Refugees’ pathways to German Higher Education institutions

Since 2015, Germany has followed a welcoming policy for refugees and has made efforts to integrate them in German society through initiatives such as development programs. However, very few refugee students have actually managed to enter German Higher Education (HE) institutions. Using a qualitative methodology, the researcher interviewed Arab refugee students studying in pre-academic and academic degree programs in Germany, to obtain answers to the following two main questions: 1) What are the main challenges that refugee students have experienced on their path to Germany as a host country? 2) What are the challenges that refugee students faced in HE in Germany and how does the German HE system respond to their needs? The findings suggest that, despite Germany’s desire to open up access to HE for refugees, the implementation of the policies adopted often sets administrative and social challenges to refugee students along their pathways to German HE institutions. These challenges include rigid access policies and procedures, unwelcoming public discourse and feelings of alienation. Nevertheless, students positively valued the new window of opportunity and universally applicable procedures offered in Germany, although they had not quite provided adequate responses to the refugees’ needs. The paper concludes with implications for policy makers wishing to open pathways for refugees to HE in intercultural academic spaces where they can interact and integrate within the academic community in preparation for their full integration into their host society.     

Sexual maltreatment of unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors from the Horn of Africa: A mixed method study focusing on vulnerability and prevention

ObjectivesThe study described in this paper sought to identify the social, cultural, and political factors that effect African unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors’ (UASM) vulnerability to sexual maltreatment in England. It aimed to illuminate how child protection measures could be strengthened for this highly marginalized group.MethodsA mixed method approach was used. Former UASM from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia who had been sexually maltreated in the UK were interviewed in-depth. Prior to the interviews they all completed a questionnaire which captured their biographical details as well as sensitive but factual information.ResultsOf the 53 (N = 53) former UASM who participated in the study only 2 were males. Most arrived in the UK aged 15–17. A range of sexual maltreatment, from sexual harassment to rape was reported. Three quarters experienced more than 1 incident. Most initial incidents happened in the first 12 months of their arrival in the UK. Two perpetrators were female carers. Many participants reported being groomed and sexually maltreated by people from their own country. Many described being seriously sexually maltreated, particularly by groups of young males living in the same accommodation or nearby, some reportedly also asylum seekers. Participants that had been warned of the dangers of sexual maltreatment were more likely to both disclose and to seek professional help.ConclusionsProfessionals should assume that UASM will suffer sexual maltreatment in their host country if not protected adequately, which they are unlikely to disclose. They are likely to need more protection from outside sources and help to develop their personal resources than many have received in the past.Practice implicationsPreventative measures include provision of safer environments, ideally single sex housing; more monitoring and supervision; more opportunities to develop trustworthy relationships and have emotional needs met; greater opportunities to develop language skills/access to interpretation; early information regarding the social system, culture, and sexual maltreatment; and improved professional awareness and competence in dealing with minors from other cultures.     

The experience of male adolescent refugees during their transfer and adaptation to a UK secondary school

This paper outlines a study which investigated the experience of six male adolescent refugees during their transfer and adaptation to a secondary school in the UK. The research used a qualitative design. The approach adopted was Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The data generated three superordinate themes which reflected the participants’ sense of being in need of help during the early stages of their transfer, their process of adapting to school and developing a sense of belonging in this context, and their overriding need for safety. These themes are explored in relation to existing research and implications for practice are offered.     

Experiences of young (minor) asylum seekers in further education in Malta

This study appraises the particular challenges that minor asylum-seeking migrants who are in the 16–18 age category confront when pursuing their studies in a vocational college in Malta, a central Mediterranean island which is the smallest EU member state. The study explores how they exercise resilience in their desire to forge a future for themselves and traces their passage from Africa to Malta and their prospective aspirations to eventually settle elsewhere. It also explores how they integrate their lives as college students with these aspirations and how they see this as contributing to their lifelong education and ongoing processes of personal growth.     

Necropolitical voices and bodies in the rhetorical reception of Iranian women's asylum claims

In the mid-1990s, US immigration courts were introduced to a group of Iranian women who claimed that they feared persecution because of their “pro-Western and feminist” political opinions and because of the way they performed gender on their bodies. The claims were, in total, unsuccessful bids to asylum. Analyzing these cases set against the geopolitical background of US–Iranian history and contemporary relations, I argue that their denials illustrate three important dynamics. First, building on rhetorical theorizing of voice and body, this essay demonstrates the uneasy reception in US law and politics of willful noncitizen women of color with explicit political voices and bodies, and second, the consequential racialization of these subjects as willful, unorderable migrant subjects too akin in their sovereignty to their state of birth. Third, this analysis adds to the field's attentiveness to geopolitics by consequently demonstrating US necropolitical desires toward Iran in the state's engagement with these cases. I argue that for the United States to recognize these claimants as having political voices contrary to their state would be to recognize the presence and legitimacy of that state—a sovereign that challenges US power and modernity on the global stage.     

