Refugee Students ’ Access to Three European Universities : An Ethnographic Study

The article presents an ethnographic fieldwork carried out at three universities in Switzerland, Germany, and France, and analyses how access to higher education for refugeeswas addressed in the three cases, how andwhich institutional change and activities were initiated, and by which actors. The article argues that the topic cannot be addressed in isolation but has to consider four intersecting areas: the personal biography and migratory history of the students, the asylum system, the educational system, and the funding situation. For the refugee students, the challenge is that these areas need to be taken into account simultaneously, but what is more challenging is that they are not well in tune with one another. Solutions need to take this complex—and place-specific—situation into account.


Introduction
In 2015, a high number of refugees came to Europe. 1his movement sparked debates and numerous initiatives in higher education, just as in various other fields of society.In Germany, in 2015, 17,8% of all adult asylum seekers had been to university (completed and interrupted), and 20,4% had completed high school before migrating (Rich, 2016, p. 5).The German Academic Exchange Service estimated 50,000 potential new university students amongst the refugees (Goddar, 2016).At many European universities, initiatives of solidarity and support were started to welcome, accommodate and introduce the newcomers, often by student volunteers (for the case of Germany see, Schammann & Younso, 2016).Initiatives are still running and even if there have been lower numbers of newly arriving asylum seekers since August 2016 in Western Europe, the topic is still impor-tant, as refugees will also arrive in the future and more potential students reach the language level required for university studies.Yet, the pathway into the universities has proven to be far from simple and many issues still need to be tackled.
This article is based on an ethnographic study of the situation at three European universities in Germany, France, and Switzerland that are linked in the "European Campus"-a network situated in the Upper Rhine region where Germany, France and Switzerland share borders.The network fosters scientific collaboration and enables regular students to take courses at other universities and have the credits recognised by the home university.For asylum seeking students, however, the situation is different, as they are not allowed to move freely.This example already illustrates that the situation of asylum seeking and refugee students differs from that of local or European exchange students because different laws regard-ing migration apply to them.The term "refugees" will be used in the following to include both asylum seekers and recognised refugees, as some of the challenges are an issue for people with both statuses.In other cases, the process of asylum seeking will be specifically referred to.
The existing literature points to the fact that access to higher education for refugees remains difficult and is a largely neglected and pressing issue worldwide that has not been thoroughly researched thus far (Goastellec, 2018b;Mangan & Winter, 2017).Moreover, quite a few contributions have focused on the situation in Australia (Hannah, 1999;Joyce, Earnest, de Mori, & Silvagni, 2010;Naidoo, 2015).Other projects target Canada (Ferede, 2010), the UK (Morrice, 2009), or the situation in refugee camps in Thailand (Zeus, 2011) or Kenya and Malawi (Crea, 2016;Crea & McFarland, 2015).Even though there are parallels, the concrete situation varies between different migration and education systems, depending on national and local policies.Sometimes, initial support is also different in the same place for resettlement refugees or asylum seekers.There are still very few qualitative ethnographic studies on the situation in Germany, Switzerland, and France and also few comparative studies (for a comparative study on frames of reference of policymaking in Switzerland, France, and Germany see, Goastellec, 2018a; for the situation in Germany see the larger research project "WeGe-Wege von Geflüchteten an deutsche Hochschulen" started in 2017 at the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies).
In this article, we will present the cases of the three different universities and follow how the topic was addressed in the three cases, how and which institutional changes and activities were initiated and by which actors.Taking the perspectives of multiple actors involved into consideration, we focus on the perspective of the refugee students and the challenges they encounter; we argue that the question of access to higher education for refugees cannot be addressed in isolation in these cases but has to consider four intersecting areas that influence and distinguish the situation of refugee students profoundly from that of other students.In the case of this study, the areas that need to be considered are the personal biography and migratory history, the asylum system, the educational system, and the funding situation.For the refugee students, the challenge is that these areas need to be taken into account simultaneously, but what is more challenging is that they are often not well in tune with one another.
In the next section, the methodical approach will be described.In Section 3, the four intersecting areas that challenge the situation of the students will be explained and put in the larger context of policies and framing.Sections 4 and 5 focus on the empirical data.In the fourth, the cases of the three universities are presented in greater depth and with regard to the 4-Area-Model; in the fifth, salient observations from the perspective of the refugee students are presented.The conclusion follows in Section 6.

