The MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT) was founded in May 2017 in a response to MIT SOLVE’s call to find creative solutions to the growing problem of refugee education. Faculty Director Professor Admir Masic, driven by his own personal experience of forced migration, together with Vice Chancellor Ian Waitz, championed the creation of a center at MIT to design and deploy new learning opportunities for displaced populations around the world. They convened MIT alumni, entrepreneurs, innovators, and regional experts with the vision of creating a program that would bring life-changing educational opportunities to refugees.
“During the war in Yugoslavia my family lost everything, and I became a teenage refugee. I had access to a great deal of humanitarian support, such as food, clothes and shelter, but what changed my life was access to education,” Masic says.
The result was developing the MIT ReACT Computer and Data Science (CDS) program and later the MIT ReACT track in the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Development Policy, accessible, free of cost, education pathways offered to refugee learners wherever they live. Combining online and in-person learning with professional internships, both programs provide learners with agile education-to-employment pathways.
Learn more about Admir’s story
In 2018, MIT ReACT launched its pilot program in the Certificate Program in Computer and Data Science (CDS) with an onsite, two-week intensive Bootcamp and community building event in Amman, Jordan in collaboration with Al Hussein Technical University. A cohort of 18 Syrian, Palestinian, and Jordanian learners were the first to embark on the learning journey through the CDS program navigating ReACT’s core pillars: academics, human skills, employment and networks.
The program was championed by founding supporters like Hala Fadel of the MIT Pan Arab Enterprise Forum, Said Darwazah of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, and the Crown Prince Foundation.
Additionally, in June 2018, MIT ReACT sponsored 8 refugee learners in the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Development Policy (DEDP), a graduate level online course series offered by the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), which opens up opportunity for academic credits towards a Masters degree at pathway universities across the world. The select group of learners were enrolled in the DEDP Program free of charge with access to (1) the five online MicroMasters courses, (2) in-person workshops in entrepreneurship, innovation, and professional development, and (3) paid internships in the development field. Like the CDS Program, the ReACT track within the DEDP MicroMasters offered a blended model specifically designed to meet the needs of refugees and displaced persons.
That same year ReACT found its home within MIT Open Learning proudly serving as an example of the organization’s larger vision around Agile Continuous Education (ACE): a pedagogical framework of learning providing education in a flexible, cost-effective, and time-efficient manner, by combining a broader range of online, on-site, and at-work learning experiences and modalities.
Selected from over 1,000 applicants from 42 countries, MIT ReACT’s second cohort of learners in the CDS program again kicked off with an in person workshop in Amman, Jordan, this time welcoming 30 talented learners from the Middle East, Kenya, and Rwanda to the growing community of innovators. Coinciding with the conferral of the CDS certificate to the pilot cohort, the onsite orientation hosted MIT professors Sanjay Sarma, then Vice President for Open Learning, and Chancellor for Academic Advancement Eric Grimson who offered their motivational remarks to graduates and charge to new learners.
MIT ReACT continued to broaden its reach, collaborating and forming relationships with NGOs, thought leaders, and mission driven businesses. Through this growing network, learners thrived, obtaining paid internships with reputable, multinational companies like Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Samsung, and Microsoft.
The third cohort of CDS learners was an expansion of impact and community, made possible by a generous grant from the Western Union Foundation, convening 50 learners from 22 different countries including those located in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. All learners took part in the first virtual MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp, connecting with innovators across the world in teams working towards developing creative entrepreneurial solutions to global problems.
During these past years, ReACT has established 7 global hubs in Jordan, Uganda, Afghanistan, Greece, Uruguay, United States and Colombia, which represent clusters of learners from 29 different countries.
It is also critical that our work advocates to address the systemic challenges that can help advance education, livelihood and rights for those impacted by displacement. In April 2022 we co-organized the first edition of the Migration Summit, a month-long global virtual event which explored the theme “Education and Workforce Development in Displacement” with more than 900 participants and over 50 organizations from all around the world.
