Initated by artist Ahmet Ögüt, The Silent University is an autonomous knowledge exchange platform by refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, who although from a professional background, cannot gainfully practice their profession due to the limitations of the asylum process. Limitations also apply to access to education, access to currency and volunteering.
The website serves as an exchange platform between individuals wanting to teach and receive courses. So far 33 users have registered to the website, lending more than 270 hours of their time. These users include a programme manager/researcher, a solicitor, a senior lecturer in social policy, a community organiser and educator, a documentary director, a few artists, curators, journalists and students, an academic researcher, a professor, an employment adviser for refugee professionals, a writer and refugee arts project coordinator, a database officer, a project consultant, a web designer and a camera operator.
