Education
Jesuit Worldwide Learning
Also known as JWL, Jesuit Worldwide Learning: Higher Education at the Margins
The blended higher-education programme whose Dzaleka learning centre has enabled refugees to earn accredited diplomas in liberal studies from Regis University, taught online by Jesuit university faculty.
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Key facts about Jesuit Worldwide Learning
- Founded
- 2010 (as Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins)
- Credential
- 45-credit diploma in liberal studies, Regis University
- Typical duration
- About three years
- Specialties
- Social work, education, or business
On this page
Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL) delivers university-level education to learners in refugee camps and other marginalised settings through a blended model: students study at a local learning centre with on-site facilitation, while courses are taught online by faculty from Jesuit universities.
Dzaleka hosts one of JWL’s learning centres, operated alongside Jesuit Refugee Service’s education work in the camp. The programme began under the name Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins, founded in 2010.
The Regis diploma
The flagship credential is a diploma in liberal studies accredited by Regis University in Denver. The 45-credit-hour programme — typically completed in about three years — combines 30 core liberal-studies credits with 15 credits in one of three specialties: social work, education, or business. Credits can be applied toward bachelor’s degree programmes at partner institutions.
Regis University reported conferring diplomas to Dzaleka students in graduation ceremonies covered in 2018 and 2019, and more than 180 instructors from Jesuit institutions have taught in the online programme.
Significance
JWL provides an internationally accredited credential to students who, under Malawi’s encampment policy, cannot easily leave Dzaleka to study elsewhere. Several people documented in this encyclopedia passed through JWL or JRS training centres, including Remy Gakwaya, who learned programming there before founding TakeNoLab.
References
Sources
- 1Regis awards diplomas to graduates in Kenya, Malawi
Regis University, July 2019
- 2Refugees in Kenya and Malawi Earn Diplomas Through Jesuit Worldwide Learning Program
Jesuits Midwest Province, July 2018
- 3Jesuit universities offer online courses in refugee camps
Inside Higher Ed, 27 March 2013
Related entries
Institution
Jesuit Refugee Service in Dzaleka
The education, livelihoods, psychosocial, pastoral, and basic-needs programmes operated by Jesuit Refugee Service in and around Dzaleka.
Education
Education in Dzaleka
Public, private, community, and post-secondary education in Dzaleka, including the Malawi curriculum and long-running scholarship and digital-learning programmes.
People
Remy Gakwaya
Burundian technologist and educator who founded TakeNoLab in Dzaleka and helped expand access to coding and digital skills in the camp.
Place
Dzaleka Refugee Camp
A long-established refugee settlement in Dowa District, Malawi, opened in 1994 and now home to a large, multilingual community from the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa.
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