The MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT) is dedicated to developing, researching, and sharing best practices in education and workforce development to support outcomes for refugee and displaced communities. ReACT operates from global hubs in Jordan, Uganda, Afghanistan, Greece, Uruguay, United States, and Colombia, which represent clusters of learners from dozens of different countries.
Driven by his personal experience of forced migration, Faculty Director Admir Masic founded ReACT in May 2017 to find creative solutions to the growing problem of refugee education. ReACT has championed accessible, free of cost education pathways offered to refugee learners wherever they live, through programs like the MIT Emerging Talent Certificate in Computer and Data Science and the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics and Development Policy. Combining online and in-person learning with professional internships, both programs provide learners with agile education-to-employment pathways.
“During the war in Yugoslavia my family lost everything, and I became a teenage refugee. I had access to a great deal of humanitarian support, such as food, clothes and shelter, but what changed my life was access to education."
- Admir Masic, Faculty Director, ReACT
Expanding our reach to vulnerable communities worldwide
In 2023, ReACT joined the Jameel World Education Lab and welcomed more than 100 learners from 21 countries into the MIT Emerging Talent Certificate in Computer and Data Science.
This April, ReACT also ran its second edition of the Migration Summit, a month-long summit drawing participation from more than 2,400 individuals hailing from 120 countries around the theme “Co-creating Pathways for Learning, Livelihood, and Dignity.” With more than 220 speakers engaging across 80 virtual sessions and in-person events in locations around the world, the Migration Summit fosters connections between diverse communities of displaced learners, universities, corporations, social enterprises, foundations, researchers, and others.
