Refugees’ aspirations, attitudes, and experiences of higher education and professional life in Sweden

• For refugees, enrolling in higher education is a means of facilitating integration in a new society. Universities have an important role for enabling integration through widening access and participation for foreign-born persons in need of complementary education or wishing to proceed with tertiary education. The purpose of this research is to investigate refugees’ aspirations, attitudes and experiences of higher education and professional life on their way to establish themselves in Sweden. Through in-depth interviews, the refugees’ stories constituted a rich source of information, where their voices were analysed according to Boelhower’s (1981) stages of migrant narratives and Akkerman & Bakkers’ (2011) learning mechanisms at the boundary, providing an investigation of the cross-cultural narratives and the learning potential of boundary crossings between cultures. The results show that when migrating to a new country, former education and career need to be re-considered to fit existing conditions. Professional and educational integration processes serve as boundary crossing, where insights were gained by the respondents, who were participating in a new learning context. The refugees expressed the differences in educational cultures as hurdles, but also as experiences that will have a strong impact on their careers. While the university in this study provides a safe space, the transition to work life in combination with linguistic barriers is identified as a main challenge.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Globaliseringsstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Globalisation Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Studier av enskilda språk (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Languages (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Internationell migration och etniska relationer (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- International Migration and Ethnic Relations (hsv//eng)

Keyword

refugee narratives

migration

integration

higher education

widening access

widening participation

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)