Forced migrants in higher education: ‘sanctuary scholarships’ in a hostile environment

Abstract

This paper presents new research that explores how the hostile environment manifests in UK higher education. Our findings highlight the specific challenges encountered by asylum seekers in negotiating access to, and participating fully in, higher education. This group are categorised as international students, rendering them ineligible for student finance to meet the cost of living and university tuition fees in addition to exclusion from mainstream benefits and the labour market. The empirical data generated through a survey of universities, students and support organisations is explored first through the concept of universities as sites of bordering and the original framing of the higher education border. Second, the data is used to picture the state of solidarity at this border, arguing that redistributive solidarity and solidarity as 'standing up beside' are needed, but both require further investment from HEIs. In conclusion, we argue that the hostile environment creates overlapping and intersecting restrictions on these students and that this, amplified by the complex relationship between HEIs and the state, causes a conflict of solidarity between, on the one hand, supporting students and, on the other, eagerly complying with the Home Office.

UK University Initiatives Supporting Forced Migrants

“…Th e state exercises a high degree of interest in, and management of, the relationship between forced migrants and UK higher education; this is unlike other marginalized populations, such as the urban poor, who have experienced a lack of interest, resulting in state withdrawal and abandonment (Povinelli 2011). Th e exclusion of migrants enacted through practices of "everyday bordering" is replicated in the construction of the "higher education border, " evident in the Home Offi ce's extension of immigration controls into UK universities (Murray and Gray 2021;Oliver and Hughes 2018;Yuval-Davis et al 2018. Th e higher education border 3 can be conceived of as comprising multiple layers: relating to "bordering, " explicit legislative exclusions; "ordering, " implicit legislative exclusions; and "othering" through practices that deter HEIs, support agencies, and even forced migrants from pursuing HE studies (Murray 2018;Murray and Gray 2021).…”

“…Th e exclusion of migrants enacted through practices of "everyday bordering" is replicated in the construction of the "higher education border, " evident in the Home Offi ce's extension of immigration controls into UK universities (Murray and Gray 2021;Oliver and Hughes 2018;Yuval-Davis et al 2018. Th e higher education border 3 can be conceived of as comprising multiple layers: relating to "bordering, " explicit legislative exclusions; "ordering, " implicit legislative exclusions; and "othering" through practices that deter HEIs, support agencies, and even forced migrants from pursuing HE studies (Murray 2018;Murray and Gray 2021).…”

“…Noticeably absent from the majority of research is the impact of immigration regimes on experiences while studying in university. Scholarship in this area has a tendency to either fail to diff erentiate between immigration statuses, or to omit the university aspirations of forced migrants with unsettled status or-as is the exclusive focus of this research-considerations of the role played by HEIs and staff operating within them (for exceptions, see Jungblut and Vukasovic 2018;Webb et al 2018;Oliver and Hughes 2018;Murray and Gray 2021). Such scholarship thus refl ects a further defi cit in relation to research that expands its locus of inquiry beyond the immediate experiences of forced migrants.…”

“…An exclusive focus on refugees is a problematic feature of scholarship eligibility criteria, serving to reinforce hierarchies based on immigration status and (in some cases) nationality, but it is a risk-averse strategy in terms of recipients requiring minimal fi nancial investment due to students' eligibility for mainstream funding. Th e recruitment of "ideal" refugees, coupled with inconsistent support, risks producing a range of exclusions that reinforce, as opposed to resist, the higher education border (Murray and Gray 2021).…”

“…Th e hostile environment is responsible for creating fear, uncertainty, and insecurity within the population (Hall 2017;Berg 2018; Wardle and Obermuller 2019), providing the foundations upon which to coerce nonstate actors, such as higher education staff , to operationalize "everyday borders" on behalf of the state. Yuval Davis et al 's (2018, 2019) concept of "everyday" bordering has been extended by Murray (2018;Murray and Gray 2021) to develop a conceptual understanding of bordering practices specifi c to higher education.…”