German Higher Education: Coloniality, Migration, and Asylum

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Current Issues in Postcolonial Studies and Education

Abstract

This paper focuses on the largely public German higher education sector as the site of postcolonial tensions and power relations, which have exclusionary effects and merit interrogation. We discuss the history of German colonialism and how coloniality pervades educational structures in the German context, pointing towards vital areas for future research and inter-institutional collaboration.
The postcolonial lens is clearly indicated by the active and extremely well-funded differentiation of the higher education sector in Germany, facilitated by the German Excellence Initiative and implementation of Bologna reforms. Increased differentiation indicates increased selectivity at more prestigious HEIs, which is very likely to further marginalize students less favored by coloniality’s hierarchies. This population includes the refugee students accessing higher education in increasing numbers.

Author

• Lisa Unangst, Ohio University