The Quest for Refugee Higher Education in Ethiopia: The Case of Self-financing Eritreans

Abstract

This study examines the challenges of Eritrean refugees attending their tertiary education in selected private medical colleges in Ethiopia, and the support schemes available to help them cope with their problems. The research involves a sample of 40 randomly selected refugee students and uses focus group discussion and interview as principal methods of data collection. The findings reveal that Eritrean refugee students in Ethiopia face a variety of challenges identified as academic, linguistic, emotional/psychological and sociocultural. Although there are some forms of support offered at governmental level, the institutional level of support is found to be deficient in many respects. Hence, further improvements in facilitating refugee higher education in Ethiopia are posited.