Learn at your own pace about the complex and fascinating area of refugees and migration

Here we have collated a great range of FREE open online courses from four online learning platforms; Coursera, edX, Future Learn and Open Learn. Typically taking a couple of hours a week for a few weeks, you can learn at your own pace about the complex and fascinating area of refugees and migration. If this whets your appetite, these sites have hundreds of great courses. Search ‘languages’, ‘culture’, ‘identity’ or ‘migration’ for other interesting topics related to the world of refugees.

Future Learn: Working Supportively With Refugees: Principles, Skills and Perspectives

Explore interdisciplinary approaches to working with refugees. Refugees are a diverse group, speaking many languages and of varied religions and ethnicities. This course acknowledges that skills requirements are changing rapidly and offers training for those working in this area.

Open Learn:
Who counts as a refugee?

The words ‘refugee’ and ‘asylum seeker’ have a wide variety of connotations in Britain, many of them negative. This free course, Who counts as a refugee?, explores how changing social policy and terminology help to shape, and are shaped by, the experiences of people seeking asylum in the UK.

edX: Human rights – The rights of refugees

Across the world, barriers are growing. Every day people fleeing war and persecution find the door slammed in their face. Refugees have human rights. What are these rights? Who is responsible for upholding and protecting them? How can we hold them to account? This short course will enable you to find the answers and empower yourself to defend and promote the rights of refugees and discover how you can be part of the solution.

Coursera: International migrations – A global issue

The world is moving, but not all opinions and governments are willing to accept this poorly understood reality. The issue affects both states and the planet, in a process of globalization and of regionalization of migrations, and raises new questions for international relations, now including the South. This course aims at improving knowledge of the subject, addressing the key issues raised by international migration, and assessing the trends of tomorrow.

Future Learn: Why do people migrate?

Move beyond the headlines about migration. In this course, you will learn about different theoretical models that seek to explain why migration starts and why it continues. You will explore migration as a structural feature of our societies and examine individual’s choices to migrate. You will consider the role networks and institutions play in the movement of people. You will also hear from international experts about how migration theories can help us understand cases of labour migration in different world regions.

Future Learn: Caring for Children Moving Alone – Protecting Unaccompanied and Separated Children

This course is about the care and protection of unaccompanied and separated refugee and migrant children who are moving across and between countries. This course will provide an understanding of the risks and vulnerabilities these children face. It will inform the improvement of policy, practice and delivery of support services that uphold children’s rights and meet their best interests. The course will provide examples of promising practice. It will stimulate the exchange of ideas and experience between learners around the world and is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.