The condition of refugees in higher education is gaining more and more attention, however, despite many initiatives being created and promoted in the Global North, refugees in academia still face numerous challenges (Lambrechts 2020, Kalocsányiová et al. 2022), starting with the difficulties universities encounter in collecting data on this specific group of students (Brunner et al. 2024). Still, universities have the potential to do much to foster a real inclusion of refugees in the higher education system (Ager and Strang 2008, Sontag 2021): higher education institutions have a social and moral responsibility (Rundell et al. 2018, Piazza and Rizzari 2019, Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia et al. 2021, Berg 2023, De Maria et al. 2023) to serve the public good (Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia et al. 2021), as social agents with the final aim of creating a better world (Rundell et al. 2018). For refugees, the academic world can be a space of freedom after much suffering (Arar et al. 2020), and hopefully also a space of psycho-social well-being (Jack et al. 2019): education brings daily structured activity and purpose, and its normalising routine has a therapeutic value (Elwyn et al. 2012). To achieve this, it is essential to keep in mind that access to education is a human right and, consequently, ‘shifting from the traditional approach of charity to a restorative lens of humanistic and inclusive perspective while supporting and empowering those who are in need’ (Rundell et al. 2018, 19).
The Inclusion of Refugees and Students at Risk in the Higher Education System: a Literature Review
Elisa Gamba
2025
Abstract
The condition of refugees in higher education is gaining more and more attention, however, despite many initiatives being created and promoted in the Global North, refugees in academia still face numerous challenges (Lambrechts 2020, Kalocsányiová et al. 2022), starting with the difficulties universities encounter in collecting data on this specific group of students (Brunner et al. 2024). Still, universities have the potential to do much to foster a real inclusion of refugees in the higher education system (Ager and Strang 2008, Sontag 2021): higher education institutions have a social and moral responsibility (Rundell et al. 2018, Piazza and Rizzari 2019, Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia et al. 2021, Berg 2023, De Maria et al. 2023) to serve the public good (Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia et al. 2021), as social agents with the final aim of creating a better world (Rundell et al. 2018). For refugees, the academic world can be a space of freedom after much suffering (Arar et al. 2020), and hopefully also a space of psycho-social well-being (Jack et al. 2019): education brings daily structured activity and purpose, and its normalising routine has a therapeutic value (Elwyn et al. 2012). To achieve this, it is essential to keep in mind that access to education is a human right and, consequently, ‘shifting from the traditional approach of charity to a restorative lens of humanistic and inclusive perspective while supporting and empowering those who are in need’ (Rundell et al. 2018, 19).
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