REFUGEES WELCOME! – GEORG-AUGUST-UNIVERSITAT GOTTINGEN |
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Location/geographical coverage |
University of Georg-August of Gottingen, Germany |
Background and description |
The university of Gottingen has a multicultural student body with a total of 3380 international students[1] who are engaged in teaching, academia and research, representing the 12% of students. To support the inclusion of refugees and people with a migrant background, the university implements different services:
In the Multi Con Text workshops and in academic writing partnerships, the teaching languages are German and/or English. While, in the other workshops, the language of instruction is German and students should have at least a level B2. The workshops focus on writing in multilingual contexts meaning that they address, for instance, how to deal with writing in a language different from the one in which you are reading texts or taking notes.
Along with these services, the university encourages and supports initiatives offered by other students, such as:
As part of the tutoring programme they offer, one student and one refugee meet once a week and the student helps with the German language and homework.
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Stakeholders and Partners |
The stakeholder involved in the service include:
Furthermore, representatives of the Student Services Centre and the City and District of Göttingen are participating as well as are volunteer students from initiatives who provide support on legal matters, language learning and intercultural exchanges during mutual activities. The beneficiaries of the service are refugee students at university independently from their country of origin. |
Methodological Approach |
The initiative is coordinated and managed by the Refugees Task Forcebringing together all locally relevant stakeholders who deal with refugees. İt was established as an initiative in reaction to the diverse group of refugees arriving in Göttingen. It is designed to provide a forum for sharing information about all activities revolving around the subject of refugee integration and meets at irregular intervals. The task force is further divided into four working groups examinating and working on the different aspects of how the inclusion of refugees on the Göttingen Campus work:
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Validation |
In both cases, the students highlight how the services provided by the university supported them throughout their studies. Being able to access extra-training and information on aspects related not only to their academic studies, but on the community they are living in has further supported their inclusion and helped them in accessing other services available in the territory. |
Innovation potential |
The practice provides refugee students with a number of services that are not only strictly related to their academic studies. This aspect allows to provide a wider support in terms of social inclusion in the community where the university operates and the students live. For instance, providing laboratories in which they can learn how to write academic papers and what elements to take into consideration when doing so, it is a way to fosters skills that can be used also in other contexts and that are a valuable resource for their entire academic path. |
Success Factors |
One of the main success factors of this practice is the capacity to involve the whole community, not only at university level but also the organisations active in the town. The university provides some of the services outlined, but favours also the engagement of associations of current and former students as well as organisations working in the territory to favour the inclusion of refugees and migrants. At the same time, this allows to provide a support that goes behind academic related challenges and barriers. Among the services provided, there are also ones related to support in legal matters, bureaucratic procedures, psychosocial inclusion, etc. Furthermore, the participation of the City and District of Göttingen is another element of success of the practice. Having the support of local institutions has allowed the university to develop an inclusive community for refugee students also outside its buildings. In this way, it is favoured also their inclusion in the society and in the labour market. |
Constrains |
Through the desk research, it was not possible to identify the main challenges and constraints met by the university in developing and providing the services included in this practice. |
Lessons learned |
Providing a variety of services that can support refugee students in different aspects of their life is one of the most important elements of this practice. This is possible thanks to the participation and cooperation of different stakeholders in the territory, both in terms of typology of actor and of issues tackled by them. By working together under different aspects, these actors are able to provide a comprehensive support to the refugee community in Göttingen. |
Sustainability |
It is not possible to retrieve data on the cost/efficiency of this practice as this information is not available online. On the implementation sustainability, it should be underlined once again the importance of the partnership composed by different actors that are able to address different aspects that might prevent the academic and social inclusion of refugees. |
Replicability and/or up-scaling potential |
The first step to be done for the replication of the practice should be to contact and reach the local authorities in order to identify the actors and strategies that should be put in place to create a bridge between the university and the wider society. This will allow to develop services that take into consideration the specificities and needs of the territory. From this initial collaboration and analysis, it will be possible to develop and put in place the kind of services that are needed in the specific context. The other important aspect to take into consideration is to involve the student community, including associations that can offer collateral services to ones offered by the university. At the same time, it will increase the awareness of other students on the importance of taking actions and being supportive towards fellow students. |
Conclusion |
Through the information gathered and the experiences from refugee students, it is possible to say that the comprehensive approach used in this practice has mostly impacted who benefitted of it. The kind of services provided can serve as an input to other institutions for the development of initiatives that can foster the inclusion and participation of refugee students in higher education. As mentioned in previous session, refugee students have the opportunity to be involved in activities and get access to services enhancing their capacities to fully participate to academic and social life. |
Contact details |
Anke Anwand Email: gefluechtetenarbeit@uni-goettingen.de Phone: +49 551 39-27775 Contact information available on the website |
URL of the practice Reference document |
[1]Data retrieved from the university webpage on 15th of June 2022. https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/540426.html
[2]It is an association of over 400 universities, research institutions and other scientific organisations in 39 countries working together to support scientists and scholars threatened by repression. The network thusaimsatstrengtheningacademicfreedomworldwide.