Supporting the education of refugees in Leicester

We are pleased to have donated more than 60 graded readers to the University of Leicester to support the education of refugees and asylum seekers within its community.

In 2018, the University of Leicester formally declared itself as a University of Sanctuary—an institution that ‘offers good practice in welcoming asylum seekers and refugees into the university community and fostering a culture of welcome and inclusion for all.’  
 
The university identified a need to establish a space to support its Sanctuary students and teachers. It established a resource area named The Sanctuary Room to act as a student library, house teaching materials, provide a private consultation space, offer computer access, and raise awareness of the Sanctuary programme. Once established, there was a need to increase the available resources in the space to adequately support its growing community.

Our English Language Teaching division chose to donate to the project to support its commitment to empowering the global ELT community and OUP’s wider mission of furthering excellence in education though publishing worldwide.

Aleks Palanac, University of Sanctuary Facilitator, commented: ‘What we were most in need of was graded readers at all levels, particularly at the very lowest levels. As is well-known, extensive reading has numerous benefits, including fostering improvements in: reading comprehension ability, range of vocabulary, development of learner autonomy, and motivation levels. We hope that our Sanctuary Seeker students will reap similar benefits from these resources.’