European Policies for the Inclusion of Refugees in Higher Education: The Case of Greece (original) (raw)
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Open Education for Refugees: The Greek reality and the challenge for the Hellenic Open University
Innovating Higher Education Conference 2022, 2022
Greece has been at the epicenter of the refugee crisis which evolved during the last year. Due to its geographical position it has been the entry point and host state for thousands of refugees and asylum seekers. After the first critical period of the crisis, which pertained to the establishment of a secure and safe environment for them, issues of social inclusion arose. Although state efforts to guarantee children’s uninterrupted school attendance were prompt, there was not the same response as far as adult education is concerned. Greece belatedly created a primitive educational scheme for adult refugees and asylum seekers, which focuses mostly on their voluntary participation in Greek language classes. Teaching takes place exclusively within the premises of host camps. From this angle, adult refugees have limited access to education. This condition has triggered the Hellenic Open University (HOU) to create a two-year post-graduate program addressed at potential language educators of refugees. This program has attracted attention from a wide range of practitioners, involved with refugee studies. However, open education for refugees is not yet an attainable target. Research shows the immense positive effect of open education to refugees, since it allows for the inclusiveness of vulnerable groups; it is tallied to the needs of every student, while it offers credentials for cultural respect. Nevertheless, there is no such planning so far. This research paper aims at demonstrating how the HOU could serve as an educational hub for refugees and asylum seekers. It shows how refugees may well participate in particular programs offered by the university. It will then emphasize on issues of equity-based pedagogical practices (a), educators’ skills to engage in their teaching plan refugees (b), and policies regarding intercultural respect (c). Finally, it will argue that HOU is the most preferable institution regarding adult education for refugees, also pointing out at the long-term positive effects on their social integration.
Refugees in Higher Education - Developments in 2019
nccr - on the move, Blog. Neuchâtel: National Center of Competence in Research – the Migration Mobility Nexus, 2020
Education at universities is not easily accessible for asylum seekers and refugees in Europe. The daily life of asylum seekers and provisionally admitted persons is highly regulated. When it comes to refugee students, the rules of the education system intersect with the ones on the asylum system, thus further restricting their access to higher education. These were our findings of an nccr – on the move research project, and a related Policy Brief, which ended in 2018. What has happened since then? https://blog.nccr-onthemove.ch/refugees-in-higher-education-developments-in-2019/
Refugees’ Access to Higher Education
Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions, 2017
This article underlines the challenges refugees experience in accessing higher education in both first-asylum and resettlement countries. It focuses specifically on Turkey's higher education system, and the policies and practices in place to respond to the educational requirements of Syrian refugees. Our analysis reveals that accommodating the influx of Syrian higher education students into the Turkish system presents a huge challenge for policy makers and higher education institutions. The case study conducted at Istanbul University further emphasizes the common barriers that refugees face when trying to access higher education in host countries-financial hardship, language issues, non-recognition of prior learning and a lack of information or guidance. Restrictive regulations and legal precarity, on the other hand, tend to be less of a challenge when it comes to accessing higher education. Our findings support that central regulating body's immediate action and its commitment to provide higher education for refugees are crucial to prevent a short-term crisis. However, we also argue that despite the flexibility introduced for refugees in the legal and regulatory framework, implementation depends on institutional policies and practices that are mainly constrained by their capacity and resources.
EXISTING POLICIES FOR THE EDUCATION OF REFUGEES IN GREECE
International Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education, 3(4): 265-273, 2020
The present herein work introduces the existing policies for the inclusion of children of immigrant or refugee background in the educational system of Greece. The goal of the Greek educational system is the inclusive education of these categories of students. Consequently, the special characteristics of refugees are studied for this purpose and proposals to strengthen the inclusion policies are presented.
