The Columbia University Scholarship for Displaced Students | A Powerful Commitment to Humanitarian Educational Equity
From its origins at GS, the Scholarship has grown into an innovative, University-wide initiative.
The Columbia University Scholarship for Displaced Students (CUSDS) is a pioneering effort to support the educational goals of refugee and asylum-seeker students with roots at Columbia GS. Alongside the Columbia Business School, Columbia Engineering, and the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), GS co-founded the then-named Syrian Displaced Persons Scholarship in November 2016 with support from the Columbia International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO). Indeed, late GS Dean Peter Awn’s unequivocal support for the concept of the scholarship helped to bring others onboard, and it was a thrilling development when the scholarship was expanded into the CUSDS under the leadership of the Columbia Global Centers team.
The CUSDS is the first scholarship of its kind in the world, and now the first university-wide scholarship at Columbia. Recipients receive full tuition, housing, and living assistance while pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees. In its first two cohorts, the CUSDS has supported 33 students from 19 countries attending 14 different schools.
Meet some GS alumni and current students who have been recipients of the CUSDS:
A Syrian dissident, Quitaiba Idlbi was forced to flee his country after being subjected to multiple arrests and severe torture by the Assad regime in response to his activism. As a refugee, Idlbi has been a powerful advocate, raising awareness of human rights abuses in Syria including as a resident with the International Center for Transitional Justice. After graduating from Columbia in 2020, twelve years after beginning his college journey in Damascus, Idlbi now serves as Syria Project Lead for the Atlantic Council.
Syrian-Iraqi musician Sumar Frejat, a member of the inaugural CUSDS cohort, spent years pursuing his education and musical passion in Syria and Iraq, despite having to abruptly relocate multiple times due to safety concerns. This included making it through several rounds of Arab Idol season 3, the equivalent of American Idol for the Arab world. After coming to the United States in 2015, Frejat worked multiple jobs before the CUSDS empowered him to come to Columbia to pursue medical ambitions.
Hailing from Damascus, Syria, Otto completed a business degree at a community college in Texas prior to coming to Columbia. At GS, Otto pursued studies in architecture with a particular interest in the intersection of design and climate change. Following his graduation, Otto now works as a Solar Energy Consultant.
Tahmina was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and upon graduating high school, she received the top score on the entrance exam for Kabul Medical University. Tahmina fled Afghanistan in 2020 and resided in Tajikistan, teaching English to Afghan refugees. At GS, Tahmina plans to major in psychology and creative writing with the goal of harnessing culture, narrative, and psychological understanding to advocate for Afghan rights.
A member of the Ezidis, an ethno-religious minority in Iraq, Ronak Elias fled her home after the Ezidis were brutally targeted by ISIS in an attack considered to be one of the worst examples of genocide and ethnic cleansing in recent times, described by the UN as a “crime against humanity.” Said Elias, who is pursuing a double major in computer science and psychology at GS, “amidst all the chaos and uncertainty of my life in Iraq, this scholarship was the only light I could see at the end of my tunnel.”
Learn more about the CUSDS by visiting the Columbia Global Centers webpage or emailing [email protected]