Home Donate

History

CARA first came into being in 1933 as The Academic Assistance Council (AAC), consolidating in 1936 as The Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL). It adopted its current name The Council for Assisting Refugee Academics in 1998.

The need to protect science and learning did not end with the defeat of totalitarian regimes in Europe. In 1956 came the Hungarian uprising, and the streams of refugee academics have continued to flow from countries as diverse as Argentina, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan (West Bank), Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda, USSR and Vietnam.

In the face of continuing violations of academic freedom worldwide, the SPSL’s work supporting persecuted academics and their dependants remains as vital today as ever.