Research Methods
The research presented in this article took place in 2017.It was a qualitative study rooted in cultural anthropology.The research team consisted of the author and Tim Harder (Master student assistant).The research setup involved multiple perspectives on the topic.The project team conducted narrative semi-structured interviews firstly with three to four refugee students at each university.Most of them were in preparatory programs and not yet enrolled at their university.Technically speaking, they were potential students with refugee backgrounds.The interview partners were selected to include students with different educational backgrounds, disciplines, age groups, pre-experiences at universities, gender, and nationality.Secondly, we interviewed student volunteers (one to two per city) who were active in organising preparatory programs or other kinds of support for refugee students.Third, we conducted interviews with a representative of the university in all three cases.And fourth, we interviewed a representative of the cities' migration service in Basel and Freiburg.The interviews lasted between 1-3 hours.We also participated in events or assemblies, followed mailing lists from the refugee programs, and had informal conversations.In addition, we analysed the corresponding educational and asylum policies.The interviews were transcribed and analysed parallel to the fieldwork by employing the approach to coding, category building, comparing, and revising of the process of Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1999).

The 4-Area-Model
The direct admission to universities for students who come as refugees is not always simple.A number of factors work together to hinder direct access or make it more difficult than, for e.g., local students or Erasmus exchange students.These factors include recognition of prior accomplishments2 , language and computer skills, finances, restriction of movement in case the students are still in the process of asylum application, the access, understanding, and connection of relevant information, as well as the personal effects of prior experiences and forced migration.For the individual refugee students, one can say that they have to navigate in a space that is highly restricted and affects every area of life (Schroeder, 2003, p. 380), especially when they are still in the process of applying for asylum (for Switzerland this situation is described in more detail in Sontag, 2018;Sontag & Harder, in press).Goastellec (2018a, p. 25) pointed out the relevance of the four dimensions of "higher education actors, external actors, academic actors, and social services actors" in her policy case study on Switzerland, France, and Germany.As in her study, we found that it is key to take these different actors into account.However, coming from an ethnographic methodology, we focused on the perception of the students and their practices.The perspectives of other actors and the policies themselves were used to understand the students' situation and their effects on the students better.From this perspective, we describe the broad four areas of the personal biographical situation, the migration/asylum policies, the educational policies, and funding as factors that challenge the individual situation of the potential students the most.Funding is a very broad category that has to do with stipends, national, local, and university funding institutions, rules about student loans, social welfare rules, labour laws and thus the access to work, and is, therefore, itself situated at the intersection of different policy fields.The complexity of this is referred to in the description of the different cases below.Yet, from the students' perspective, it poses one area of challenges and has thus been summarised under one heading here.It might also make sense in other contexts when the goal is to understand the students' perspective and provide a basis for further inquiry.The three cases show in which way these areas intersect and how they are often not congruent.
They also indicate what kind of resources actors need to position themselves in difficult intersections.We observed how formal and informal barriers and inequalities in accessing higher education develop, increase, or decrease as these four different logics interact.A student in France put it this way: "There is a problem with both situations: being a refugee and a student, because each situation has its own rules".

