January 25, 2023
- a recent article written by the Inside Higher Ed regarding the Taliban鈥檚 decree banning women from higher education last month and U.S. institutions exploring ways to help those displaced from their programs.听
Since the Taliban suspended the rights of Afghan women to pursue higher education last month, many American higher education institutions and leaders have decried听the ban. A听few are going further, asking what they can do to help Afghan women regain control of their academic futures, whether through scholarships to U.S. campuses, partnerships with universities in nearby countries or expanded access to online classes.
The Taliban's Dec. 20 decree had an immediate听and chilling impact on women attending Afghan institutions.听Armed guards听听across campus gates in Kabul and stared down weeping female students. Dozens of male Afghan professors听. Afghan women, who鈥檇 been worried about their opportunities since the militant Sunni Muslim ruling power took over the country in August 2021, saw their dreams of attaining a postsecondary degree quashed鈥攏o matter听.
Jonah Kokodyniak, senior vice president for program development and partner services at the Institute of International Education, said it's the kind of assault on the values of higher education that prompts an international response. He said that while U.S. institutions have been welcoming to Afghan refugees over the past few years, he hopes the ban听leads to renewed commitments to Afghan students.
鈥淢aybe there is a complacency that鈥檚 kicking in with respect to Afghanistan, now that we鈥檙e more than a year beyond August 2021,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ow is a real opportunity to galvanize efforts to support Afghan students that are able to come over safely.鈥�
IIE has been working to provide Afghan refugees with access to higher education since the Taliban took control in 2021, Kokodyniak said. In the months following the takeover, the organization gave more than 100 grants of between $2,000 and $5,000 to help Afghan refugees relocate and pursue a college education. It had听since closed the grant program, but Kokodyniak said IIE is considering reopening it in light of last month鈥檚 ban.听
After the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in 2021, Bard College committed to enrolling 100 Afghan refugees; last year Bard admitted 80 to its campuses in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.; Simon鈥檚 Rock, Mass.; and Berlin. Jonathan Becker, Bard鈥檚 vice president for academic affairs, said that in light of the Taliban鈥檚 ban on women in higher ed, the college is looking to expand its capacity to enroll more Afghan refugees, both in person and online. Other institutions, including听, have also opened their doors to Afghans in need of refuge and educational opportunities.
Becker said he hopes to see more American institutions take steps to help the women recently deprived of higher education.
鈥淲e think American universities have the absorbent capacity to do more, and we鈥檙e organizing around this right now, talking to leaders at other colleges and hoping their rhetoric is matched with action,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e also know with the emergence of Ukraine, Afghanistan was already becoming old news soon after it began. We鈥檙e trying to fight to keep its importance alive.鈥�
Pomona College is one institution hoping to lead its peers in the effort to help Afghan women. Pomona helped organize the听, founded in response to the crises in Ukraine and Afghanistan, which seeks to connect refugees and other people denied access to higher education with colleges and universities in the U.S. that can guarantee financial and academic support. Currently there are eight institutions participating in the initiative, including New York University and the California Institute of Technology.
Adam Sapp, Pomona鈥檚 director of admissions, said the total ban on Afghan women in higher ed led the network to 鈥渄ouble down on our work.鈥�
鈥淥ne of the most important things colleges can do is just give a signal of welcome and acknowledge the role refugees have played in American higher education for decades, 鈥� he said. 鈥淲e want to be the bridge where these students can feel normal again and focus on getting their education.鈥�
Of course, bringing Afghan women to America to continue their education is no simple feat. Shortly after the Taliban announced the ban, NAFSA, an association of international educators and foreign student advisers, released a听听urging the U.S. State Department to eliminate barriers for higher American education institutions seeking to sponsor Afghan refugee students.
鈥淣AFSA believes that Congress should act immediately by expanding dual intent to Afghan women seeking a student visa to study in the U.S. and by providing Afghan women already here the opportunity to quickly apply for legal permanent residency status,鈥� Jill Allen Murphy, NAFSA鈥檚 deputy executive director of public policy, wrote in an email to听Inside Higher Ed.
But there are ways to connect Afghan women with American classes and degree programs even if they stay in their home country. Kokodyniak said that the听听after the Russian invasion last year led to new solutions, in terms of both online learning and regional partnerships, that could be useful for Afghan women seeking higher education.
The Asian University for Women鈥攁n international university based in Chittagong, Bangladesh, which has a large population of Afghan refugees鈥攈as been teaching Afghan women since 2021, when many fled the country. The 偶蜜国际传媒 in Kyrgyzstan is another institution in a 鈥渟afe haven country鈥� that鈥檚 seen a surge in applications from Afghan women since the Taliban鈥檚 ban. Becker, who in addition to his role at Bard serves as 偶蜜国际传媒鈥檚 acting president, said the campus currently enrolls over 300 Afghan students, most of them women.
