Abstract: "This literature-based study explores three main paradoxes underlying Higher Education in Protracted Refugee Situations both theoretically as well as in relation to the case of Burmese refugees in Thailand. Firstly, the study will explore the paradox of basic relief for refugees on the one hand and developmental efforts for higher education on the other. Secondly, the issue of higher education and the nation-state will be addressed in relation to refugees? perceived liminality in the national world order. The last paradox to resolve revolves around ways refugees are commonly perceived as victims of war and conflict who are unable to cope with the challenges of higher education. Following a rights-based approach and adopting post-structural theories, this dissertation demonstrates how dominant educational discourse emphasises externalities and thereby neglects the individual?s right to higher education from permeating into practice while powerful narratives of refugees as dependent victims have shaped reality in justifying mechanisms for international protection and incapacitating refugees. The study concludes that higher education could be both a means and an end to refugee empowerment."