No Longer a ‘Lost Generation’? Opportunities and Obstacles of Online and Blended Learning Programmes for Syrian Refugees in Jordan and Lebanon

Abstract

Abstract The displacement of a large number of Syrians has resulted in interrupted and protracted education pathways for many young Syrians. Although access to higher education (HE) has been recognised as central to avoid creating a ‘lost generation’, refugees in host countries face considerable barriers to access HE, such as cost, capacity and lack of documents. Online and blended learning opportunities have been proposed as one solution in resource-constrained environments. However, refugees’ online learning capabilities and preferences remain poorly understood, as existing research has mainly relied on key stakeholders without involving refugees directly. This article presents results from a survey of 350 secondary level educated Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon conducted in 2017. We assess their online learning capabilities and subject preferences, and show how adapting online learning materials to enable smartphone learning with low bandwidth would significantly increase the potential pool of online education students. We discuss how educational organisations can best adopt these findings to improve access to HE for refugees.