News and Events

The Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) outlines their 8-year partnership with IIE-SRF to place threatened scholars at higher education institutions in Finland. The article includes a brief profile of Sweeta Akbari, an IIE-SRF fellow from Afghanistan undertaking her fellowship at Tampere University in Finland.

IIE CEO Allan Goodman writes in Forbes that international education contributes directly to the health of the U.S. economy and the prospects for sustainable world peace. While the field faces some obstacles, he is optimistic about the future and encourages everyone to play a role in supporting international education.

The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences highlights IIE-SRF fellow Eric Zama of Cameroon and the mutual benefits of hosting an IIE-SRF scholar. “In Cameroon, I was using biochar to improve soil and remove contaminants from water. Here I am using biochar to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from water. Illinois has been great. The program made the right match for me,” says Zama.

IIE-SRF fellow Serap Kavas and several colleagues describe how the Intergroup Dialogue Project at Cornell University helped them learn as instructors how to create a classroom environment that invites open and respectful dialogue. According to the article, “Kavas said she now feels better prepared to create an environment where her students feel more comfortable being uncomfortable, where they can truly enter into dialogue – at a time when those skills are desperately needed.”

As an expert in constitutional and human rights law from Afghanistan, IIE-SRF fellow Tawab Danish shared research and policy recommendations at an event titled “Hazaras and Shias: Violence, Discrimination, and Exclusion Under Taliban Rule” at his host university, Cornell.

The Philadelphia Inquirer situates IIE-SRF host partner University of Pennsylvania’s initiative to host threatened scholars from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Venezuela within a larger effort by universities across the U.S. to offer refuge to scholars whose lives or work are endangered, as represented by IIE and our century of work in this space.

IIE presented Stanford University with its Centennial Medal, which honors institutions and individuals who have made unique and powerful contributions to international education. Stanford’s contributions include collaborating with IIE and the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund to provide a safe academic for scholars since the WWII era through today, hosting scholars from Afghanistan, China, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela in recent years.

IIE-SRF fellow Sayed Jafar Ahmadi and his wife Zeinab Musavi were honored with the 2024 American Psychological Association International Humanitarian award for their work providing psychological care and training future psychologists in Afghanistan. Ahmadi is currently undertaking his fellowship at Bard College.

The Cornell Chronicle presents an article and short video about IIE-SRF alumnus Azat Gündoğan, who undertook his fellowship at Cornell and now works as an assistant teaching professor at Florida State University.