The Broader Context of Policies and Framing
The developments at the three universities varied greatly.This is due to the individual actors and initiatives.Secondly, it also has to do with the fact that the concrete situation at these specific universities and in the specific countries varied.The number of refugees that came in 2015 and the general atmosphere of existing initiatives differed in the three respective places.A third influential factor is the broader context of education, asylum, and funding policies in the three countries.In this broader context, as Goastellec (2018a) points out, there are significant differences between the general student population and their access to higher education that need to be taken into account.Germany and France not only have more students than Switzerland in absolute numbers, but also a higher proclivity towards academic education rather than vocational training (Goastellec, 2018a, pp. 30-32).Goastellec concludes that in Switzerland the access to higher education for national as well as international students is more elitist than in France or Germany.She argues that the logic behind the respective migration systems works in line with this, as in Switzerland the focus is on attracting migrants who are specifically skilled professionals "allowing the state to save money on education", while in Germany, for example, refugee migration was also seen as an investment and education as a part of this investment (Goastellec, 2018a, p. 33; for policies on highly skilled migrants in Switzerland see also, Hercog & Sandoz, 2018).Sandoz (2018) analysed different pathways or "channels" of highly-skilled migration towards Switzerland such as the company-oriented, the family-oriented, the study-oriented, and the protectionoriented channel.She argues that these vary in the opportunities they provide.The asylum channel was initially thought of as a purely humanitarian one and not based on skills.In fact, in public awareness as well as in research, forced migration and high skills are also seldom connected.This situation can lead to a de-skilling or loss of cultural (e.g., the value of diplomas) and social (networks) capital in Bourdieu's sense for highly skilled asylum seekers.
In the current study, we also encountered various ways of framing and argumentation by different individual actors regarding the topic.There is the frame of equality that is discussed e.g. at the Swiss university as trying not to privilege any group over other groups, while it is discussed e.g. at the student organisation in Germany as access and support for all less-privileged groups.Moreover, we encountered arguments of humanitarian action by different actors in France, Germany, and Switzerland.Goastellec (2018a) analysed the statements on this topic by the national authorities of higher education in 2015 and identified different logics and argumentation in Germany, France, and Switzerland.While in France, the social and humanitarian responsibility and the issue of integration was stressed, Germany launched programs and a campaign for more open universities as well as against xenophobia, and Switzerland was more reserved and highlighted the importance of people returning to their home countries (Goastellec, 2018a, p. 24).
The comparison thus prompts one to pay attention to the manner in which normativities of higher education are constructed, where continuities or disruptions are taking place, and what this means in a globalising world.In their work with the concept of "eduscapes", Forstorp and Mellström (2013, p. 343) outline eduscapes as an "analytical vehicle that encompasses places and processes, institutional practices as well as spatiotemporal strategies of individuals".The three cases show how, apart from the similarities between the institutions and imaginaries of higher education, there are also differences.Different eduscapes thus exist in close proximity.Moreover, even in the same place, students can live in different eduscapes in the sense of possibilities and imaginaries.The often proclaimed globalisation and internationalisation of education does not appear as a smooth process but produces conflicting views, expectations, and opportunities even within the same place.Discourses and arguments in this debate such as equality, humanitarianism, integration, and economic participation (Lenette, 2016) are of relevance in a much broader sense.They reflect larger societal debates on migration, and they also must be seen in the context of contemporary debates on the predicament of universities and their position, role, and task within society.One major topic here is the increasing economisation, entrepreneurial setup, and rigid management of universities, which has been criticised in Europe, for example, with regard to the Bologna reform.The current situation of refugee students prompts to reconsider the university as a "place in which concepts and insights are constantly rethought, have to be constantly rethought and can be rethought" (Arens et al., 2013, p. 10, our translation).As the cases show, local universities here are places in which the questioning of political categories of differentiation, intersecting policies, and change in reaction to changing environmental conditions can take place.

