30 Refugees Receive DAFI Scholarships in Jordan

Bathoul AlMousa is among the refugees who will be starting university this semester after achieving 100 percent in her high school exams

15 Nov 2020

Three months ago Bathoul Fawzi Almousa was sat at home in Jerash, a small town just north of Amman in Jordan, not quite believing what she was seeing on her phone. After completing her Tawjihi (Jordanian end of high school exams) back in June, she had been waiting in nervous anticipation for the results. But 100% – one of the highest results in the whole of Jordan – was beyond even what she had imagined.  

A Syrian refugee, Bathoul fled her home in Daraa alongside her family in 2013. Arriving in Jordan she quickly enrolled in 6th grade at the local school, thanks to the Jordanian Government policy of allowing refugees to access the national education system. But this was not without its challenges.  

The school, like many in Jordan, was split into two shifts, the morning for Jordanians and the afternoons for Syrians. Studying the Jordanian curriculum also was an adjustment from what she had previously been learning back in Syria. Despite this, Bathoul describes how she decided to work as hard as possible to achieve her dreams 

“The Syria crisis is my biggest motivator. My country is bleeding, my home is devastated but by becoming a doctor, I can help my country, my family. I can help them in forgetting the pain.” 

Seven years later, after receiving her Tawjihi results, Bathoul was finally one step closer to achieving her dream of studying medicine. But there remained the question of how to pay for university. Her family, who had sold all their belongings when they left Syria, certainly couldn’t afford the high price of the foreign student rate which Syrians have to pay if they want to go to university in Jordan.  

“When I got my results, I also felt grief as well as happiness,” Bathoul explains. “I didn’t know who would help me to achieve my dream in studying medicine.”  

After applying for UNHCR Jordan’s DAFI scholarship, in October, the wait was finally over when it was announced that Bathoul was among the 30 refugee students selected for 2020.  

“It was around 3pm in the afternoon, my family was all around me, when I received the call from the DAFI scholarship. They asked me at first, what’s your opinion about studying pharmacy? I was confused. I told them no, my destiny is to study medicine,” says Bathoul. “But then they said, congratulations, you have got a DAFI scholarship for medicine. I was so happy. My mum was so happy she started crying.” 

Bathoul now believes she will be able to become a successful doctor, and her expertise will be on high demand to respond to the COVID pandemic while in Jordan. In the future, she would like to be able to open her own clinic and potentially help people once back in her hometown in Syria.  

But with over 1,400 applications for UNHCR’s DAFI scholarship in 2020 alone, there are many more refugee youth in Jordan who have not been able to achieve their dreams. More support for higher education opportunities is urgently needed.  

The DAFI refugee scholarship programme was launched in 1992 by UNHCR and the German government. To date, it has supported over 18,000 young refugee women and men to access accredited higher education degree programmes in their first country of asylum and is currently in operation in 54 countries around the world. In Jordan, 400 students are currently studying at university through its support, and over 900 refugees have received scholarships since it started in 2007.