In implementing the AGILE project, we first wanted to improve and increase the resilience of higher education (HE) systems in Europe in the face of refugee crises in order to meet the current needs of refugees through social participation and the recognition of skills in their learning pathways. We wanted to pool our knowledge and experience to facilitate the integration of refugees and exiles into HE. To achieve this goal, we structured AGILE around two specific objectives around which the work packages and activities were planned: - Specific objective 1: Foster and assess the integration of refugees in their professional and study life as well as in society through 3-level interventions. - Specific objective 2: Use digital innovation, social participation and impact assessment to build strong academia-society cooperations for resilience and sustainability.
Before submitting its application for the 2022 call for cooperation partnerships, Paris 8 University already had extensive experience in including refugee and exiled students, thanks in particular to its policy of openness to the world and a set of national policies and initiatives promoting enrolment. However, we wanted to develop existing courses with innovative teaching methods. We chose to set up a cooperation partnership project for the 2022 call in response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis that was escalating after the start of the war in February 2022. Around this crisis, we managed to form a consortium of six universities, one company and one rectors’ foundation, motivated by the idea of learning from this crisis and previous crises to prevent future refugee crises.