OLIve: The Open Learning Initiative

The Open Learning Initiative (OLIve) has for around a decade worked to encourage and support people from forced migration backgrounds who want to go to university. Refugees benefit greatly from higher education. So do the countries where they settle, and the universities where they study. But at present, only 9% of refugees go to university, so many may not reach their full potential. That is why OLive is dedicated to improving refugees' HE access and reaching UNHCR’s '15 by 30' target. 

OLIve is coordinated in SPS by Professor Corinne Squire and SPS alumna Soni Sharan. Many academic and administrative staff and students in the School also contribute, as do colleagues across the University of Bristol, and from other UK universities. Many OLIve tutors and teachers are themselves from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

OLIve is free, open to all, holistic, and refugee-centred. It operates online across the UK, with in-person meetings in Bristol, London, Manchester and Birmingham.

OLIve offers classes in Academic English and IELTS; Paths to HE, Education, Training and Employment; Digital Skills; and Creative Writing. It also provides a catch-up YouTube channel, one-to-one tutoring to help with university and scholarship applications, academic seminars, and individual and group follow-up with all students. It offers in-person ‘outreach’ short courses, and is well-integrated with refugee-sector NGOs, and relevant local authority, Further Education (FE) and Higher Education provision.

Read more in our OLIve programme annual report 2025 (PDF, 930kB). and in our earlier reports.