Refugees and forcibly displaced populations have needs and aspirations in higher education just as other groups, but often experience conditions that severely limit access. Refugee HE can also involve additional challenges (eg. language of instruction, validation of previous qualifications, developing relevant content, funding or issuing diplomas to work in regulated professions in different countries). Current refugee HE provisions are fragmented, such as scholarships or programmes in refugee camps, limited to educating professionals needed in the camp itself. In emergency situations, HE may be viewed as less urgent than humanitarian needs (Dryden-Peterson, 2016). But although we cannot foresee who will be the next victims, we do know that situations of forced migration are likely to increase dramatically. Not addressing the specific constraints and challenges of refugee HE, is tantamount to permanently disqualifying entire populations, thereby creating an easily exploitable underclass. It means placing entire countries and regions in a state of underdevelopment and dependency (Avery & Said, 2017). In the long term, it leads to large-scale social, economic and geopolitical imbalances, potentially sowing the seeds for future successions of conflicts. Impacts of this neglect are thus serious, both for countries of origin of the refugee flows, and for the host countries.