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After completing a teaching degree (German and Latin literature), Maria Blöcher lectured at King’s College London and at the University of Heidelberg. At the same time, she volunteered for Studies Without Borders and the Asylarbeitskreis [Asylum Task Force], teaching German to refugees.
Maria then decided to combine the spheres of education and migration. Working for UNHCR, she supported the tertiary education programme DAFI, which enables refugee students all over the world to pursue a university degree in their host country.
As a Mercator fellow, Maria explored the potential of digital technologies for offering free, location- and time-independent higher education.
Right now, Maria works as Curriculum Coordinator for Kiron Open Higher Education – a non-profit organisation in Berlin that offers free higher education for refugees through a blended learning model.