ST. LOUIS - Technology issues, finding time to meet with professors and perfecting assignments are issues all university students face. For Saint Louis University students in refugee camps in Kenya and Malawi, those issues can seem even harder as they are a world away from the St. Louis campus. 

The Saint Louis University-Jesuit Worldwide Learning program offers bachelor's degrees to international students displaced by conflict, lack of opportunity, and poverty in places such as refugee camps in Kenya and Malawi.

SLU-JWL program director Patricia Bass, Ph.D., and program coordinator Eboni Chism, Ph.D., recently visited the students for the first time. The two-week trip, sponsored by Jesuit Worldwide Learning, offered Bass and Chism the opportunity to meet with the students in person and hear about their successes and struggles.

“It was mutually momentous,” Bass said. “We’ve been working together intimately for two years, and to finally get the chance to meet face to face was incredible.” 

Chism said both sides experienced feelings of immense gratitude at the chance to connect.

“This is different then working with students on campus that you see every day. This is not going to happen all the time,” she said. “They were so grateful we were there. They allowed us to meet their families and invited us into their homes.”

She added that the generosity of the students was overwhelming. 

Bass said the trip afforded the team the opportunity to discover the learning context their students dealt with each day. 

“I was blown away by the resources our students have,” she said. “JWL provides sufficient facilities and resources for them. They are not lacking in computers or space to work. It is eye-opening to see other parts of their experience, like their commute to the learning center.”

Jesuit Worldwide Learning classes are offered through a community-based cohort. Currently, there are 59 SLU-JWL students across refugee camps in Kenya and Malawi.

JWL provides students with computers, internet service, and on-site support. A JWL learning facilitator meets with students once a week during the term to provide administrative and academic support. A learning coordinator is also on-site. Saint Louis University offers student support services, faculty and course materials. 

While the learning centers have more than enough computers for students to utilize, not all of them are fully updated with compliant software, Bass said. 

“They need to be able to access coursework and log on for classes, but sometimes the computers aren’t compatible,” she said. “Trying to log in using OKTA Verify if you don’t have a phone handy is really difficult.”

Being in the learning centers allowed Bass and Chism the opportunity to problem-solve some of these issues.

“Now we know if they are about to have a Zoom meeting and they can’t get on to chat ITS, they just need to jump on another computer. It’s the fastest way to solve the problem,” Chism said. “The time difference allows for a limited window to interact with ITS.”

Bass said she was struck while visiting the students by the contrast of universal student issues among a population living in precarious situations during political upheaval.

“On the one hand, our students are unique because they live and pursue their degrees from refugee camps – places where lines to fetch water can last hours and residents build their homes by hand,” Bass said. “On the other hand, they are an incredibly diverse group. Some used to be pastoralists, others used to be dentists, some cook over open fires, and others have in-home W-iFi. The only generalization you can make about our students is that they are smart, driven, and open to learning. We are all walking together on an educational journey in accordance with our Jesuit values.”

The Kakuma and Dzaleka camps have as much or more diversity than global cities like New York or Paris, Bass said. 

“The camps are like melting pots. The people in the camps are from radically different nations and speak hundreds of dialects, yet they are living together in peace,” she said. “They may have fled their homeland due to violence from one ethnic group or nationality, but, in the camps, they’re on the same team - whether it’s on the soccer field or as students at SLU.”

Chism said she was impressed by the initiative of the students. 

“They all are working on projects that have nothing to do with their schoolwork,” she said. “They are entrepreneurs who are starting businesses and non-profits. We have one student who has opened a tutoring service for women and orphans. They are now paying for these children to attend a primary school – the generosity of our students who continue to give what they have to someone else is inspiring.”

JWL students begin their time at SLU with 30 credits already completed through either Creighton University or Xavier Institute of Management in India’s one-year certificate program. Once enrolled, they are full-time remote students with access to all forms of SLU support, including identification cards and online library resources.

SLU-JWL students take online courses in eight-week terms instead of a traditional 16-week semester. The classes are delivered asynchronously via Canvas, and students regularly communicate with program coordinators in St. Louis. Students in the program also want what all SLU students want from their college experience – internships and experiential learning opportunities. 

“We are looking into what that would look like for them and how we could connect them to real opportunities,” Bass said. 

The SLU-JWL students will graduate with a B.A. in General Studies through the School for Professional Studies. The first cohort is on track to graduate in summer 2027.

In February, the SLU-JWL program was awarded a 2025 Senator Paul Simon Spotlight Award for Campus Internationalization by NAFSA: Association of International Education. 

Staff of the SLU-JWL program will share information and photos from their recent visit to students in Kenya and Malawi. Come learn how SLU students pursue their degrees halfway across the world and then speak with them over Zoom during the Q and A.

• When: 12 p.m. on Monday, May 5
• Where: Busch Student Center, Room 251

Learn More

About Jesuit Worldwide Learning

JWL provides equitable high-quality tertiary learning to people and communities at the margins of societies – be it through poverty, location, lack of opportunity, conflict or forced displacement – so all can contribute their knowledge and voices to a global community of learners and together foster hope to create a more peaceful and humane world.

About Saint Louis University

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 15,200 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.