World Education Services Marks 50 Years of Impact with WES Values Awards and Higher Education Scholarships for Refugees

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, World Education Services (WES) announces the WES Values Awards, which will honor two recipients, and a scholarship initiative to support more than 20 refugee students, as part of its 50th anniversary celebration. The awards and scholarships will be unveiled at a special event this evening in New York City, marking a significant moment in WES’ history of supporting international students, immigrants, and refugees.

The WES Values Awards recognizes two outstanding leaders (one in the United States and one in Canada) for their contributions to advancing educational, economic, and social inclusion for international students, immigrants, and refugees. The recipients of the WES Values Awards are Dr. Diya Abdo, founder of Every Campus A Refugee (ECAR) and the Lincoln Financial Professor of English at Guilford College in North Carolina, and Syed Hussan, Executive Director of Canada’s Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. Dr. Abdo’s work with ECAR has helped to transform dozens of college campuses across the U.S. into welcoming sanctuaries for refugee families. ECAR’s flagship chapter at Guilford College has hosted 86 refugees thus far. Hussan leads Canada’s largest membership-based organization of migrant farmworkers, care workers, international students, and other advocates of policy and regulatory reform.

“WES is a world-class social enterprise with decades of experience expanding pathways to inclusion,” said Audrey Hendley, chair of the WES Board of Trustees. “Alongside partners around the globe, we’ve worked to help everyone to recognize the value of people’s international experience and education. It is exciting to see WES recognize inspiring leaders and work in stride with its community of partners to drive access to opportunities for people who are displaced from their countries of origin.”

The scholarships build on WES’ long-standing commitment to creating opportunities for students, including those who have been forcibly displaced, to pursue higher education. WES will contribute a total of nearly $400,000 to three partner organizations—the Community Sponsorship Hub, which supports the U.S. Welcome Corps on Campus; WUSC, a Canada-based organization which supports education, economic opportunities, and empowerment for youth, especially women and refugees; and Southern New Hampshire University—to provide refugee students with essential resources such as tuition, books, lodging, and access to social services. The organizations expect to award scholarship funding to at least 20 students seeking to study in the U.S. and Canada in the 2025/26 academic year. WES and its partners designed a scholarship model that relies on pooled funding and resources and establishes a platform to engage additional donors—including higher education institutions and other funders—to support additional refugee students.

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“The WES Values Awards and our scholarship initiative are both rooted in our belief in the transformative power of education and inclusion, and in the strength of the many partnerships we have with organizations that work every day to create educational and economic opportunity for people who are displaced in the U.S. and Canada,” said Esther Benjamin, CEO and Executive Director of WES. “As we mark 50 years, we are more committed than ever to work alongside leaders like Dr. Diya Abdo and Syed Hussan and our broader community of partners to build a world where anyone can thrive anywhere.”

WES has a 50-year history of supporting global mobility. Since its founding, the organization has provided academic credential evaluations to over 4 million individuals from more than 200 countries and territories. Alongside more than 600 partners across the U.S. and Canada, WES has established programmatic initiatives and driven policy reforms that create opportunities for people to put their educations and skills to use in new communities and on campus. In 2019, WES launched its philanthropic arm, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund. Since then, the Fund has supported 180 organizations with $30 million in grants and investments. As WES celebrates these achievements, it remains grounded in its core mission of helping people learn, work, and thrive in new places, and is well-positioned to continue innovating and driving progress into the next 50 years.

About World Education Services

Founded in 1974, WES is a non-profit social enterprise that supports the educational, economic, and social inclusion of international students, immigrants, and refugees. From evaluating academic credentials to shaping policy, designing programs, and providing philanthropic funding, we partner with a diverse set of organizations, leaders, and networks to uplift individuals and drive systems change.

For more information, contact Jessica Cheng, Enterprise Communications Manager, World Education Services: T: +1.416.972.5054. E: jcheng@wes.org.