Scholar Rescue Fund

The Institute of International Education Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) provides fellowships for established scholars whose lives and work are threatened in their home countries. These fellowships permit professors, researchers and other senior academics to find temporary refuge at host universities and colleges anywhere in the world, enabling them to pursue their academic work and to continue to share their knowledge with students, colleagues, and the community at large. During the fellowship, conditions in a scholar's home country may improve, permitting safe return to help rebuild universities and societies ravaged by fear, conflict and repression. If safe return is not possible, the scholar may use the fellowship period to identify a longer-term opportunity.[1] N.B. This is a program of the Institute of International Education.

In 2007, as a response to an urgent appeal from Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education, IIE-SRF launched the Iraq Scholar Rescue Project. The Project's goal is to rescue Iraq's most senior academics – in any academic discipline – by placing them at institutions of higher learning in countries within the Middle East and North Africa region.[2]

History

The Institute of International Education has helped rescue threatened scholars since its inception in 1919, demonstrating a commitment to protecting Academic freedom.[3] In the 1930s, IIE was instrumental in founding the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars, led by Edward R. Murrow. The program assisted scholars who were barred from teaching, persecuted and threatened with imprisonment by the Nazis. Over 300 scholars were rescued, some of whom became Nobel Laureates and many whose work and ideas helped shape the post-war world.[4]

Other major activities undertaken throughout the Institute's history, before the formal establishment of IIE-SRF in 2002, include: The Russian Student Fund (1921-1949), Rescue of Scholars from Fascist Italy (1922-1924), Rescue of Scholars from the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Committee on Awards for Chinese Students (1942-1945), Emergency Program to Aid Hungarian University Students (in cooperation with World University Service) (1956-1958), The South African Education Program (1979-2001), Rescue of Burmese Refugees (1990-1992), Asia-Help (1998-2000), and Balkan-Help (1999-2000).

IIE-SRF was founded in 2002, when IIE's trustees committed to making scholar rescue a permanent part of its work. Dr. Henry Jarecki, Dr. Henry Kaufman, Thomas Russo and George Soros, founded the Scholar Rescue Fund to aid threatened scholars find safe haven and continue their academic work. Since then, IIE-SRF has provided over 1,190 awards with the collaboration of over 375 institutions from over 40 different countries.[4]

In 2006, when security concerns in Iraq reached unprecedented levels, the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund began receiving hundreds of requests for assistance from threatened Iraqi scholars at major higher education institutions across the country and it became clear that the scope and scale of the Iraqi crisis required special attention. With generous funding from the private and public sectors, most notably, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund responded by launching the Iraq Project. From 2007 to 2014, the Iraq Project provided support to Iraqi university professors and scientists to resume their teaching and research in safety. The Project’s goal was to rescue more than 200 of Iraq's most senior academics – in any academic discipline – by placing them temporarily at institutions of higher learning in countries within the Middle East and North Africa region. (Some exceptions were made for university positions in other world regions.) By the Project’s completion in September 2014, over 280 Iraqi scholars had received fellowships to help them resume their teaching and research activities in safety.

The Iraq Project continues today through the Iraq Distance Learning Initiative, which "[fills] curricular gaps within Iraqi university courses with lectures in subjects ranging from nanotechnology to renewable energy mitigate the potential for brain drain."[2] This include the Iraq Scholar Lecture Series and the IIE-SRF University Joint Courses Project.

IIE-SRF Mission

To rescue scholars and, by protecting their lives and work, increase their countries' and the world's level of knowledge. The IIE Scholar Rescue Fund formalizes an unwavering commitment to academic freedom that the Institute of International Education has demonstrated for over 90 years. At the heart of IIE-SRF is the idea that each scholar helped who continues his or her work in safety is a beacon of hope in our world.

