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Connections March 2009

University for Refugees Opens Its Doors

Duncan MacLaren, Coordinator

Australian Catholic University

The ringing of cowbells and the crowing of roosters are unlikely sounds for most lecture halls, but for two AJCU university professors, they became the norm for two months.

Fresh from tutoring refugees in the mountains of Thailand, Mary McFarland, dean of Gonzaga University’s School of Professional Studies, and her husband Tom, emeritus professor of education, are more convinced than ever that the joint Australian Catholic University (ACU) and AJCU Refugee Education Project on the Thai-Burma Border is worthwhile.

“We have so many unbelievable gifts and blessings, that to make one small pebble-in-the-pond difference to people who have lost almost everything including family is incredible,” said Mary McFarland. “I think we are obliged to do it. It’s a gift. It changes our lives.”

They are the first academics from four AJCU universities to become involved in the project, which delivers internationally recognized courses, helping pave the way for better futures for these isolated students and their communities.

“When I first heard these incredibly bright young people were standing around watching their lives go by, with no access to education, and no work,” she said, she was moved to action. “It is my definition of hell.”

The students were selected from minority communities of some 600,000 refugees living in exile from Burma, now called Myanmar, since 1984. Although they had passed their primary and secondary schooling in the refugee camps with flying colors, tertiary education opportunities were extremely limited. The students met with the McFarlands six days a week, sharing donated computers in a secluded bamboo classroom.

Mary McFarland said she valued the opportunity to get to know the students and watch their progress. She was particularly excited by the success of the model, exploring its sustainability, and imagining it being adapted for refugees in other parts of the world.

 “Without education, people will have no chance to think differently, to lead other than to resort to violence,” she said. “Because of their education, these students are people who can step forward and have a voice. Despite the violence that has been shown to them, they can choose a different path.”

The 21 students taught by the McFarlands and ACU lecturers are expected to graduate with a diploma in liberal studies next year, joining theology and business graduates from previous programs offered by ACU in the region. Courses in the two-year, part-time diploma program are primarily taught online by ACU and AJCU professors, supplemented by on-site tutors. The eight, 3-credit diploma courses include business information technology, business communication skills, managing organizations, and international human rights, all taught by ACU faculty. Gonzaga faculty are teaching leadership theory; Regis faculty, introduction to sociology; Saint Louis faculty, introduction to anthropology; and Fairfield faculty, introduction to developing world politics.

Challenges for the future include providing teaching resources, improving access to academic databases including online journals, and continuing to give the students face to face contact with tutors from excellent universities. For more information, please contact Dean McFarland at mcfarlandm@gu.gonzaga.edu.