2017
REFUGEES WELCOME? always based on objective research, which may have resulted in sending unsettling signals to the public and therefore, understandably, may have caused anxiety and reluctance of the communities to help refugees (Berry et al., 2015). For some, the higher influx of refugees became a symbol of European inability to define itself and the term 'refugee crisis' was an excuse for weaknesses of the immigration policies and humanitarian aid systems (ESU, 2014a; Nougayrède, 2016). However, the debate in general is rather Eurocentric leaving out what is at the core of the issue-helping people rebuild their lives, restore their dignity and awaken a sense of belonging-factors that are central to battling barriers to motivation and participation in new communities (Brar-Josan, 2015). This humanitarian crisis should trigger a search for catalysts for integration to build more inclusive humanitarian systems putting safety, dignity and opportunities of the vulnerable at the centre. Education certainly constitutes an example of such an instrument (ESU, 2014a). It helps them to integrate in local communities, helps them to further their personal development, and provide for their families (ibid.). This study analyses how selected countries use education as an instrument for inclusion of refugees, asylum seekers and persons in refugee-like situation focusing on two main aspects: access and recognition of qualifications. The aim of the research is twofold. On the one hand to have a better knowledge and understanding about the initiatives already taken by higher education actors or lack thereof with regard to access to higher education for refugees and recognition of their qualifications and on the other to help ideas travel across the contexts and be applicable in other countries by indicating promising practices to foster access to and successful completion of third-level education for student refugees. The following section sheds some light on the state of play of refugees' integration through education in the European context and moves on to presentation of the structure of the report. 2. INTEGRATION OF REFUGEES THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE Since the peak in in 2015, the numbers of refugees coming to Europe has been decreasing. The recorded applications from the first-time asylum seekers in the EU-28 countries dropped in the fourth quarter of 2016 in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2015 and the third quarter of 2015 by-51% and-43%, respectively. Only in the fourth quarter of 2015, the number of persons seeking asylum amounted to 426,000, most of which were lodged Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis (Eurostat, 2017). According to the estimates, in 2015 refugees under 18 years old constitute 51% of the incoming population and the average time of exile for a refugee amount to 20 years (UNHCR, 2016a). Yet the access to education and higher education in particular is still heavily burdened. The evidence shows that people with a refugee background are five times more likely not to be enrolled in education than their non-refugee peers (UNESCO, 2016). Only 1% of youth with refugee background access tertiary education, compared to an access level of 34% globally among the youth (UNHCR, 2016b). In Europe the secured right to education regardless of migration or residence status is expressed only in 10 out of 28 Member States (PICUM, 2015). 5 REFUGEES WELCOME? obtained qualifications which ought to allow them to commence or continue their degrees is troublesome due to inefficient or non-existent recognition mechanisms. There are significant barriers of time, lengthy procedures and lack of adequate support and guidance that successfully prevent refugees from pursuing their academic degrees, despite the existing legal basis that guarantees all displaced persons, refugees, asylum seekers or persons in a refugee-like situation the right to education, and adequate support mechanisms to successfully complete it. The Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (the Lisbon Recognition Convention) is one of the most ratified of the Council of Europe's Conventions 1 and its section VII, article VII reads as follows: SECTION VII-RECOGNITION OF QUALIFICATIONS HELD BY REFUGEES, DISPLACED PERSONS AND PERSONS IN A REFUGEE-LIKE SITUATION Article VII Each Party shall take all feasible and reasonable steps within the framework of its education system and in conformity with its constitutional, legal, and regulatory provisions to develop procedures designed to assess fairly and expeditiously whether refugees, displaced persons and persons in a refugee-like situation fulfill the relevant requirements for access to higher education, to further higher education programmes or to employment activities, even in cases in which the qualifications obtained in one of the Parties cannot be proven through documentary evidence. (LRC, 1997) What this means in practice is that refugees who have prior education, both formal and non-formal, even if not documented, should have the right to have their qualifications assessed and recognised in a fair and transparent manner in all the countries who have signed and ratified the document. Despite a two-decade existence of those provisions, this article is yet to be fully respected and the ENIC 2-NARIC 3 centres report numerous problems with regard to a lack of or inefficient recognition procedures resulting in limited access to higher education for potential students from vulnerable backgrounds. Since 2015, the European Network of Information Centres in the European Region and the National Academic Recognition Information Centres in the European Union (ENIC-NARIC) have faced a significant increase in requests by refugees regarding the recognition of their qualifications. A specific part on the website has therefore been set up indicating how to address this issue. 4 A first review of the number of applications was held at the end of 2015 to gain a clear understanding of the challenges faced by the different centres. Table 1 presents the numbers of refugees who applied for recognition of qualifications in the countries that answered
Access for Refugees into Higher Education: Paving Pathways to Integration
International Higher Education, 2018
The 2015–2016 refugee crisis in Germany has made its universities more aware of the student services that it must provide for all of its students, not just new refugee entrants once they overcome asylum application, credentialing, and placement hurdles to access or continue university studies. A newly published study by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has provided evidence-based findings that showcase how the country is monitoring the process of refugee access to higher education, and offers important lessons for other countries facing refugee and migrant inflows.
Refugee Students' Access to Three European Universities: An Ethnographic Study
Social Inclusion (ISSN: 2183–2803) 2019, Volume 7, Issue 1, Pages 71–79, 2019
The article presents an ethnographic fieldwork carried out at three universities in Switzerland, Germany, and France, and analyses how access to higher education for refugees was addressed in the three cases, how and which institutional change and activities were initiated, and by which actors. The article argues that the topic cannot be addressed in isolation but has to consider four intersecting areas: the personal biography and migratory history of the students, the asylum system, the educational system, and the funding situation. For the refugee students, the challenge is that these areas need to be taken into account simultaneously, but what is more challenging is that they are not well in tune with one another. Solutions need to take this complex-and place-specific-situation into account.