Refugee Background Students Transitioning Into Higher Education

This book is one of the first of its kind to examine the aspirations of refugee background students and accompanies them as they journey through the on-shore stage of settlement, enrolment and participation in the Australian education system. It begins with students’ experiences of on-shore settlement, followed by the move into schooling and finally, the subsequent transition into Australian higher education. Transitioning into higher education is a challenge for many students, particularly for those from under-represented equity groups. For refugee background students, navigating in, through and out of higher education can be particularly complex and challenging. Drawing on rich case studies from longitudinal research into refugee youth and the academic and professional staff in schools and universities who support them, the book provides powerful and compelling narratives and insights into this journey. It untangles the complex nature of transition for students of refugee background in higher education, locating it within broader social trends of increasing social and cultural diversity, as well as government practices and policies concerning the educational resettlement of refugees.

This collection of empirical work offers an in-depth exploration of key issues in the education of adolescents and adults with refugee backgrounds residing in North America, Australia and Europe. These studies foreground student goals, experiences and voices, and reflect a high degree of awareness of the assets that refugee-background students bring to schools and broader society. Chapters are clustered according to the two themes of Language and Literacy, and Access and Equity. Each chapter includes a discussion of context, researcher positionality and implications for educators, policy-makers and scholars.

This book provides a critical appraisal of the participation of students from refugee backgrounds in higher education, exploring how global discourses about forced migration play out for students in terms of accessing, participating, and succeeding in higher education.

This volume examines how universities and colleges are working towards implementing various interventions to integrate refugees along with non-governmental organizations and local governments to achieve an optimal level of integration with host communities.

This edited volume addresses critical issues surrounding higher education access for students of refugee backgrounds. It combines a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives on the challenges, opportunities, experiences and expectations of refugee students, as well as some of the institutional frameworks that facilitate their access to higher education. Following a critical discussion of the notion of ‘integration’, the team of authors who are made up of academics and refugee students critically investigate higher education as an objective of as well as a means to greater inclusion and integration.

The second edition contains new sections focused on issues of race and racialisation, treatment of people seeking asylum in both national contexts, and international efforts to respond to issues with refugee access to higher education, including international educational complementary pathways, and national sanctuary movements.

This book draws from the voices of students and those who educate them to reveal the unique issues faced in the quest to access higher education in order to provide a greater understanding of the complex phenomenon of international migration and its intersection with higher education. Higher Education in the Era of Migration, Displacement and Internationalization examines how higher education institutions globally can improve to meet the needs of displaced people, refugees, migrants, and international students. Examining relevant policy, leadership, programs, and services that equitably meet diversified students’ needs, this book examines how institutions can increase access, participation, and success. The chapters present cutting-edge scholarship that tie the existing body of knowledge on international migration for higher education to ways that institutions of higher education can assist the formation of relevant policy towards displaced groups around the globe. Through students’ voices from different nations as well as global policy analysis, the book exemplifies how different higher education institutions are widening access pathways for atypical students. This book is essential reading for scholars, policy-makers, and communities of practitioners. It offers a greater understanding of the complex phenomenon of international immigration and its intersection with higher education. By transcending national policy analysis, it extends the subject of refugee and migration studies to a wider audience.

In the last four decades, Australia has resettled thousands of African refugees. As a visibly different minoritised group, Black African youth are often represented as disengaged, dangerous, and undesirable. Even so, rarely are generative mechanisms that negatively affect the life-courses of the youth critically examined. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical resources, policy reviews, longitudinal statistical data, and in-depth interviews, this book reports on the educational attainment and integration outcomes of African heritage Australian youth from refugee backgrounds. The book also identifies intersectional factors of educational disadvantage, analyses equity provisions, and outlines policy ideas for improved educational attainment and integration of refugee youth. It is unique in its scope and focus and contributes to knowledge in African Australian studies. The book will appeal to researchers, postgraduate students, and policymakers interested in understanding the dynamics of refugee resettlement and integration.