Basel: Student Volunteers
At the University of Basel in Switzerland, an initiative was started by members of the university's Amnesty International student group.The group of students set up an association called "Offener Hörsaal" (Open Auditorium) and brought together supporting faculty members, private donors, foundations, and cooperated with the university.The program they set up includes consultations and cultural programs for potential refugee students as well as a buddy program in which an experienced local student is matched with a refugee student.The association raises money (10000 CHF per semester) and finances language courses at the university for their participants.This is necessary, because in some Swiss cantons, asylum seekers do not receive language courses, and recognised refugees do not receive language courses at the required level for university studies.They also finance guest auditorships, so that students can attend selected lectures-albeit without receiving credit points (one language course and one to two other classes add up to around 500 CHF per person per semester).The initiative is remarkable, as the students set up a functioning organisation, and organised various cooperations (and also training for themselves).Said one of the founders when asked about his motivation: I have the feeling that with this project, one can move something, also very directly, it's very concrete….I somehow think it's a certain-duty is exaggerated-but the task of a student, if you have the possibility to influence something that is immediate.
He assumed that he had invested around 15-20 hours per week of voluntary work in the initiative.In the beginning, 20 refugee students were admitted into the Open Auditorium program per semester, the number declined to around 13 in 2018, yet only two to four of these could actually enrol at the university per year.
With regard to the 4-Area-Model of intersecting challenges, a few issues are especially influential in this case.An important topic is the recognition of prior certificates of the students.Some certificates, such as the Syrian high school diploma require an additional exam in Switzerland, the ECUS.The preparation courses are delivered by private institutes and involve costs that are difficult or impossible to pay for by refugee students, and the exam itself is expensive as well.Some of the students may not have a working permit or have difficulties finding a job that could allow them to pay for the exam.Moreover, when students are enrolled, social aid is stopped, as it is for other students.Thus, the combination of the demand of the educational system, the funding, and the position as asylum seekers creates a predicament for the students.A second issue is language courses.Paying for high-level courses privately is again almost impossible for refugee students.At the University of Basel, though, a proof of language skills is not compulsory to enrol, and the student association is raising the money to pay for courses.A third issue concerns immobility, as asylum seekers are sent to their living places and have to stay there, and these places may be far away from a university and commuting is often too expensive-or one has to know how to apply for funding for this.This shows how the demands of the asylum system, the educational system, and funding are clashing.

Freiburg: Network of Initiatives
Just 80 km to the North, at the University of Freiburg in Germany, we encountered a different situation.Here, too, an impressive student association called "Uni für alle" (University for everybody) is active and organises buddies, cultural programs, and consultations.Freiburg as a city features a dense network of engagement for refugees so that a number of institutions can collaborate and provide consultancies and refer refugees to other organisations that address their specific needs.This network starts right at the arrival centres, where our interviewees were directed towards "Uni für alle" or to the student services at the university, e.g., by so-called "circles of helpers".Moreover, the university itself offers preparatory and language courses funded by the German government through the "integra" program (Fourier, Kracht, Latsch, Heublein, & Schneider, 2017).The university also provides free access to language labs and offers free guest auditorships.Freiburg has a professional coordinator dedicated to the topic of university access for refugees.The situation in Freiburg is specific, not only because of the long-established volunteer networks, but also because of the much higher numbers of refugees who came in 2015.
While around 3,000 people arrived in Freiburg, there were merely around 500 in Basel.In Freiburg, around 50 (potential) refugee students took part in the program organised by the students, and 40 took place in the preparatory course offered by the university.
In Freiburg, in the 4-Area-Model, the national educational policy must be acknowledged, as funding for preparatory courses was provided at this level.Moreover, in the area of the migration and funding system, a number of changes were decided in 2015 and 2016 in Germany (Deutscher Bundestag, 2016).The place of residence became more restricted, which hindered asylum seeking students to access universities in other citiesor to join preparatory schools (Studienkolleg) to validate their certificates, of which only one to four exist in each German federal state.It was thus not possible for some of the students to follow the rules of the educational system and the asylum system at the same time.However, there were also changes in the funding system, which made it possible for refugee students with certain residence titles to access Bafög, the national financial student support, after having resided for 15 months in Germany (directly for recognised refugees) and not after four years, as the rule was before, thus connecting the areas of funding, education, and asylum in a beneficial way for the students (BMBF, n.d.).

