dc.description.abstract |
For the last decade, various aspects of migration have occupied public and political debate
throughout the
world.
This isgroups compete for employment. Higher education provides the learning required
for skilled professions and can therefore enable these young people to earn their
living and contribute to the host states, to overcome prejudices and resistance and
climb the ladder of social mobility. Higher education also enables these young
refugees and immigrants to develop their personal and professional identity as part
of the process of their integration in their new home. Additionally, the influx of
refugees and migrants can enrich and transform higher education systems as they
adapt their services to meet the needs of the new students and learn about their
cultures. Higher education has become a major topic of discussion, debate and
controversy around the world, as a range of political, economic, social and technological
pressures
result
in a
myriad of
changes
in the
quantity
and
quality of higher
education
systems.
Nevertheless,
policy
and
praxis
facilitating
equitable
access
to
higher
education for
migrant and
refugees
remains
limited.
This is a global
concern
as it
can
affect
educational
opportunities and
integration
ability for those who
have
been
forced to
leave their
countries.
especially so with
regard to the issues of
immigration and
refugees.
Migration has
accelerated to
dramatic
proportions due
to
several
factors:
increased
mobility;
the
widening
wealth
gap
between
prosperous
industrialized and
developing
countries,
attracting
many people
from
poorer states
to
leave their
country of
origin in the hope of being
absorbed in
countries that
appear to
offer a better
life;
local and
regional
conflicts; and
political,
religious, and
ideological
persecution and
genocide, displacing
hundreds of thousands of
refugees.
Despite
international
accords defining policies
regarding the
treatment of
refugees
and
migrants, wealthier
countries
alarmed by the number of penniless
migrants
reaching their
borders
have begun to forge policies and take
sometimes
radical
steps to stem the
flow of
migration into their
states.
While
some states
have
tried to
absorb these
desperate
newcomers and to exploit their potential for the
workforce,
other
countries
have
erected
fences and
walls, and
employ
detention centers and
armed ships to keep
refugees,
asylum seekers and those seeking
work
from
entering
their
space.
The
phenomenon of
immigration is
often met with
resistance,
usually
bottom-
up
because the
effects
are
felt by the individual
citizen with
whom the
immigrants
compete for
employment and
resources.
For
young
refugees and
immigrants, higher
education
may
offer a
significant
tool for possible equal
integration in a
pluralistic
world
where
many
different ethnic |
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