Support for refugees & newcomers

Committed to doing our part

UVic has joined the international effort to ease the mounting crisis for the tens of millions of refugees—nearly five million from Syria alone—who have been forced from their homelands because of conflict and insecurity.

We've created this web page to share the details about supports that UVic has put in place to support international refugees including support for more spaces for student refugees at our university, and for language and skills training for recently settled refugees in Greater Victoria. 

This page is also intended to be a source of information about local and international organizations working to support refugees.

World University Services Canada (WUSC)

UVic has a long history of sponsoring refugees and bringing them to our campus through World University Services Canada’s (WUSC) Student Refugee Program. WUSC is an organization with well-established infrastructure, expertise and experience needed to bring about sustainable improvements in the lives of communities of youth in the developing world.

In the fall of 2015, as a result of the Syrian refugee crisis, UVic committed to provide additional funding to the World University Services Canada (WUSC) UVic Local Committee to double the number of student refugee spaces on campus for a period of three years. This additional support was put in place to help increase the number of students from Syria and other regions to attend UVic each year as part of their resettlement in Canada and to pursue their education.

Currently, four students are here under the Student Refugee Program, funded by a combination of university support and an annual UVSS/GSS student levy.

For more information about UVic WUSC SRP supports please contact:

, Associate Director International Student Services

, Associate Professor Political Science

Continuing Studies fund

The Division of Continuing Studies has dedicated $25,000 to support newly-arrived refugees in Greater Victoria wishing to pursue education in the Division’s non-credit credential offerings.

This funding will be available to students who are accepted into a program and begin their studies before the end of the 2018/19 fiscal year.

Learn about the refugee support fund offered by Continuing Studies.

Aid, sponsorship and resettlement agencies and organizations

Government resources