Unleashing the Power of Higher Education Institutions to Advocate for Refugees and At-Risk Migrants

• In Event: Highlighted session: Unleashing the power of higher education institutions to advocate for refugees and at-risk migrants

Proposal

Objectives/Purposes

The tension over borders and migrants is increasingly focused on the denial of entry to vulnerable populations (Allen-Ebrahimian, 2017). Even in countries where refugees have a long history of successful integration (National Academies, 2017; Davis & Sengupta, 2018), closing borders in the name of national security has led to government policies that restrict educational opportunities to refugees and at-risk migrants.

While politicians debate, however, the tertiary education sector has been responding more dynamically to this crisis. This presentation will share the results of a study of interventions that demonstrate how higher education institutions (HEIs) are providing pathways and support systems to enable higher education for refugees and at-risk migrants. Based on research conducted by the newly established University Alliance for Refugees and at-Risk Migrants (UARRM), we identify three layers of interaction between academic institutions and civil society organizations through which HEIs play a key role as advocates, and highlight their use of collaborative approaches in this effort. We conclude with suggestions for future research and recommendations for policy makers.

Perspectives/Theoretical framework

This presentation positions the power of university advocacy as a key asset in addressing the exclusion of vulnerable populations from opportunity. The idea that universities can advocate for refugee and migrant education rights through joint action is grounded in Social Movement Theory. A social movement begins when people join forces to rally around an issue (McCarthy & Mayer, 1977). The position of refugees within this crisis also fits within Securitization Theory (Buzan, Waever & de Wilde, 1998), which suggests that in an enabling environment, attitudes can be subtly shifted from viewing a tragedy as a humanitarian crisis to one mistakenly seen as a national security threat. By facilitating access to education through global partnerships, however, Academia is combating this and demonstrating its strength as a force for positive social movement and global cooperation to counter geopolitical barriers. In doing so, they are creating a new norm that helps set a moral international standard for the treatment of refugee and at-risk migrant students and scholars.

Methods/Techniques/Modes of Inquiry

The data to be presented draws from a large mapping exercise that was conducted for the UARRM in 2017-2018 studying U.S.- based activities aimed at increasing educational opportunities for displaced populations. The research explored patterns of advocacy activity and alliance formation over a six-year timeframe (2012-2018) in the U.S. higher education community. The study focused on accredited, public and private, degree-granting (2-year, 4-year, graduate level) universities and colleges, and also drew on some comparisons with similar HEI partnerships in Europe and the MENA region.

Data sources/Evidence/Objects or Materials

The UARRM database consisted of a maximally broad population of current and aspiring university students affected by forced displacement, including refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, those with DACA status, individuals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), an any migrant or international student in a vulnerable situation for reasons of a “situational” or “individual” nature (UNHCR, 2017).

Results/Substantial conclusions/warrants for arguments/POV

A review of the time frame selected as a parameter for this paper suggests that the years 2012-2016 were marked by significant progress in terms of the ability of the higher educational community to address the needs of refugees and at-risk migrants. We identify three layers of interaction related to the advocacy activity of HEIs that are serving the long-term needs of refugees and at-risk migrants. The following examples highlight only a small sample of the types of interactions that we have observed in each of these three areas.

1) Interaction between HEIs and civil society organizations. In 2012, the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) became one of the first U.S. HEIs to respond to the Syrian crisis through its partnership with IIE and the relief organization Jusoor. This initiative has since evolved into a collective of member HEIs known as the IIE Syria Consortium and produced three concrete results. First, IIT’s initiative has led to the enrollment of 40 students caught in the Syrian conflict. Second, this success has inspired other HEIs to join the IIE Syria Consortium. Third, as a result, as of 2018 the membership base has grown to 60 domestically and internationally-based HEIs who have all pledged to provide scholarships or to relax admission requirements to 500 Syrian students.

2) Interaction between and within HEIs. By and large, university presidents and their administrations are creating more inclusive and protective policies, such as sanctuary campuses, tuition equity, and hosting options, and collaborating with student-led organizations to provide psychosocial support, financial assistance and language assistance. For example, the Rutgers Immigrant Community Assistance Project (RICAP) is a student-driven initiative that provides on-campus legal counseling programs for refugees and at-risk migrants, both within the university and in the surrounding community.

3) International cooperation. Advocacy activity through interaction between U.S. and foreign HEIs has increased as a result of collaboration. The IIE’s Platform for Education in Emergencies Response (PEER) is an example of such a joint international effort. The PEER program has enabled students and scholars in remote locations to get information and connect with academic opportunities. Built with strong bandwidth technology and accessible through any mobile phone device, PEER allows users anywhere in the world to connect with educational resources.

Scholarly and social significance of the work

While government and public responses to the currently unprecedented movement of people across the globe have been mixed, promising support initiatives for refugees and migrants in vulnerable situations are being developed in greater numbers by an ever wider array of stakeholders. Universities and student organizations are increasingly connecting through different networks that link them to state actors and non-state actors at local, national and international levels. These networks add weight to student and migrant-led movements and counter overwrought securitization tendencies. A global movement among local governments, in collaboration with international policymakers, has become a major precedent for university engagement. Through this activity, we see an academic community that is increasingly recognizing its moral imperative to join social movements in solidarity with refugees and at-risk migrants unprotected by current American and European leadership and increasingly vulnerable in today’s so-called “post-truth” era.

Authors

• Bernhard T. Streitwieser, George Washington University

• Kathryn Duffy-Jaeger, Rutgers University

• Jane Roche, Rutgers University