ICMCEUROPE WelcometoEurope.pdf (5.89 MB)

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Chapter VII – Building a New Life in the Community
permanent residence is not made immediately
available to resettled refugees,
such as in Germany or Denmark, the
entitlement to access education may be
practically impeded where the length of
the temporary status is less than that of
the chosen course or does not meet the
requirements of student funding assistance
schemes.
National resettlement placement
policies can affect how far individual
refugees are able to pursue further
education or attendance at university.
Where housing is provided some distance
from universities or educational
institutions, resettled refugees must
consider travelling long distances or
delaying entry until they can move to a
different part of the country.
In the Netherlands, the Foundation
for Refugee Students (UAF) supports
refugees to access higher education
by providing advice, information and
assistance with tuition fees and living
expenses. UAF works with the Central
Agency for the Reception of Asylum
Seekers (COA) and several municipalities
to identify refugees wishing
to pursue university education during
resettlement selection, and provide
housing for them near Dutch universities.
While locating housing in bigger
cities where universities are has proved
challenging, UAF has been successful in
sourcing housing in smaller ‘satellite’
towns close to university cities.
Universities generally require prospective
students from overseas to
demonstrate their proficiency in the
language of study. At a national level,
different specialist language qualifications
are implemented for particular
professional courses, particularly
those related to medicine. Integration
programmes generally provide basic
and intermediate language-learning
only, and resettled refugees, like
other refugee and migrant groups,
can struggle to access the advanced
or specialist language tuition they
need to meet university entrance
requirements.
In addition to language proficiency, recognition
of former qualifications is also
a central issue for a refugee’s access to
higher education. Many refugees will
not have access to the certificates or
other documents that confirm their
former study and, for those that do,
having qualifications recognised can
be a time-consuming and challenging
process. Where qualifications are not
available or recognised, or are recognised
at lower than equivalent level
in the resettlement country, refugees
may need to complete foundation or
pre-university qualifications.
4.3. Health
Health and wellbeing are key components
and outcomes of successful
integration. In resettlement, accurate