Posted on by Jeff Davidson
Less than 1% of refugees globally have access to higher education. Kiron & Saylor Academy have joined forces to increase that number and will work together to provide thousands of refugees worldwide with the opportunity to graduate with an accredited university degree, free of charge. Under the partnership, Kiron will direct students to Saylor’s tuition-free courses, built by subject matter experts, that cover college level learning outcomes. The courses will enable the students to progress toward a degree by completing Kiron’s study tracks aligned to university programs.

“Kiron’s partnership with Saylor Academy enables our students to learn with high-quality self-paced, fully online courses designed by using open educational resources. Many of Saylor Academy’s courses have alternate final exams that have been recommended for credit by at least one of two independent organizations in the US (ACE® CREDIT® and NCCRS). As we share one mission of democratizing and widening the access to education we are really glad that we found such a strong partner to make studying for our students even better.”

– Markus Kressler, Co-founder of Kiron.

Kiron is a leader in addressing refugee educational needs and uses an innovative combination of online and offline learning to provide accessible, sustainable, and cost-effective education. Saylor is a leading provider of open courseware and will open its courses and platform to refugees in the Kiron learning system. The online courses will be complemented with live and direct online tutoring and offline services like Kiron’s Buddy Programme, Mentoring Programme, Study Center and Career Services.
To date, the Kiron system has over 2,000 students, 25 partner universities, and 4 study tracks.

“We are excited to join Kiron in this effort and pleased that our courses fit into these international degree pathways that will enable displaced populations to access higher education and provide them with an opportunity to change the trajectory of their lives.” -Jeff Davidson, Saylor’s Director of Strategic Relationships.

About Kiron Open Higher Education

Logo of Kiron Open Higher EducationThe Social Start-up Kiron Open Higher Education was founded by Vincent Zimmer and Markus Kreßler in 2015. Kiron is the world’s first blended-learning education platform that provides an unbureaucratic access to higher education for refugees all over the world. Our innovative on- and offline education model includes on average two years of online studies on our platform and two years at a partner university. Furthermore, we offer student services to support our students during their online study experience. For example, in terms of physical places of learning, so called Study Centers or a Buddy- and Mentoring Program. Our aim is to empower our students to integrate socially and economically into society in order to take back control of their futures.
For more informations visit kiron.ngo or follow Kiron on Twitter and Facebook.