Starting from the academic year 2024-2025, through an agreement signed in February between Ca' Foscari University of Venice and Geneva Graduate Institute, a higher education Institute of international and development studies, female students of Afghan nationality will have the opportunity to participate in a bilateral exchange programme providing scholarships in memory of Maria Rosario Lazzati Niada.
This initiative aims to enable students to benefit from the study programmes offered by both institutions and receive a more interdisciplinary education.
Master's degree and PhD scholarships, supported by the Arghosha Faraway Schools Committee in memory of Maria Rosario Lazzati Niada (1954-2022), will be awarded to Afghan female students. The scholarships will allow them to spend six months at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
The first scholarship has been awarded to Suraya Yosufi, a Business Administration graduate from the American University of Afghanistan, who was chosen from over 300 applicants. During her time at Ca’ Foscari, Suraya will hone her skills in human rights, international relations, conflict and negotiation, and gender studies.
The mobility programme was presented on Friday, September 20th, at 11:00 a.m. in the Aula Berengo at Ca' Foscari as part of the round table "Afghan Women: Empowerment Through Education Abroad." The discussion focused on education and opportunities for study and research for Afghan women and girls.
Tiziana Lippiello, Rector ca’ Foscari University of Venice: “Education and culture are instruments of peace. ‘Education is the only solution’, is the lesson conveyed to us by Malala Yousafzai, then a young Pakistani student and today a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Universities and scientific institutions are the places where dialogue between cultures is promoted and fostered through learning and research. I am therefore delighted with this initiative, which was created to foster international cooperation and collaboration between institutions and support the right to study and access to education for people in disadvantaged circumstances. Ca’ Foscari has always had an international outlook since its establishment in 1868, when it offered the first courses in commerce and Oriental languages as part of cultural diplomacy”.
Marie Laure Salles, Director, Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID), represented by Alessandro Monsutti: “Education is the pathway to freedom and a better life. It should be the primary focus, along with health, for any country planning responsibly for its future and valuing peace. We are delighted by the opportunity that this scholarship creates for a partnership with Ca’ Foscari University and we are very much looking forward to what we hope can be collaborations beyond this particularly initiative. We hope also that we can mobilize the financial means to expand this program – to create the conditions allowing the building up of a community of women change-makers who will develop the competencies and the self-confidence allowing them to take their future, that of their country but also that of the world in their own hands.
“I hope that this agreement – comments Marco Niada, President, Arghosha Faraway Schools Committee between Ca' Foscari University and the Geneva Graduate Institute – gives a starting signal to a series of scholarships for the years to come that will allow many Afghan women to have the opportunities that have so far been denied."
Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, was among the guests. Due to commitments elsewhere, he could not be physically present, and sent a video message of greeting and appreciation for the initiative. This was followed by a panel discussion on topics such as education, study, and research opportunities for Afghan girls and women.
The event was attended by:
- Tiziana Lippiello, Rector, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
- Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
- Chiara Saccon, Vice-Rector for International Relations, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
- Caterina Carpinato, Full Professor, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
- Marco Niada, President, Arghosha Faraway Schools Committee
- Alessandro Monsutti, Professor of Anthropology, Geneva Graduate Institute
- Khadija Abbasi, Assistant Professor, SOAS University of London
- Suraya Yosufi, Recipient of a Maria Rosario Lazzati Niada scholarship
- Sara De Vido, Rector's Delegate for the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Suraya Yosufi is a refugee student from Afghanistan and the recipient of the Maria Rosario Lazzati Niada Scholarship for Afghan women at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She will pursue her Master's in International and Development Studies (MINT), focusing on conflict, peace, and security. She completed her BBA with a minor in law on a full scholarship from the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) in 2016. Suraya has over six years of volunteer experience and four years of full-time work experience with various youth organizations, NGOs, and her university.
Suraya initiated and managed a social volunteer program, the Afghan Girls Debating Program, which aimed to empower and train university and school-aged female students in the art of debating, negotiation, and effective communication, while fostering their self-esteem. The program reached over 600 beneficiaries between 2016 and 2019 in Kabul.
She is a two-time recipient of youth peace awards for her impactful contributions as a young peacebuilder, particularly through her initiative, the Afghan Girls Debating Program. She received the Young Peace Builder Award in 2015 from the Minister of Youth Affairs of Afghanistan, and the UNDP's N-Peace Award in 2017 for "Peace Generation Female," presented by the Canadian Ambassador to Thailand. She has represented Afghanistan internationally at six different youth conferences, including two international debate tournaments (WUDC 2014 in India and UADC 2016 in Thailand). She also served as a debate trainer, adjudicator, and facilitator from 2013 to 2019.
After the fall of Kabul in 2021, Suraya was unable to return to Afghanistan and sought refuge in Pakistan. Despite the uncertainties and lack of resources, she voluntarily joined, designed, and taught English language and basic science classes for children and adults in a nearby Afghan refugee camp
Khadija Abbasi is an Afghan anthropologist who was born in Iran to Hazara refugees who had fled Afghanistan after the Russian invasion. She returned to Afghanistan in 2004 and received a scholarship to study in the UK in 2006. This enabled her to earn a master's degree in Gender, Globalisation and Development from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in Social Anthropology and Sociology of Development from the Graduate Institute of Geneva. Currently, she is a teacher at the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London. With numerous publications and journal articles to her credit, her focus is on gender, race, inclusion, and diversity.