Through thought leadership and research, we work towards convening new spaces of collaboration and risk-taking, sharing best practices and deeper cross-institutional connections to address critical gaps in the field. ReACT serves on MIT’s Response to Catastrophic Events Working Group and is a leader in bringing resources and experience to the MIT broader community in relation to refugee response.
Emerging from MIT ReACT’s proven model, MIT is launching a more expansive program with Nurturing Emerging Talent (NET), a broader initiative with scaleable educational programs designed specifically to meet the needs of learners from vulnerable communities.
The Certificate in Computer Data Science Program, as part of MIT NET, will integrate the MIT ReACT cohort into a larger community of learners in a global online program. Leveraging its partnership with MIT NET, MIT ReACT will continue its work in developing, researching, and sharing best practice in refugee education and workforce development to support outcomes for these refugee and displaced communities. Learn more about MIT NET and how to apply to the Certificate in Computer and Data Science which will open its call for applications in January 2023.
In April 2023, we will be running the second edition of the Migration Summit which will focus on the theme “Co-creating Pathways to Learning, Livelihood, and Dignity” through virtual and in-person events hosted by participating individuals and partners around the world.
The MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT) was founded in May 2017 in a response to MIT SOLVE’s call to find creative solutions to the growing problem of refugee education. Faculty Director Professor Admir Masic, driven by his own personal experience of forced migration, together with Vice Chancellor Ian Waitz, championed the creation of a center at MIT to design and deploy new learning opportunities for displaced populations around the world. They convened MIT alumni, entrepreneurs, innovators, and regional experts with the vision of creating a program that would bring life-changing educational opportunities to refugees.
“During the war in Yugoslavia my family lost everything, and I became a teenage refugee. I had access to a great deal of humanitarian support, such as food, clothes and shelter, but what changed my life was access to education,” Masic says.
The result was developing the MIT ReACT Computer and Data Science (CDS) program and later the MIT ReACT track in the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Development Policy, accessible, free of cost, education pathways offered to refugee learners wherever they live. Combining online and in-person learning with professional internships, both programs provide learners with agile education-to-employment pathways.
Learn more about Admir’s story
The third cohort of CDS learners was an expansion of impact and community, made possible by a generous grant from the Western Union Foundation, convening 50 learners from 22 different countries including those located in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. All learners took part in the first virtual MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp, connecting with innovators across the world in teams working towards developing creative entrepreneurial solutions to global problems.
During these past years, ReACT has established 7 global hubs in Jordan, Uganda, Afghanistan, Greece, Uruguay, United States and Colombia, which represent clusters of learners from 29 different countries.
It is also critical that our work advocates to address the systemic challenges that can help advance education, livelihood and rights for those impacted by displacement. In April 2022 we co-organized the first edition of the Migration Summit, a month-long global virtual event which explored the theme “Education and Workforce Development in Displacement” with more than 900 participants and over 50 organizations from all around the world.
Through thought leadership and research, we work towards convening new spaces of collaboration and risk-taking, sharing best practices and deeper cross-institutional connections to address critical gaps in the field. ReACT serves on MIT’s Response to Catastrophic Events Working Group and is a leader in bringing resources and experience to the MIT broader community in relation to refugee response.
Emerging from MIT ReACT’s proven model, MIT is launching a more expansive program with Emerging Talent, a broader initiative with scaleable educational programs designed specifically to meet the needs of learners from vulnerable communities.
The Certificate in Computer Data Science Program, as part of MIT Emerging Talent, will integrate the MIT ReACT cohort into a larger community of learners in a global online program. MIT ReACT will continue its work in developing, researching, and sharing best practice in refugee education and workforce development to support outcomes for these refugee and displaced communities.
In April 2023, we ran the second edition of the Migration Summit which focused on the theme "Co-creating Pathways to Learning, Livelihood, and Dignity" through virtual and in-person events hosted by participating individuals and partners around the world. With over 220 speakers engaging across 80 virtual sessions and in-person events in locations around the world, the Migration Summit fostered connections between diverse communities of displaced learners, universities, corporations, social enterprises, foundations, researchers, and others.