The aims of the project in higher education were to promote intercultural understanding, teaching and learning, and to create new models for integrating well-educated migrants into teaching activities. It also improved the self-esteem of migrant students by providing them with role models of highly educated migrants. The project made the skills of highly educated migrants visible and better utilised. The aim was to create a Europe-wide network, organising migrant NGOs and higher education institutions to work together. During the project, workshops organised jointly by the higher education institutions and migrant NGOs were piloted.
The growing immigrant population in Europe makes visible the fact that there is a large number of refugees and immigrants whose skills, capacity and expertise are not being properly utilized in Europe. Research has shown that access to and participation in the labour market is a challenging process for highly educated migrants who have moved to Europe. This challenge can be seen in higher education institutions, where there are very few staff (lecturers, professors) with migrant backgrounds. This challenge should be recognised at the university level, as there are more and more students with migrant backgrounds who also need role models and working life success stories from migrant lecturers and scholars. Immigrants' experiences of fast and effective participation in the labour market increased their positive feelings of belonging. The ILO project aimed to create and develop opportunities for highly educated migrants to use their talents and capacities by lecturing at partner universities and organising joint workshops or short courses for students.