‘This class gives me hope for the future’: Course for refugee and asylum seeker students
Left to right: Dr Tom Crawford, five students from the core maths course, Dr Ben Grant, and course tutor Behrad Ahmadpour.
Last month, the third course designed especially for the needs of refugee and asylum seeker students concluded at Oxford Lifelong Learning. After offering courses in academic literacy and computer coding, this course focused on core maths, completing the series that, in the words of Dr Ben Grant, aimed ‘to address a gap in educational provision for asylum seekers and refugees in the local community who need to develop the skills necessary to progress into higher education or professional employment’.
Left: Behrad Ahmadpour and Dr Tom Crawford listen to the students' reflections on the course.
These courses were funded by a generous £20,000 bid awarded to three members of the Department by the Oxford University Diversity Fund and organised by Dr Ben Grant, in partnership with Asylum Welcome. Asylum Welcome is an Oxford-based charity that offers information, support and advice to refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants in Oxfordshire.
The core maths course was designed by Dr Tom Crawford and course tutor, Behrad Ahmadpour, to help students with the kind of maths that will be useful to them in their daily lives, from taxes to interest rates. Behrad Ahmadpour said ‘I find this sort of thing is really valuable because (at least, I hope!) that now with this knowledge they have some things in their head that they can actually use to enhance their situation.’
After their final session on the course, students reflected on the importance of these classes, with one student stating, ‘Maths I think is important for life, for everything and in this moment in my life, because we are all asylum seekers, I think doors for me closed. (...) This class gives me hope for the the future.’ Her classmates added ‘it’s an opportunity for my future’ and ‘for simple work, for a simple job, you need maths’.
Dr Tom Crawford also noted the transformation of the students during the course, ‘They now just seem confident. Two or three of them actually said “we had a fear, we were scared of maths” and they just said, by doing these sessions they’re now like: they see an equation, they see numbers, percentages, and it doesn’t mean they’re going to immediately understand it, but they’re not scared. I think that’s the perfect outcome.’
Right: One of the students solving an equation with the help of the course tutor.
In 2023, the University of Oxford received University of Sanctuary status for its continued efforts and determination to aid sanctuary seekers. Natasha Truenen, the Programme Coordinator of the Oxford Sanctuary Community, also generously attended each of the three courses to share her knowledge and experience with the students and invited them to attend Sanctuary Community events that might be suitable for them.
The hard work of Dr Ben Grant, Dr Tom Crawford and Behrad Ahmadpour, bringing this course to life and supporting the students on every step of their journey, has been instrumental in fulfilling the mission of Oxford Lifelong Learning to extend access to Oxford’s world-class teaching and resources.
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Published 16 July 2025