This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Japan ICU Foundation’s efforts to expand higher education opportunities for students with refugee backgrounds. This work began with a simple idea: in the midst of the Syrian conflict, even admitting a small number of Syrian students to International Christian University would be a meaningful expression of JICUF and ICU’s commitment to peace and human rights.

At the time, the JICUF team did not anticipate that this initiative would mark the beginning of a long journey to advocate for more higher education institutions to welcome displaced students. Over the years, the Foundation has joined a global network of like-minded organizations working to expand “complementary education pathways”—programs that enable refugees to move to third countries through educational opportunities and build sustainable lives.

As new conflicts emerge and increasing numbers of young people lose access to education, the need for this work continues to grow. At this milestone, however, we would like to reflect on the progress made over the past decade. We have therefore compiled a 10-year report that traces how we became engaged in education pathways, developed our knowledge and experience, and collaborated with partners to uphold the right to education for all. Please take a moment to read our report. It can be downloaded from here.