WUSC Student Refugee Program

The Student Refugee Program (SRP) is run by World University Service of Canada and is unusual: it pairs resettlement to Canada with access to post-secondary education. Through WUSC's agreements with the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec, students sponsored through the programme enter Canada as permanent residents. WUSC is explicit that the SRP is not a scholarship programme - students are sponsored for one year and receive basic financial and social support arranged by volunteer WUSC Local Committees of students, staff and faculty on campuses across Canada. Financial assistance is provided in kind, such as reduced or free tuition and accommodation, plus a small sum of money for basic necessities; sponsored students do not receive cash to study.

To be eligible you must currently live in Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon or Uganda and have lived there continuously for three years at the time of application, be registered with UNHCR, be aged 18 to 25 as of 1 January in the year of application, be eligible and suitable for resettlement under Canada's Private Sponsorship of Refugees programme, have completed secondary school and already hold the paper original diploma and transcripts, be competent in English or French in speech and writing, be single with no children, be facing barriers to accessing or completing undergraduate post-secondary education, and be self-reliant and suited to integrating in Canada as an individual. WUSC notes that the SRP no longer selects students in Malawi, Pakistan or Tanzania. There is no fee to apply at any stage.

Applications are made online, only from within the listed countries of asylum, and only during a recruitment period that is open for two to three weeks each year. WUSC states that the exact timeframe varies by country but falls between November and April each year. For the 2027-28 cohort the Kenya window ran 13 February to 13 March 2026 (5:00pm East African Time), Jordan and Lebanon ran 16 February to 14 March 2026, and Uganda ran 2 March to 20 March 2026. In Kenya the programme is open to refugees living in urban areas or in the Kakuma and Dadaab camps, run by WUSC Kenya; in Uganda it is run by WUSC's partner Windle International Uganda and is open to refugees in any settlement, including Kampala. Minimum grades are published in each country-specific call when it launches.