UNESCO Panel; Professional Development Scholarship Updates; Graduating Scholars

Happy New Year! Our team has been busy kicking off plans, interventions, and projects for 2026. We are also happy to bring you several updates from our programs this month, including our participation in a UNESCO panel, updates on our scholarship in partnership with Juna Foundation, and some heartfelt congratulations to our graduating scholars. We also have updates from Syria, including a higher education academic forum with insights from surveys conducted with students after the forum and the first in a series of teachers' trainings around Syria. We will give you further updates on these in the dedicated ‘Bridges to Syria’ newsletter next week.

Jusoor Experience on UNESCO Happy Schools Panel

As part of a UNESCO session at the Learning Planet annual festival in celebration of the International Day of Education, our Head of Refugee Education, Suha Tutunji, was invited to share Jusoor’s experience on the panel ‘Happy Schools in Action: Schools as Community Hubs.’ 37 participants from around the world tuned in to Suha’s presentation on how our refugee education centers in Lebanon were intentionally located in areas with refugee camps, and how we integrated parents and families to treat our schools as community hubs: from the school staff themselves being from the community we are serving, to providing meals for the children & hampers to aid the parents, to restoring a sense of normalcy for these displaced children through play, arts, music, and spaces to help parents navigate the stress of displacement through workshops. Suha also highlighted a key component of our approach, being psycho-social support, which is embedded in school life and provides the students with key social-emotional learning opportunities and life skills support to help them navigate their challenging reality.

Celebrating Academic Milestones of Jusoor-Juna Foundation Scholarship Students

The Jusoor-Juna Foundation Scholarship was launched in the fall semester of 2025 to provide professional development certificates, vocational certification, and partially funded Bachelor’s Programs at partner institutions, including the Modern University for Business and Science (MUBS), CIS College, and the American University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Lebanon. Recruited from Jusoor’s High School Scholarships, the scholarship creates a continuous educational pathway from secondary school through vocational and professional training. As of January 2026, four of our students have successfully completed their professional development certifications, while the remaining students are continuing their studies for the spring semester.

Three of our Scholars Receive their Master’s Degrees 

We are thrilled to share that three of our scholars have graduated from prestigious universities in the United Kingdom, armed with master’s degrees to take on the challenge of enriching their careers and rebuilding Syria. Lubna Nasser Agha has completed her MSc in Construction Design Management from the University of Exeter, achieving an overall Merit and a Distinction in her dissertation. Also from the University of Exeter, with an MA in Sustainable Business Management, Said Baradai discovered through his studies that “sustainability is not a slogan, it’s a way of making better business decisions that balance profitability with environmental and social responsibility.” Last but not least, Anwar Al-Jundi, a Jusoor-Chevening scholar, graduated from the University of Warwick with a Master of Public Health (MPH) with Distinction. His research explored the impact of telemedicine on healthcare delivery in conflict and fragile settings, with a particular focus on identifying the key barriers and facilitators to implementation. 

Stay tuned for a bigger announcement of a graduates' wave coming up soon on social media!

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We look forward to a fruitful year ahead where we continue to bridge the opportunity gap for students, teachers, entrepreneurs, and youth inside and outside of Syria.