Of the endless troubles that come with being driven from one's home country,losing educational certificates may seem small.But it isn't.Refugees who settle in other countries often find themselves unable to continue on their previous career path due to a new set of employer standards or skills requirements.To solve this problem, the U.S.State Department is posing a solution:online learning.

The State Department will announce a partnership with an online education platform called Coursera.The platform will allow refugees worldwide to take thousands of online courses for free.“Coursera for Refugees” will be available for any non-profit group that supports refugees in any country,as well as individual refugees. They can apply for fully funded access to Coursera's course catalog,which means they can take all of the platform's classes and obtain professional certificates for free.The platform currently offers professor-led lectures on a broad range of topics,from data science to fashion design.

As the world migrant crisis intensifies,employment is becoming a global concern.The new program aims to aid refugees by offering"important skills that will help them in the global economy,"Evan Ryan,U.S.assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs,said on a press call last week."What we don't want to do is not act,”added Coursera chief operations officer Lila Ibrahim.

The idea isn't without problems.For one,starting a new career path isn't as simple as watching a few videos and obtaining an online certificate;even those looking to continue previous careers can't simply rely on an online lecture to get them up-to-date on standards,policies,and practices.For another,most of the classes on Coursera are in English,and though there are plans to add translations,language barriers can be a big obstacle.Then there are the questions over the value of massive open online courses (MOOCs)themselves—both for refugees and for average learners.

But it's still early days and there are signs of hope.In 2015,a joint study found 72%of people taking the MOOCs saw career benefits afterwards.