In 2015, the Institute of International Education (IIE) estimated, based on the pre-war gross enrollment ratio, that 450,000 university-aged Syrian students were refugees. Of these, some 150,000, were, as of the spring of 2016, believed to be qualified for university admission. (The count of university-ready Syrian refugees has fluctuated widely in the last 12 months.) As of last March, fewer than six percent had reportedly found placements.

Among all refugee populations combined, the challenge of refugee access to higher education is even more profound: In September the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that just one percent of higher-education-aged refugees attend university, as compared to 34 percent of all higher-education-aged youth globally.