Kiron Open Higher Education can rightly be described as a small educational revolution: The Berlin social start-up, founded in 2015, relies on a hybrid learning model of online courses and later offline presence at a regular university - and thus offers refugee students a real perspective. In addition to various partner universities, there are collaborations with MOOC providers, including coursera, iversity and the edX courses at Harvard, Stanford, Yale and MIT universities.
From September 2016, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will also be supporting the young company with 2.1 million euros for the next 13 months. An impressive sum and reason enough to draw a conclusion with Melanie Spreeberg from Kiron a year after it was founded.
Uniglobale: What is behind the Kiron concept?
Melanie Spreeberg: We want to help refugees prepare for studies and gain access to a university in Germany with the 500 courses on our platform. On the one hand, we do this with digital language courses and mentoring offers. Building on this, our partners are jointly developing English-language online curricula in the areas of engineering, business administration and economics, computer science and social sciences, which are available to students. We are testing the possibilities and limits of digital educational offerings in the transition from non-university learning to accredited study programs.
Who are these partners?
We currently have 22 partner universities, most of which approached us on their own initiative. These include private universities, but also state universities of applied sciences. In addition to the 18 German supporters such as RWTH Aachen and the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences, we also have partners in France, Italy and Jordan.
How is the response from refugees?
Kiron was officially founded in spring 2015 and was able to start with the first participants in the fall, quickly giving many refugees educational prospects. We now have more than 3,000 registered students, the majority of whom have already started their two-year online studies. This can then be followed by a two-year classroom course or, alternatively, practical training.
What advantages does the digitalization of higher education offer, and what challenges exist?
Our students are in their early to mid-20s and some already have university experience. By studying online, you can find new starting points, use the waiting time until you find a job or simply think about what to do next. But studying online can also be very strenuous because it requires a lot of self-motivation and discipline. It is often doubly difficult for refugees because they find themselves in an exceptional situation. There is often a lack of utensils, internet access, study rooms or even contact with learning groups. On the other hand, connections are created that would otherwise not come into play. Upon request, the Google Foundation donated laptops to some of our participants. And we ourselves also work with many actors. Our MOOCs, for example, are run by external providers, as are our language courses. Our partnership network is therefore very large.
How can digitalization be improved in Germany?
Things are very bureaucratic in Germany; there always have to be solid structures in place and a lot of thought must be given before anything can really begin. This is also a cultural thing. But at least people are slowly recognizing the potential of online courses in this country. And you should – as a supplement to offline studies. Because that's what it's all about: integration through education.
