The Double Dream of Leah, Elizabeth and Benitha

For Leah, Elizabeth and Benitha, having lived the experience of being refugees and now being in the classrooms of one of the top five European universities in social sciences is a dream come true. A dream they would then also like to help others with their same background to realise in the future.

The three refugees started their studies at Bocconi this academic year thanks to the UNICORE project, University Corridors for Refugees, promoted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with the collaboration of Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Caritas and Diaconia Valdese and the participation of 33 Italian universities. The project aims to increase opportunities for refugees living in Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe to pursue higher education in Italy thanks to scholarships provided by the universities. Leah, Elizabeth and Benitha are supported at Bocconi by full scholarships funded by a donor.

"This is a great opportunity, a pathway towards a better future. Interacting with different cultures will be a great opportunity for me to grow. It's the first time I've been abroad and it's all so beautiful and welcoming," says Elizabeth Nyajang Kuon, who lived in a refugee camp in Kenya since the age of 10 after fleeing with her family from the civil war in southern Sudan. Today Elizabeth, after a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Nairobi, is attending the MSc in Economics and Management of Government and International Organisations. "In the future, I would like to be able to extend my hand to others like me in the same way as it was extended to me ," she says.

"This is a dream come true. I really appreciate the opportunity UNICORE has given us and the warm welcome and support we have received here at Bocconi," says Leah Denyse Nyiramigisha, who moved as an infant from the Democratic Republic of Congo to a refugee camp in Uganda. After a bachelor's degree in Rwanda, she is now also attending the MSc in Economics and Management of Government and International Organisations at Bocconi. "The knowledge and skills I will assimilate here I then hope to put to use in creating policies to help others, for example in an NGO that promotes educational opportunities, especially for girls."

"As a refugee, at the age of 14, I lost everything I had and had to start over. But as has been said, 'education is something no one can take away from you' and for that, and for being here in Bocconi today, I am very grateful," says Benitha Nzayanga Mugisha, who had to flee when she was 14 from Burundi to Kenya. At Bocconi she chose to attend the Msc in Marketing Management. "In the future I would like to work on promoting projects to spread education among the poor and refugees. And one day I would like to be a donor to the UNICORE project myself."

With the arrival of Leah, Elizabeth and Benitha there are now a total of six refugees studying at Bocconi thanks to the UNICORE project.