Seekers after a place in society

Refugees are perhaps the most neglected and most unfairly treated group in higher education debates. It would be easy to condemn the sector but that would be unhelpful in preparing the ground for a positive agenda for the future.

The level of qualifications of many refugees and asylum-seekers (more and more asylum-seekers are being granted exceptional leave to remain, rather than refugee status) is often high. While they may be destitute financially and emotionally, many have left their countries midway through important careers and bring with them a wealth of expertise.

The Home Office acknowledged the wastage of their skills in a 1995 study of the settlement patterns in Britain. However, within the context of higher education in Britain, refugees and asylum-seekers have had little impact. Despite some indications that certain groups, such as Bosnians, may get special treatment, provision for refugees has generally been limited to orientation and language courses at further education colleges. The main source of support has been from organisations outside the education sector such as the Refugee Council and the North London Training and Enterprise Council. Despite their equal opportunity policies, higher education institutions have given only limited attention to the specific case of refugees. Those refugees and asylum-seekers who manage to get into the higher education system do so blindly, based on their own perceptions and expectations rather than objective facts. Many waste time and money starting their career again when they should be able to carry on where they left off.

As a society we have allowed these people into Britain so it must be our responsibility to ensure as smooth an integration into society as possible. Higher education is a critical part of that process. To exclude refugees from the system is not only unfair but is wasteful, depriving the teaching sector of an invaluable resource in the field of educating refugee children. The mental and sometimes physical agony that accompanies the resettlement process for refugees is particularly acute for children. Tailoring teacher training courses specially to refugees is one obvious step that could be taken to provide such children with educators who can relate to their background and experiences.

At the most basic level, there ought to be an overall acknowledgement of the existence of refugees and asylum-seekers as prospective students, their special suffering, and the great potential of their contribution. They need to be recognised as a separate category for policy and action, not subsumed under the umbrella of ethnic minorities.

Cultural and linguistic barriers should not be equated with lack of intelligence. They should be responded to by way of special access/foundation courses and ongoing support throughout the period of studies, on a personal as well as an academic level. Alternative ways of measuring the applicants' skills and expertise should make up for a common lack of evidence of educational and professional qualifications, for people often flee their countries without all their documents.

If the commitment is there, working out strategies to support refugees and asylum-seekers is possible. Difficulties, however, soon become apparent. Higher education institutions have a number of constraints, most notably financial ones. Such constraints are likely to make both extra provision and special treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers improbable. Individual institutions may be in a position to make some provision but such efforts are inadequate considering the numbers involved.

Thus central action is necessary. There have been special initiatives for minority ethnic teachers and students with special needs. The same could be done for refugees to enable access and special on-course provision for refugees as full-time or part-time students. There is a need for a national policy that is based on more comprehensive consideration of the issues relating to refugees within an international context. The emphasis in Western countries is more often than not on the "problems" refugees and asylum-seekers supposedly cause. At the very least a broad overview should consider resettlement in this country and the development of strategies to minimise suffering and maximise progress.

Funding is now perhaps the biggest issue being debated in higher education. Allocation of funds for refugees - as contributors rather than receivers - must be made a priority. Not to do so would be short-sighted; bringing refugees into the higher education system would be the first step in the process of integrating them into society as a whole.

Sneh Shah is director of the centre for equality issues in education at the University of Hertfordshire and the author of Going for Higher Education - A Guide for Asylum-Seekers.