The integration of students at risk of social exclusion, the provision of equal opportunities for access to education, equity in treatment are acknowledged not only as core conditions for the success of the 2011 EU Modernisation Agenda and the broader Lisbon Strategy, but as a wider move towards the role of the knowledge-based society in fostering social inclusion and social cohesion.Associated with increased migration flows, the social dimension of higher education is indeed concerned with providing opportunities for refugees to participate in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), including the integration of persons with refugee status, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons who might access to relevant mobility schemes.The project understands the value of building upon European running initiatives to embrace integral and also inclusive actions to respond to the refugee crisis in Europe, thus avoiding fragmentation of interventions. The project targets EU Higher Education staff and faculty members, to empower them so that they are able to take an active stand towards the integration of refugees at institutional and local level, based on international peer-support.The overall objective of the project is to contribute responding to the refugee crisis in Europe strengthening knowledge sharing, peer-support and academic partnership among Higher Education Institutions on initiatives and resources aimed at facilitating integration and access of refugees in European universities.The specific objectives of the project are to:- collect and analyse good practice examples of HE approaches and initiatives in wide range of urgent situations, focusing on refugees and displaced students, facilitating the identification of successful patterns of integration which have the potential to be easily scaled up (e.g. teaching local language and local culture, voluntary host services, tailored counselling services,…) and facilitate peer and networked communication on lessons learned;- sensitise HE governance, facilitating communication and institutional support within and outside the university;- provide relevant orientation and training to the university staff, to empower universities so that they are able to take an active stand and further replicate successful approaches and practices;- mainstream results, achievements and recommendations to HE institutions, HE networks and HE policy makers on the strategies that can be put in place to integrate refugees in higher education, therefore increasing the social dimension of the EHEA.
Asylum is an international right stated in the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol, by which the signatory countries commit, amongst others, to respect the fundamental principle of non-refoulement. The Article 22 of the Geneva Convention, sets some basic minimum standards for the treatment of refugees in different domains, including access to education. This is also confirmed by the “no one left behind” commitment of the United Nations’ Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals, which explicitly mention refugees, and stipulating under Goal 4.3: “By 2030, to ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.” However, figures show that only 1% of young refugee participate in the tertiary education. So, to reduce the possibilities of having a lost generation, it is essential to improve access to higher education for every refugee who may qualify. In this context of continuous forced migrations, the social dimension of Higher Education is concerned with providing opportunities for refugees to participate in the European Higher Education Area. Over the past 2 years, inHERE has contributed in placing the integration of refugees in the educational agenda. The project has strengthened knowledge sharing, peer-support and collaboration amongst institutions and universities throughout Europe, and beyond. The inHERE project has identified and disseminated good practices on supporting refugee access to, and success in, higher education, provided training for staff working with refugees and developed guidelines for higher education institutions. The main highlights of the project in the last 2 years include: - A Good Practice Catalogue of initiatives for welcoming refugees in higher education, with a detailed analysis of initiatives of higher education institutions and organisations committed to welcome refugees, that have participated in EUA’s Refugees Welcome Map Campaign - An Awareness events in Barcelona (University of Barcelona, 7 July 2017), and Rome (Sapienza, 18 October -2017) to sensibilise higher education governance stakeholders about the key role played by universities in the refugee crisis - A Series of webinars in which the key topics related to the integration of refugees in higher education were discussed towards enabling exchange and collaboration amongst interested stakeholders - A Staff training week (Sapienza, 16-20 April 2018), which provided a set of instruments to enhance the role of European universities in the integration and support of refugees, gathering testimonials from EU universities on their experiences and practices - A set of Guidelines for university staff members to initiate and/or to improve support activities to integrate refugee students within the university, with a self-assessment tool, and with a variety of implementable services suitable for any institutions, regardless their level of experience in integrating refugee students - A Policy dialogue event (Campus France, May-18) to discuss how national and European policies can support refugee students and researchers in European Higher Education - A Synergy workshop for projects supporting refugees in Europe (EUA, 19 September 2018), which offered a platform to exchange knowledge and practices with other EU co-funded projects on the situation of refugees in higher education and research, as well as with international organisations and different General Directorates of the European Commission - A set of Recommendations from the project to enhance the access of refugees to higher education in Europe and their integration, addressing the European Union, EU Member States, and higher education institutions in Europe Thanks to inHERE, a large cohort of higher education staff have now a better understanding on how to provide opportunities for refugees, and also, many higher education institutions are now connected, taking advantage of the results and of the network, sharing the commitment to support refugees, to provide them with opportunities to participate in the European Higher Education Area. However, strategic approaches, leadership attention and support are yet not common role. Concrete links to the institutional mission of the institutions or to its diversity in the management strategy would be vital for the sustainability of the - often ad-hoc and short-term - initiatives for refugees. Institutions need to further enhance collaboration, both with each other and with other organisations, and pool resources to coordinate the initiatives. Therefore, the development of an international platform for exchange and collaboration would facilitate this effort and foster long-term synergies. inHERE has been implemented by UNIMED (coordinator), Sapienza University, University of Barcelona, Campus France, EUA, UNHCR (associate partner). More information can be consulted at: www.inhereproject.eu