Displaced Scholar and Student Assistance

Columbia Global is committed to helping displaced scholars and students around the world who have been impacted by a recent crisis in their country. This page provides resources and information about how displaced students and scholars can access support through.

Scholars

Schools may host and provide an affiliation for at-risk or displaced scholars via short-term visiting appointments, fellowships, assistantships, and residencies. Academic units, including clinics and institutes, may be able to reallocate or accelerate the number of visiting positions to accommodate visitors from the affected country.

Supporting Displaced Scholars Outside of the U.S. 

The Columbia Global Emerging Scholars Fellowship Program provides opportunities for early-career scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who hold refugee status or have been forcibly displaced. The program creates opportunities for scholars to reintegrate into academia and resume their academic pursuits.

The Institute for Ideas & Imagination, located at Reid Hall in Paris, is also available to host displaced scholars.

Columbia is also working with various organizations to identify displaced scholars, vet them, and match them with opportunities at academic institutions: 

  • Scholars at Risk is an international network of institutions and individuals working to protect scholars and promote academic freedom. 
  • The Scholar Rescue Fund  selects outstanding professors, researchers, and public intellectuals for fellowship support, and arranges visiting academic positions with partnering institutions.
  • The New University in Exile Consortium is a group of universities and colleges committed to nurturing academics who have been persecuted and uprooted by creating a sense of intellectual community among exiled scholars. It is a critical partner in helping to integrate and support scholars once they are placed. 

Visiting scholars are expected to receive financial support in the amount of $50,000-$90,000, depending on the scholar’s situation. Faculty and chairs or directors of departments and institutes who wish to host scholars should contact their deans to determine if funding could be made available. If a host academic unit cannot secure sufficient funding on its own or through its school, it may reach out to the Global Centers for potential funding sources, which may be limited.

If an academic unit or member of the Columbia community identifies a scholar directly, they should email [email protected]. If a school, department, or institute identifies an at-risk colleague through their own channels, they can submit an application for the Scholars at Risk program, with a note that they already have an institution willing to host them. Nominators may complete the form for individuals unable to do so safely, or email information to [email protected].

An academic unit that hosts a displaced scholar should determine what expectations, if any, it may have of them, such as teaching or performing certain academic duties.

The Scholars at Risk application and review process may take several weeks to months; Scholars at Risk is not an emergency assistance organization, and it is not able to offer immediate relocation for those in an emergency situation.

Supporting Scholars’ Transition

Resources for Students

Note: We are not currently accepting applications for the Columbia University Scholarship for Displaced Students.

The process to bring displaced students to Columbia is complicated, due to admissions timelines and processes. Schools are encouraged to review whether they can admit new displaced students or extend application deadlines. 

The Global Centers are working with the Office of University Life and other relevant University offices on supporting current students’ families. 

Depending on specific situations, examples of support could include assistance for Special Immigrant Visas or humanitarian parole.

Other Resources