Immigration and Interculturality: Integration Models of Immigrant Students in Tunisia

Wafa Touihri

doi:10.47631/mejress.v2i3.244

Abstract

Purpose: The study aims to examine the integration of immigrant students from sub-Saharan Africa within the Tunisian system of higher education. Methodology/Approach/Design: This qualitative study was carried out among 100 students enrolled in the top three accessible multicultural private Tunisian universities. To analyse the relations between native immigrant students, we have devoted second criteria forming thus two case studies: there are two groups of students (a group of 50 Tunisian students and another group of 50 students with different sub-Saharan African nationalities. Results: The process of integrating subjects from different yet similar cultures, in this case, sub-Saharan African students, is an anthropological process seeking to put cultural diversity at the service of an inclusive environment with a new cultural code. The metaphor of the bridge between cultures is no longer valid; the focus is rather on the concept of the salad bowl integrating different cultures. University experience constitutes, with respect to the future of students, a key element to achieve professional insertion. Practical Implication: The study proposes an integration model that transcends the functionalist determinist approach. It is not assimilation that fuses all subjects into one neither single entity nor communitarianism that maintains ethnic barriers above mixture and unanimity. Originality/Value: In this study, an intercultural sociological reflection is adopted while emphasizing the multicultural nature of Tunisia.

Highlights

An analysis of the collected data has emphasized a striking assertion by students of poor management of cultural differences resulting in exclusion mechanisms, and integration failure observed in private Tunisian universities
We propose an open coding meant to conceptualize and assemble data resulting from the sum of words and phrases mentioned in surveys conducted on Tunisians (50 surveys) and on African students (50 surveys) according to “categories for representations of cultural stereotypes and prejudice at the origin of integration difficulties: Reciprocal cultural misconceptions, reciprocal cultural intolerance, and a reciprocal culture misunderstanding
The study aimed to examine the integration of immigrant students from sub-Saharan Africa within the Tunisian system of higher education

Summary

Introduction

Four key factors paved the way for the emergence of a new reality through which Tunisia has today become a destination for immigrant workers (Nasraoui, 2017) This phenomenon started with relocating the African Development Bank (ADB) to Tunisia in 2003 and 2014. The second factor revolves around the measure adopted by the Tunisian authorities: removing the visa requirements for many subSaharan citizens; Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, etc.). Another factor contributing to the growing number of students in Nigeria is the establishment of around sixty private institutes in the three Tunisian megapoleis( Tunis , Sousse , Sfax ) within few years. This has transformed Tunisia into “a conventional destination for migration, like other North African countries, into a country of transit to Europe, even an immigration destination for some sub-Saharan Africans” (Mazzella, 2009)

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