Education Pathways Students Lead

This exciting new role sits within REUK’s Education Pathways work which has been in a pilot phase for the last few years and is rapidly growing now that the UK government has made a commitment to expanding safe and legal routes to higher education in the UK for refugee students.

Once a student is selected for participation and offered a university place, this postholder becomes their core anchor and primary REUK point of contact. This role oversees the entire student journey—from pre-departure preparation and arrival orientation to ongoing academic support, psychosocial wellbeing, community building on campus and monitoring of student outcomes.

The postholder will work alongside the newly created Education Pathways Universities Lead. While the Universities Lead focuses on institutional partnerships, you will focus on the student support side of the pathway: equipping university welcome groups to develop integration plans, pairing scholars with academic mentors (with support from REUK’s educational mentoring team), building a vibrant national student network, and providing hands-on casework escalation when complex issues arise.

This is a critical role within a small, high-capacity specialist unit within REUK. Because this is an emerging and new area of work you must be comfortable working with risk and ambiguity, refining and learning rapidly as parameters evolve. You will be a versatile practitioner - equally skilled at designing cohort orientation programmes and delivering student workshops as you are at managing administrative workflows, tracking student outcomes, and delivering compassionate, individual casework support.

Role outcomes

1. Refugee Education Pathway students transition smoothly into UK higher education through comprehensive pre-departure guidance, arrival orientation, and holistic onboarding. To this end, key responsibilities include: 

• Serving as REUK’s primary point of contact for scholars in the months immediately preceding travel, delivering pre-departure briefings and managing expectation-setting.

• Supporting the Education Pathways Lead to recruit, select and match eligible students.

• Coordinating arrival logistics and initial orientation in close collaboration with partner universities and campus welcome groups.

• Establishing clear, trauma-informed onboarding protocols to help students adapt quickly to the academic and cultural environment of UK universities.

• Designing and delivering (in collaboration with young refugees who participated in the pilot pathway) high-quality orientation resources, toolkits, and interactive induction sessions tailored to the unique practical and psychosocial needs of newly arrived refugee students.

• Working alongside the Universities Lead to conduct campus visits to ensure scholars are safely settled and Welcome Groups are offering appropriate integration support

2. Scholars thrive academically, socially, and emotionally through tailored REUK-added support structures, mentorship, and peer networks. To this end, key responsibilities include: 

• Supporting the Universities Lead in training campus welcome groups (staff, student unions, and peer volunteers) and maintaining ongoing liaison to ensure high-quality local support.

• Overseeing REUK’s added-value support framework, including:

  • Sourcing, matching, and managing academic mentors for students on the programme;

  • Facilitating a vibrant, national network for education pathway students, organising regular in-person and online meet-ups and peer connections, as well as referrals to REUK’s refugee student leadership programme;

  • Providing occasional direct, high-level casework support and conflict resolution when complex student welfare, academic, or integration issues are escalated from universities to REUK.

• Fostering an empowering community environment that prioritises student agency, mental health, and long-term wellbeing throughout their studies.

3. Student support operations, cross-team coordination, safeguarding and administrative processes are managed efficiently and self-sufficiently. To this end, key responsibilities include: 

• Managing all student-facing administrative processes, communication channels, and record-keeping systems independently without junior administrative support. 

• Working in close alignment with the Universities Lead to ensure institutional arrangements and campus support delivery are fully synchronized.

• Maintaining robust safeguarding and data protection protocols across all student casework, communications, and interactions. 

• Liaising with external specialist organizations (e.g., legal advisors, healthcare providers, mental health services) when complex casework exceeds standard university support.

4. Student progress and outcomes are robustly evaluated and clearly communicated, contributing to programme learning and REUK’s wider mission. To this end, key responsibilities include: 

• Reporting directly to the Education Pathways Lead and Chief Executive on cohort wellbeing, retention rates, academic progress, and key student outcomes.

• Designing and implementing (with the support of REUK’s Research Manager) student feedback mechanisms, regular check-ins, and longitudinal evaluation frameworks to track scholar progression.

• Supporting grant reporting and contributing qualitative impact stories and student reflections for funders, communications and organisational learning.

• Working alongside the Youth Advocacy Manager to provide Education Pathways students opportunities to engage with our Refugee Changemakers team

• Feeding student-led insights and operational learning into REUK’s broader research, policy, and systemic change work to improve refugee education nationwide.

Person specification

Although each role requires particular competencies, we seek staff members - irrespective of role - who are willing and able to demonstrate core competencies related to 1) character and values, 2) personal working style and 3) team working. Please see the applicant pack for more details. The competencies required for this specific role are:

• Student support and safeguarding: Proven track record of delivering direct support, pastoral care and complex casework for displaced young people or international/refugee students in higher education and supporting others to do the same.

• Training and resources: Experience designing and delivering transition, orientation, or onboarding programmes that support cross-cultural adaptation and academic readiness.

• Volunteering management: Strong experience in recruiting, training and supporting volunteers and volunteer groups (e.g., akin to academic mentors or campus welcome groups).

• Network and community building: Skills in facilitating student-led networks, organizing cohort events/meet-ups, and building inclusive peer-to-peer support spaces.

• Operational self-sufficiency and willingness to travel: High level of personal organization, ability to manage admin independently without junior support, and willingness to travel regularly across the UK.

• Knowledge of education pathway models: Familiarity with international refugee education pathway models (such as Canada’s WUSC; Australia’s RSSP/SkillPath and or others operating in Japan, Italy, Ireland etc).

• Knowledge and understanding of refugee tertiary education and the needs of resettled refugees more broadly: Strong understanding of the systemic barriers faced by refugee students in higher education both in the UK and internationally in first countries of asylum, as well as the support needed on resettlement to a third country.

• Student participation: Deep understanding of the principles of youth or student leadership and co-production, with the ability to embed these meaningfully across the education pathway 

• Interpersonal skills: An ability to build and maintain positive, warm and confidence inspiring working relationships with internal colleagues and external partners and stakeholders, including in complex situations.

• Communications: Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, including ability to appropriately communicate nuance and complexity; confidence communicating with and presenting to a variety of audiences.