Abstract
In view of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ which began in late 2014, there is a growing potential demand for higher education opportunities amongst refugee communities in England and more widely in Europe. Whilst exact numbers are not certain, it is necessary to establish whether such demands can be met at all. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with nineteen refugees and asylum seekers residing in England, this study explores refugee background students’ perceptions of the barriers to higher education and builds on previous research by including participants of varied ages, locations and study statuses — namely, aspiring to enrol, or currently enrolled in universities. While existing previous research provided extensive accounts of barriers to access, these were presented as separate issues, where in reality, these factors rarely occur in isolation. Thus, the analytical focus in this paper concerns how these different barriers to access not only accumulate, but also inter-relate and exacerbate each other, leading to what can be described as a super-disadvantage. This new term is proposed here as indicating the extreme degree of denial of equal access to educational opportunities experienced by those with refugee background, resulting from the added, independent effect of their migration experiences, status, and the socio-economic realities of living as a refugee. It is argued that this ‘super-disadvantage’ cannot be overcome without deliberate changes to outreach and support delivered by universities. These must be developed in partnerships with third sector experts and the refugee background students themselves.
Highlights
As in other advanced economies, the higher education (HE) sector in England has experienced a rapid expansion of participation in the last century and a half (Meyer and Schofer 2005)
While the exact number of applicants and students with refugee backgrounds is impossible to ascertain currently, findings from a wider research project forming the basis for this paper suggest that they are under-represented in our universities
This paper explores refugees’ perceptions of the barriers to higher education and builds on previous research by including participants of varied ages, locations and study statuses— namely, aspiring to enrol, or currently enrolled in HE
Summary
As in other advanced economies, the higher education (HE) sector in England has experienced a rapid expansion of participation in the last century and a half (Meyer and Schofer 2005). The analytical focus (and the key scholarly contribution) concerns how these different barriers to access accumulate and inter-relate and exacerbate each other, leading to a super-disadvantage This new term is proposed here as indicating the extreme degree of denial of equal access to educational opportunities within the existing structures of host states, experienced by those with refugee backgrounds and resulting from the added independent effect of their migration experiences, status and the socio-economic realities of living as a refugee. A few thousand are currently undertaking study across all levels, including a small number of asylum seekers (who are often beneficiaries of scholarship programs available in some universities).4 This can be at least partly attributed to RBS invisibility from the relevant policies—access to HE is missing from England’s migrant integration policies, while ‘refugees’ as a group is not considered in any of the national HE policies (Eurydice 2019). This is not to imply that links with other barriers are less critical or extensive, but, firstly, to shift the focus away from individual ‘deficits’ to more structural and systemic barriers, and secondly—more pragmatically—to avoid an oversimplified formulation of all, and to keep the discussion focused
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