Mulhouse: University Initiative
To the West of both Freiburg, and Basel lies the University of Mulhouse in France, where, again, we found a remarkable initiative with, again, a very different setup and story.In Mulhouse, the initiative is carried by the university and in particular, one faculty member was active in setting it up.The refugee students we met here were recruited from refugee camps around Syria via an NGO and could then travel with a permit and did not have to go on the dangerous journey undocumented.The university, and in particular the Centre de Compétences Transfrontalières (Novatris) and the language centre organised a program that included housing, language courses, a cultural program, and trained volunteer support.In Mulhouse, the church and other NGOs also supported the program.
Here, the first area of the 4-Area-Model, the individual migratory situation, was thus different than for other students who had travelled undocumented.Moreover, those who came met supportive infrastructure at the university, which also had different policies than in Basel or Freiburg.Recognition of diplomas was, for example, not problematic for the Syrian students and language courses were organised by the university.The university, in turn, had little financial support by federal or national agencies, making it difficult to establish the new structures sustainably.Despite the broad assistance offered, the university still has no influence on the asylum process, which means that the students might find themselves in an inverted situation compared to the other two cases: while having full academic support, basic residential and financial issues could be pending.In fact, some interviewees talked about organisational difficulties with the government agencies.In France, the access to student support (CROUS), unemployment support (RSA), and asylum support (ADA), differs depending on residence status, enrolment at university, but also age, creating a complex scenario and leaving groups of students (such as those with subsidiary protection or those above 28 years of age) in precarious situations.Some of the students also mentioned that it was very difficult to find a job and explained this was due to the general employment situation, as well as possible discrimination.In France, information is available on the RESOME Platform, and there is also the network group "Migrants dans L'enseignement Supérieur" (migrants in higher education, MEnS) that was founded by 40 universities in 2017.MEnS is very actively exchanging best practices within the group and entertains an active dialogue with local and national policymakers.

Uncertainty
For students, the complex situation of the 4-Area-Model with its intersections, produces uncertainty.We met one student in Switzerland who had waited for his asylum decision for five years.He had to flee his home country just before finishing his degree.He attended different preparatory programs, learned German, but did not find a way to enrol in his discipline.He is still searching for a way to get a diploma while starting to do internships in order to find a way into the job market.When we asked him where he saw himself in five years, he responded: Most difficult questions.If you live in Switzerland as a Swiss person it is very different, you can really plan.But if you are dependent on the government agencies and, for example, yesterday they said you can do this and then…they say no, it works differently and you cannot study or something like that.And then you have to plan anew, that's why it's difficult, really.And in our countries this has really influenced us, one is scared of the future.
The biographical experiences of uncertainty, violence, and loss thus add to the experience of uncertainty and difficulty to understand the intersections of the educational, asylum, and funding system.
As in this quote, we sometimes detected frustration from potential students.The fear that one could be stuck, not able to move forward, lose one's energy, or become depressed was expressed if no perspective for the future seemed visible, as in this student's quote: "I am 21 years old, I have many dreams, I also want to study at university and I do not want to lose this energy".Often, the students are accepted only temporarily by the migration system.Moreover, there is the group of refugees whose asylum claim has been denied, but who will not be deported, because this is not possible in the current situation, so they just remain in the country-but without the right to receive academic grants or to work.

Motivation and Engagement
Even though some of the students felt insecure or frustrated, there was a strong motivation and ambition that was tangible in all of the interviews.Also, a strong notion of engagement was expressed.This could be social, personal, or political engagement, often it was voluntary translations or community work.Some of them had already been engaged back in the place of departure.Their statements about studying sometimes had a similar connotation, of being able to find one's place, to contribute or even to give something back through the job they would have with a university education, as expressed in the following passage: I like learning because it's my future.I think it's everybody's future.They have to learn if they want to be up-to-date.But my wish is to make a new life, get back the life that I had in my country and be an important part of Switzerland.I don't like to live without doing anything in my life.Without having an effect on my life or on the others' lives, on everything.
As conveyed in this passage, education has often been described as a means of societal participation.De Wit and Altbach (2016) raised the question of the effect on the countries of departure and "brain drain" consequences.Here, the responses we received were mixed.Some of the students said that they will go back and help build up their country or continue their engagement and take everything they have learned back with them.One of the interview partners, for example, actively tried to interact with politicians and political institutions to learn as much as possible about the ways in which the local democratic structures work.Others again said that they wanted to stay and felt the need to find a place where they can live peacefully and build a life for themselves.

The Personal Value of Supporting Initiatives
The preparatory courses at the universities provide networks and platforms for participation.A group of interviewed students, for example, started their own cultural association.Even though full enrolment and equal possibilities should be the goal, it is important to acknowledge the value of supporting structures on a personal level of developing social networks, friendships, motivation, and finding information and orientation in the educational system-and it should also be acknowledged that the outcome of such a process of orientation could mean a decision to drop out or move on.As one of the interviewees explained: Yes, I can attend lectures in the context of the Open Auditorium, but it is really about getting a taste, how things are working at the university in Switzerland, the curricular design, because it is something completely different, and it has the benefit to meet people and to network.
When evaluating such programs, these criteria must be taken into account apart from the direct value of preparation for enrolment.

