Project description
Non-profit support for refugees’ access to higher education
Higher education (HE) attracts the interest of refugees in Europe. However, there is limited understanding of how they gain entry into HE. The EU-funded HEforR Forum project will study the access to and involvement in HE for refugees through non-profit organisations in Germany and Ireland. It will use the forum theatre method to convey the significance of pursuing HE for refugees. To gather and analyse data on the support received by refugees, both problem-centred interviews and narrative interviews will be conducted, considering also gender issues. The project will also compare the national legal frameworks in both countries. The collected data will be incorporated into a public show of forum theatre, featuring interactive elements with the interviewees.
Objective
"This project analyses access to and involvement in Higher Education (HE) for refugees via charitable organisations in Ireland and Germany. Based at Sutherland School of Law at University College Dublin for 24 months, under the supervision of Dr Oonagh Breen, I will compare the national legal framework for non-profit organisations (npos) to provide support for refugees in entering HE. The research is flanked by a secondment at the unit ""Higher Education for Refugees"" at DAAD in Bonn. I will improve interview skills, academic writing skills in English and project management skills via the fellowship which will allow me to take up a permanent and senior post at a HE institution within the ERA after the fellowship. The project follows an innovative methodology mix which has not been used before. Apart from the comparative legal study, the project uses a combination of problem-centred interviews (PCIs) and narrative interviews with refugees to collect and analyse data on how they were helped to access HE institutions via npos. The data analysis from the PCIs will lead to transcribing the data from the interviews to a script which is used as the basis for Forum Theatre. Forum Theatre provides the opportunity for the interviewees to interrupt and alter the play at any time to secure the validity of their narrative. The play will be shown publicly. Via the use of Forum Theatre, refugees will be able to provide their narrative of support, inclusion/exclusion, empowerment and agency and hence offer a counter narrative to our binary notions of refugees. There will be a strong focus on the gender aspect of refugee girls and women being excluded from higher education and the socio-political implications this has for participation and integration, and the future within ERA. The project will lead to a new approach in understanding the importance of access to tertiary education for refugees in the ERA and influence policy-makers, legislators and the private sector within ERA."
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinator
4 Dublin
Ireland