Scholars

IIE-SRF grantees are professors, established researchers and other senior academics from any country, field or discipline. Candidates are reviewed for academic qualifications, the quality/potential of the candidate's work, and the urgency of threats faced. As stated by Scholar Rescue Fund, preference is given to scholars:

"- Who are facing immediate, severe and targeted threats to their lives and/or careers in their home country or country of residence;

- With a Ph.D. or other highest degree in their field who have extensive teaching or research experience at a university, college or other institution of higher learning;
- Who demonstrate superior academic accomplishment or promise;
- Whose selection is likely to benefit the academic community in the home and/or host country or region."[5]

IIE-SRF also states that:

"- Applications from female scholars and scholars who are members of ethnic, racial, cultural or religious minority groups, or those otherwise underrepresented in their field, are encouraged.
- Fellowships are approved by the IIE-SRF Selection Committee which convenes at least three (3) times per year.
- The final fellowship award is dependent upon the location of the host institution, the cost of living, and the value of any additional contributions from the host institution or other source.
- Host academic institutions agree to accept the fellowship funds and disburse the funds to the scholar. In most cases, host institutions are required to match the IIE-SRF fellowship award through partial salary/stipend support,

research materials, and other in-kind assistance."[5]

Reports

Scholar Rescue in the Modern World is the Scholar Rescue Fund's world report, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, to share with a larger community the breadth and nature of the persecution of scholars around the globe. It is based on the data from the first five years of activity of the Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF), from its founding in April 2002 until May 2007.[6] During this time, IIE-SRF received more than 1,000 inquiries from persecuted academics around the world. The report is based primarily on data collected from that time period from 847 applicants, 140 of whom were awarded grants.

According to "Scholar Rescue in the Modern World," life- and career-ending threats to scholars are widespread and egregious. Individuals in 101 countries, from a wide range of academic disciplines and fields, requested assistance; IIE-SRF provided direct support to scholars from 38 of these countries. While countries of origin spanned almost all regions of the world, seventy-five percent of IIE-SRF grantees came from two regions: the Middle East/North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.[7]

The report also identified five factors that cause scholar oppression: Low Gross Domestic Product (GDP); high level of conflict; low academic population; low academic population per million of country population; and Failed state status. The report also states that governments outnumber non-state actors, such as militias and rebel groups, in oppressing scholars by a factor of 3:1. The report also recommends several new programs or activities to mitigate scholar oppression worldwide. Recommendations include: a United Nations convention against the persecution of academics; special visas to enable persecuted scholars to cross borders to safety; and an index of academic oppression that might predict violence against scholars and in particular when and where the next big academic emergency might occur, much like Iraq.[6]

Scholars’ countries of origin

The IIE-SRF Fellowships have no geographic limits on awards, on the disciplines, or fields supported. Fellowships may be awarded to scholars from any country and/or institutions. As of 2017, IIE-SRF has hosted more than 750 scholars from the Middle East and North Africa (70.6%), Sub-Saharan Africa (11.1%), Europe and Eurasia (9.0%), Central, East, and South Asia (7.7%), and Latin American and the Caribbean (1.3%).[8] Below is a list of the nations from which scholars have been granted IIE-SRF fellowships:

Host Institutions

The support and partnership of the international academic community is critical to the work of IIE-SRF. IIE-SRF works closely with each host partner institution to arrange a fellowship term and visiting position that works best for the scholar and the institution. As a visiting scholar, the IIE-SRF fellow might contribute to ongoing research or begin original research; complete pending publications; teach or co-teach; guest lecture in one or across departments; and/or serve as an on-campus resource to both students and faculty within any range of fields or subject matters. Beyond their academic fields, fellows may also be interested to share their personal experiences and knowledge related to their home countries and regions.[9]

IIE-SRF collaborates with the host partner institution to arrange fellowship appointments, typically for one year. Fellows are eligible to apply for a renewal award. If conditions in their home countries improve, fellows may return after their fellowships to make meaningful contributions to their national academies and civil society. If safe return is not possible, they may use the fellowship period to identify longer-term opportunities. Below is a list of some of the nations that have participated as host institutions and have provided scholars a safe environment to continue their academic work: [10]

References

  1. ↑ Scholar Rescue Fund-International Institute of Education
  2. 1 2 The Iraq Scholar Rescue Project
  3. ↑ University World News
  4. 1 2 Scholar Rescue Fund: Our History
  5. 1 2 Scholar Rescue Fund: Eligibility Criteria
  6. 1 2 Scholar Rescue in the Modern World
  7. ↑ The National: Middle East hardest hit by "brain drain"
  8. ↑ "By the Numbers". Scholar Rescue Fund.
  9. ↑ "For Hosts". Scholar Rescue Fund.
  10. ↑ "For Hosts". Scholar Rescue Fund.
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