Higher Education
supporting Refugees
in Europe

Catalogue de Bonnes Pratiques

The inHERE Good Practice Catalogue (GPC) is the product of an in-depth analysis of almost 300 initiatives from 32 countries of higher education institutions and organisations committed to welcoming refugees1 that have participated in EUA’s Refugees Welcome Map Campaign up until early 2017.

As is the case for the Map itself, the aim of the GPC is to serve the academic communities in Europe and beyond as a source of information and inspiration, and to enable exchange and collaboration between interested stakeholders. While it focuses on refugee students and researchers, it should also foster a broader discussion and include higher education institutions’ strategies , their third mission and their approaches to diversity management.

Cases for the GPC have been selected on the basis of a set of criteria, focusing on actual or potential high impact with regard to the integration of refugees into study and social life. While institutions were asked to indicate the number of (future) students and researchers reached, more important than quantity was the potential for transferability and upscaling in other higher education systems and university contexts.

Evidence based
  • Based on the needs of hosted refugee populations, their interests, demand and expectations in higher education.
  • Rooted in the local or national context, in terms of e.g. migration, integration, and/or higher education policies.
Practice tested
  • Building upon the adaptation of practices or activities previously established in the higher education institution, e.g. for other groups of non-traditional learners, or as part of internationalisation.
  • Yet, in many cases containing innovative elements specifically developed for refugee students and researchers.
Sustainable
  • Set up in a sustainable fashion, in terms of funding models and long-term planning.
  • Having the potential to be replicated and broadened in scale.
Collaborative
  • Developed or implemented with other institutions, local or regional actors, such as NGOs, municipalities, reception centres, etc.
  • Involving the hosted refugee population in the development and implementation of the initiative.
Strategic and linked to the university mission
  • Linked to, or being underpinned by the university mission, its strategic goals and its understanding of the institution as a societal actor.
  • Developed as part of an overarching strategy for higher education inclusion, specifically for refugees, or generally for disadvantaged groups, considering a wide range of aspects from outreach and recruitment, to services and learning and teaching practices for retention and study success.
Transferable
  • Potential to be up-scaled or transferred to other higher education institutions or organisations linked to tertiary education, in terms of cost of implementation, national policy contexts, institutional realities and different groups of disadvantaged learners.

The initiatives analysed in the GPC are examples, but by no means an inventory of the measures undertaken to include refugees in European higher education. This is even more so as the Refugees Welcome Map is not the result of a systematic mapping, but represents voluntary submissions of institutions and organisations via a short questionnaire.

The cases have been arranged under 11 topical categories. Each case has several category tags, the first one being that under which it has been selected. The descriptions of the initiatives are based on the text submitted to the Refugees Welcome Map, plus a set of follow-up questions to the participants.

 

Good
Practice
Catalogue

recognition-learning
Recognition
access-higher-education
Access to higher education
financial-support
Financial support for refugee students
preparatory-courses
Language and bridging courses
integration-measures
Integration measures
employment-opportunities
Employment opportunities for refugee researchers and academic staff
online-learning
Online learning for refugees
strategic-approaches
Strategic approaches
employability-support
Employability
collaborative-approaches
Humanitarian work
humanitarian-responses
Collaboration

Refugees Welcome Map

 

EUA’s Refugees Welcome Map – Your initiative counts: submit your initiative via the survey.

1 In the inHERE project – unless specified otherwise – the term refugee is used for all migrants having fled their country, or being displaced within their country or across borders.