Page 6 - Human Rights Program 2025 Annual Report

5
LEARNING ON THE MOVE: HUMAN RIGHTS
GRADUATE MINOR RESEARCHES REFUGEE
EDUCATION EXPERIENCES
For a long time, Erma Mujić has known she wanted to explore education as a pathway for
members of the refugee community. A former refugee from Bosnia who resettled in Iowa, her
passion for education eventually brought her to the University of Minnesota, where she is
currently pursuing her PhD in comparative and international development education. Mujić has
also completed the graduate minor in human rights, which provides students with the
opportunity to gain interdisciplinary expertise in the study of human rights laws, policy, and
practice. In summer of 2024, Mujić received HRP grant funding for her field research on
education for refugees and displaced populations in Greece.
The graduate minor in human rights encourages students
to combine their academic knowledge with field
experience- something Mujić has been able to apply
through her research. “I was really interested in the
different forms of learning that occur on the journey from
youths’ home countries to resettlement,” Mujić explains.
Her project examines education as a form of
empowerment for young people to access better,
healthier futures as they imagine it. Mujić strives to
approach education as a fluid pathway to a brighter future
instead of a rigid, linear progression.
Mujić has cooperated with two organizations based in
Greece, A Drop in the Ocean and Better Days-Gekko, that
offer refugees life-saving humanitarian care and
personalized education and counseling, respectively.
During her fieldwork, Mujić has worn many hats- a
volunteer, a student, a researcher- all while bringing her
experience of being a former refugee herself.
Erma Mujić
She emphasizes the importance of not only recognizing the struggles of refugees, but also
appreciating the skills and experiences that they bring. “Being a refugee is no one’s choice,”
Mujić says. “External circumstances and structural inequalities force you to leave home. But
these experiences don’t negate the fact that perhaps we completed a Master’s degree or owned
a business in our home country, and that we bring rich cultural history with us.”
Through her research, Mujić hopes that others will realize that refugee youth hold the same
desires, needs, and goals for a secure and bright future as every other young person on earth.
And most importantly, that these students want to learn. “Education matters greatly to them,”
Mujić says.