The Educational System
The following point was not raised by the students in the interviews, possibly because we did not accompany them long enough.It was rather mentioned by those working with the students but seems worth taking note of.Orientation is also necessary, because expectations, imaginaries, educational systems, and thus eduscapes differ.Often, when looking at the topic of refugees in higher education, full universities are the focus and the present study is no exception.However, the educational environment does not only consist of universities.There are also other colleges, universities of applied sciences, and vocational schools that play a role, especially in Switzerland, but also in Germany and France, and this is often new to incoming refugees from different educational systems.Here, eduscapes might clash not only on the level of possibilities and access but also on the level of expectations and imaginaries.The incoming potential students might have a career in mind that requires a university education in the educational system they come from, but may be a college education or vocational training in the new educational system, such as for example nursing.Especially in Switzerland, ⅔ of all students follow a vocational training rather than an academic education (Goastellec, 2018a, p. 31).Access to the job market might even sometimes be easier with an applied education than with a university education.Some of the students who recently arrived still have to learn about both, the educational system and the possible future chances in the job market in the new place.So here, it takes "translation" and very individual consultation to explain the differences and to help make decisions, something which also happens in the preparatory programs.

Conclusion
By examining three different ways to facilitate university access for refugees, their respective strategies, challenges, and discursive frames, formal and informal obstacles for refugee students became visible.While the specific problems differed from case to case-e.g., Syrian High School diplomas are partly recognised by university departments in Mulhouse and Freiburg but require an expensive additional exam in Basel-they share the quality of being located at "area intersections" and thus the fact that access to higher education cannot be observed in isolation.The 4-Area-Model put forward in this study rather includes biographical experiences, the asylum system, the funding situation, and the educational system.The issue of refugees' access to higher education is situated in a historically grown structure of policies of education, migration, and funding with their own logic and aims.However, the challenge is that the topic does not fit smoothly into these sets of policies.The current situation of refugee students rather makes effects and conflicts of these policies, as well as different positions and eduscapes visible.
The difficulty in finding funding illustrates how refugee students can feel caught between two stools.Social assistance is usually not paid to registered students, but asylum seekers also have limited or no access to other funding sources (e.g., cantonal scholarships, Bafög, CROUS; in certain German federal states, like Berlin, the problem was addressed by extending the financial aid for asylum seekers when they enrol as students).Thus, they either take a significant financial risk when enrolling as a student, or they have to spend additional work on finding individual solutions.Being a student and a refugee at once means not having a usual route to follow but being affected by interfering regulations.
The comparison of the current study also showed that rethinking of policies must be done for very specific policy intersections, current demands and goals of education and migration in the specific places and cannot be generalised.The proposal of the new French law on asylum and immigration, for example, includes among other things a special residence status for fled academics (in Art.21, section 5).This status can be requested while still being in the asylum process and is just a slight variation of the already existing "French Tech Visa".However, required prerequisites-such as financial independence, linguistic proficiency, and being a registered studentdo not match the most common problems that were encountered during this study.In fact, this concept privileges those individuals who have already overcome most hurdles (RESOME email correspondence).
The article presented different possibilities of change and engagement as well as ways of positioning in the three universities, such as dropping the requirement to prove language proficiency at the time of enrolment, initiating preparatory courses, or supporting students to enter the country without going on a dangerous journey.Moreover, the student initiatives on a mostly voluntary basis campaign and provide consultancies, programs, networks, or even funding that help refugee students to get in touch with universities in the first place.
However, there are also still major obstacles such as the recognition situation in Switzerland with the very expensive ECUS exam, the question of funding for special supporting measures and the sustainability of supporting structures and special consultancies.The future will show if and how these initiatives will sustain or change.The best solution, as one of the student volunteers put it in our interview, would be to make such initiatives re-dundant by providing locally adjusted policies that do not hinder access to higher education.
In the current situation, knowledgeable consultation for potential refugee students is key, because of these four intersecting areas of challenges and because each situation of each student is individual and different, more individual consultation specialised in higher education and asylum is necessary.