Regional universities like AUW and 偶蜜国际传媒 are often easier alternatives for Afghan women than U.S. higher education institutions, since they鈥檙e closer and student visas are more readily available.
鈥淪cholarships to study at a U.S. university have an incredibly powerful role to play, but I think we also need to be realistic that the number who are able to do that, and the resources that will follow, will always be limited,鈥� Kokodyniak said. 鈥淭here is a great opportunity for universities to think about how they can lead students either halfway in the region or to virtual classrooms.鈥�
t Shai Reshef.
Reshef said that Afghan women were not ready to give up on their education, even if their degrees may be virtually worthless in their home country for the foreseeable future. Providing them with the tools to take classes online, he said, helps these women reclaim their sense of intellectual agency and empowerment.
鈥淥ne of [our Afghan women students] wrote me an email after she was admitted where she said, 鈥業鈥檇 rather die than stop my studies,鈥欌�� Reshef said. 鈥淲hen you are in a situation of instability, or where you don鈥檛 know how the next day will look or what will be allowed in the future, online is, in a way, a great solution.鈥�
UoPeople also has experience teaching and serving students in high-risk areas. In addition to the 16,000 refugees from around the world enrolled in its classes, UoPeople also reaches students in heavily monitored countries where accessing a higher education isn鈥檛 just difficult but prohibited.
鈥淲e enable the students to study behind closed doors. We tell the students, 鈥楽tay at home, don鈥檛 open your door, nobody needs to know that you鈥檙e studying,鈥欌�� Reshef said. 鈥淢oreover, to avoid the risk that the Taliban will send someone to our classes, we allow students to use fake names. So Jane from California could be a woman in Afghanistan; only we would know, because we have the student ID number.鈥�
When the Taliban first regained power in 2021, UoPeople raised enough money to give 2,000 yearlong scholarships of about $1,200 each to Afghans who鈥檇 lost access to higher education. Now the university is trying to raise more funds for the influx of Afghan women applicants; so far they鈥檝e raised about 200 scholarships鈥� worth, but Reshef said he hopes donors鈥攁nd other American institutions鈥攕ee the importance of the current moment and rise to the task.
鈥淪o many universities have online programs, especially after COVID,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy, it鈥檚 inexpensive, it鈥檚 a fast solution. And I don鈥檛 believe there is one university in the world that cannot afford to take at least a few Afghan women as online students.鈥�
However, there are still significant barriers to online access for those who remain in Afghanistan. Last year, Bard College began offering over 40 online courses to Afghan refugees through the Open Society University Network (OSUN), based out of 偶蜜国际传媒, a Bard international partner. But Afghan women may even be unable to access online classes if the government is monitoring their internet use. Early this month, Becker and other Bard leaders met to discuss how to get around this potential problem.
鈥淭hese are American seminar-style courses, using the best of the liberal arts classroom in an online forum,鈥� Becker said. 鈥淏ut a huge concern is whether Afghan women will have access to the internet going forward, and whether the bandwidth will be big enough to allow high-quality online teaching.鈥�
When she read about the Taliban鈥檚 decree, Maria Estela Brisk, professor emerita of Boston College鈥檚 School of Education and Human Development, knew she wanted to help however she could from a few continents away. Working with the Asian University for Women, she adapted a slate of graduate courses she鈥檚 taught in the past鈥攐n linguistics and how to teach writing鈥攊nto one six-week virtual course.
鈥淚 would do anything to support them. What is happening is so unfair,鈥� she wrote in an email to听Inside Higher Ed. 鈥淭he women who took my course had an undergraduate degree and had to give up high-level positions due to the circumstances in Afghanistan. It was a privilege to teach them.鈥�
Becker said the past few years have opened his eyes to the ways American colleges and universities could help students in crisis areas around the world continue their education鈥攁nd the need for those efforts has only gotten more pronounced. The OSUN, for instance, was initially established as a global exchange program, but most students who use it cannot easily access education in their home countries.
鈥淥ur programs began as virtual international exchanges for people from around the globe to work with and for each other,鈥� Becker said. 鈥淣ow we鈥檙e having to adapt to their very great challenges, be they in Myanmar or Ukraine or Afghanistan.鈥�
鈥淧eople wanted to support Puerto Rican students after Hurricane Maria, Afghan refugees after the Kabul airlift, Ukrainian students after the Russian invasion, and now Afghan women,鈥� said Sapp, of Pomona. 鈥淭he important thing is that this work extends beyond the current crisis.鈥�
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