Skill Path is building a better future for refugees, and a skilled future for Australia.
Why Skill Path?
Australia faces critical skills shortages that threaten our ability to address major challenges, such as the transition to a clean energy, meeting our growing care needs, and increasing housing supply. Productivity growth over the last decade has been the slowest in 60 years, and employers are facing unprecedented labour shortages.
Refugees are a significantly under-utilised solution to these workforce gaps. There are now more than 50 million refugees and forcibly displaced people around the world, including 10 million young people aged 18-30 who are ready to migrate to fulfil their potential.
However, they face significant barriers making it to Australia, let alone accessing education, training and professional licencing. Addressing these barriers is essential for integrating refugees into Australia’s workforce and helping the country meet its future challenges.
Our mission
Skill Path Australia supports refugees to unlock their potential through education, training, and professional recognition. We support refugees to migrate to Australia to settle, study and pursue their dream careers. We work with government, communities, employers, and education providers to build inclusive pathways into high-demand industries. Through this work, we help build a future-ready Australia powered by refugee talent.
We partner with refugees to open doors to higher education, vocational training, and professional recognition, and support them to rebuild their lives and careers in Australia. We create migration pathways that enable access to education and skilled employment, and we advocate for policy change to expand opportunities for refugee mobility and learning. We work with government, communities, employers, and education providers to build inclusive pathways into high-demand industries. Through this work, we help build a future-ready Australia powered by refugee talent.
We provide advice and support to refugees on how to obtain the right qualifications and professional recognition to work in high-demand, strategic occupations in Australia. Then we collaborate with industry and educational institutions to ensure Australia’s economy is equipped to leverage the talent and potential of refugees to meet future challenges.
How did we get here?
Skill Path was founded in September 2024 by Steph Cousins with the support of a Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowship. Prior to setting up Skill Path, Steph was the Global CEO of Talent Beyond Boundaries, where she led work to pioneer labour mobility pathways for refugees.
In 2018, Steph went to Canada through a Churchill Fellowship to study their Student Refugee Program, with a particular focus on the model developed by World University Services Canada.
Drawing on this experience, and on her work building Talent Beyond Boundaries, she set out to apply these lessons in the Australian context. Skill Path was created to support young refugees to access higher education, vocational training, and professional licensing in Australia.
A founding partnership
A defining factor in Skill Path’s success is a long-standing partnership that began in 2018, when Steph Cousins met Dr Sally Baker. At the time, Sally was working at the University of New South Wales, researching equity in higher education and leading advocacy and education initiatives to improve refugee access to universities.
Sally played a central role in building the case for a Canada-style refugee education pathway in Australia. She later moved to the Australian National University to establish the Australian Refugee Welcome University Sponsorship Consortium (ARWUSC) and to lead the co-design of the Refugee Student Settlement Pathway (RSSP).
When Steph was awarded the Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowship, she and Sally formally joined forces to bring the RSSP to life. Together, they secured government approval and launched the RSSP pilot, laying the foundation for what would become Skill Path’s flagship program. Sally is now Skill Path’s
Director of University Partnerships and board member, while also working as CEO of Refugee Education Australia.