Navigating unfreedoms & re-imagining ethical counter-conducts: Caring about refugees & asylum seekers

This article uses Foucault’s concept of the care of the self to interrogate the accounts of ethical agency provided by professionals involved in the settlement of refugees, in a global and national context marked by fear of the stranger and the embrace of neoliberal political rationalities. An argument is made to ‘free the professional self’ by refusing an individualised, psychologised and dehistoricised approach in working with refugees and asylum seekers. In its place, a threefold ‘ethics of engagement’ for ‘international citizenship’ is proposed as a way forward to further professionalism and civic action. By understanding the refugee problem as an ‘integral part of North-South relations’ rather than as a ‘Third World’ problem, new possibilities are opened for an ethics of civility and an ethics of care.     

Does social capital reduce the psychological distress and improve the wellbeing of asylum seekers? Evidence from Israel

The living difficulties of asylum seekers in receiving countries may impair their mental health. Based on the Social Capital Theory, the current study sought to identify social factors that might reduce their psychological distress and improve their wellbeing. A sample of 227 Darfuri asylum seekers in Israel aged 19–58 completed a questionnaire assessing the outcomes of psychological distress and wellbeing, and the predictors of post-migration living difficulties, number of asylum seeker and Israeli friends, perceived social support, and volunteering in community activity for asylum seekers. The findings show that whereas perceived social support was associated with reduced psychological distress and increased wellbeing (and the latter also associated with number of Israeli friends), the number of asylum seeker friends was associated with increased psychological distress and reduced wellbeing. Moreover, both factors moderated the association between living difficulties and psychological distress, that is, it was significant only at higher levels of these factors. Volunteering in community activity also moderated this association. The results suggest that having friends is not enough to improve wellbeing and may even have the opposite effect when friends share similar adversities. However, friends who are available to offer support can contribute to improved wellbeing. Similarly, volunteering in community activity may reduce the individual’s own welfare, as it exposes them to the adversities of others. Thus, while some social capital indicators are beneficial, others might have a detrimental effect. The results indicate the need to strengthen the social contacts of asylum seekers while paying attention to the potential cost.     

Patterns of inclusive education through the practice of student teachers

Interest in the integration of refugees has grown with the increase in numbers of asylum seekers dispersed across the UK. The ability to communicate effectively in English is seen as the key priority in facilitating integration, while a lack of English language is seen as one of the major barriers to refugee employment. Some £267 million was spent on English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes in 2004/05. However, commentators have observed that asylum seekers and refugees continue to struggle to speak English. This paper examines data from interviews with refugees and ESOL tutors, and statutory data recording retention and achievement of asylum seekers and refugees, to explore the extent to which they are achieving in ESOL, and the effectiveness of the existing monitoring system in assessing whether ESOL meets the needs of asylum seekers and refugee learners. It finds that there are major inconsistencies between the retention and success rates observed in the monitoring data and those reported by tutors and refugees. A range of problems are identified that indicate that monitoring is neither robust nor reliable and that refugees and asylum seekers are struggling to learn sufficient English to enable integration.     

Germany's New Culture of Welcome—Our Libraries are an Essential Part of it

ABSTRACT

German authorities are expecting more than 1 million refugees by the end of 2015. These people come to Germany to seek protection and assistance and to build a new life, therefore it is important to welcome them and to assist them in their integration as soon as possible. This situation creates a versatile and perfectly fitting opportunity for cultural and educational programs, including libraries, which can play a vital role in this integration process. The key to integration is the knowledge of the German language, and the most important challenge now is to teach the necessary language skills to as many asylum-seekers as possible.     

Moments of social inclusion: asylum seekers,football and solidarity

Abstract

Established in 2012, ‘the Seekers’ are a football club in Melbourne, Australia. Initially set up to provide social recreation for various refugees and asylum seekers, the Seekers have more recently entered a team in the mainstream league competition. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper considers how football facilitates forms of social inclusion for team members, both in relation to the action of the sport and the political and social context of Australian society more broadly. In many ways the field of sport is highly contested as players engage with the mainstream; however the solidarity forged through playing creates the possibility for moments of social inclusion in other ways. The capacity of sporting interactions to facilitate social inclusion for male team members is vexed, though there is evidence to suggest that, in the correct conditions, sport can contribute to an individual’s capacity to access employment and educational opportunities.