The Global Sustainable Development Congress (GSDC2025), hosted by Times Higher Education in partnership with the UNHCR, took place from 16–19 June 2025 in Istanbul, Türkiye. The event brought together over 5,000 delegates including government officials, policymakers, donors, university leaders, and refugee students for collective deliberation on advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Central to the discussions was support for UNHCR’s ambitious “15by30” goal of raising the number of refugee youth enrolled in higher education from 1% in 2019 to 15% by 2030. The congress was not only a moment of reflection, but also a bold recommitment to justice, inclusion, and opportunity.

On the 16^th of June, during the Global 15by30 Refugee Higher Education session, Dr. Grace Ramafi, Senior Manager of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of Pretoria (UP), shared critical insights from the African continent. South Africa currently hosts approximately 250,000 refugees and asylum seekers (UNHCR, 2023), making it a key player in the global refugee education landscape.

“Access is only the beginning,” Dr. Ramafi stressed. “If we are truly committed to refugee inclusion in higher education, we must fund the full student journey, academically, emotionally, socially and resource universities as the drivers of this transformation.”

Participating in a high-level panel on equitable education systems, Dr. Ramafi highlighted that while scholarships are essential, they are not sufficient. She called for a structural rethinking of higher education financing to support not just students, but the institutions that serve them.

She posed several urgent questions:

• How do we expand financial support beyond tuition to include mental health, housing, mentorship, and leadership development?
• How can institutions be resourced to offer context-specific support for refugee learners?
• What kinds of long-term partnerships will ensure that universities are not overstretched, but strengthened through refugee inclusion?

To illustrate practical solutions, she presented the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at UP as a working model that integrates displaced and economically disadvantaged students into the university with strong, measurable outcomes. The Program provides among others:

• Academic readiness and learning support
• Psychosocial counselling and wellness services
• Leadership development and community engagement opportunities
• Alumni networks and graduate transition support

Dr. Ramafi emphasized that these wrap-around support services are vital for success and must be matched by investment in institutional capacity to ensure sustainability beyond donor funding.

“We need a financing model that not only empowers students but also strengthens universities to lead inclusive innovation.”

Her participation at GSDC2025 and the 15by30 session positioned both UP and the African continent at the centre of the global conversation on refugee education and inclusion.

The experience of the University of Pretoria, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, offers an important takeaway that “When higher education financing supports comprehensive, holistic, student-centred, and institutionally embedded models, refugee inclusion becomes not just possible but transformational”.