementary education pathway programmes. The procedures and structures developed should match the needs of the specific refugees to be admitted in education programmes and, at the same time, be replicable and serve as a footprint for admissions in the future.
• Promotion of new initiatives or improvement of existing ones led by local actors in the receiving country, e.g., civil society organisations, diaspora communities, local authorities, etc.
• Increased sustainability of programmes for pathways linked to education by leveraging funding tools during and post implementation of projects.
• Increased direct involvement of relevant Member States’ authorities in legal pathways programmes.

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Activities that can be funded

Proposals should include one or more of the following activities (non-exhaustive list):

• Matching of students in need of international protection to education opportunities/academic programmes/higher education institutions or recognised institutions offering vocational education and training.
• Multi-stakeholder engagement on national, regional and local level (national, regional and local authorities, local communities, academia, student associations, civil society organisations, diaspora communities) to facilitate refugee students’ integration in the destination country by providing tailored support on several areas (accommodation, language courses, mental and social support, administrative support, cultural awareness).
• Foster integrated student support activities on campus offered during the whole duration of the pathway to identify and address refugee students’ needs and to enhance learning outcomes.
• Career counselling activities to enhance self-reliance prospects of students in need of international protection after the completion of their studies in order to access advanced studies / research opportunities, internships/traineeships, and employment.
• Conferences, workshops and mutual learning activities aimed at raising awareness on refugee education pathways and disseminating good practices on the design, implementation and growth of these pathways targeting national and local authorities, university staff and the private sector.

The target groups of this topic are as follows:

• Higher education institutions/academia
• Vocational education and training providers
• Student associations
• National authorities with responsibility for refugee admission, migration for study purposes and integration into the labour market.
• Local and regional authorities (LRAs) with responsibility for integration into the labour market
• Public and/or private employment services
• Migrant-led organisations and non-governmental organisations active in the field of promoting complementary pathways and labour market integration
• Social partners (cross-industry or sectoral organisations): European or national associations of employers, European, national or regional trade union organisations
• Economic partners: European, national or regional chambers of commerce and industry, European, national or regional skilled craft chambers

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Eligibility

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

+ be legal entities:

+ be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:

• EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)), excluding Denmark,
• non-EU countries: countries associated to the AMIF (associated countries) or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature

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Consortium composition

Proposals must be submitted by

• minimum three applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from three different participating Member States. Affiliated entities and international organisations cannot be counted for reaching the minimum number of participating Member States;
• the following entities can NOT apply as coordinator: profit making entities

The Commission welcomes

• proposals with broad geographical scope engaging applicants from diverse regions across the EU.
• Proposals involving applicants from more Member States than the minimum number identified in the eligibility criteria. Proposals should ensure specific attention to women in need of international protection, especially those in potentially vulnerable situations.

To ensure the feasibility of their proposals with regard to the admissibility of third-country nationals, applications should involve relevant national authorities at the proposal preparation stage and refer to the results of this consultation process in their proposals.

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Duration

Projects must have a maximum duration of 36 months.

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Budget

The available budget for this topic is EUR 5 000 000.