THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION: STUDY RIGHTS, ELIGIBILITY AND TUITION FEES Leasa Weimer EAIE Knowledge Development Adviser December 13, 2016 Slide 1
Content Introduction: who is a migrant student in Finland? Tuition fees around Europe Asylum seekers & higher education o Innovative practices Conclusion December 30, 2016 Slide 2
Part 1 INTRODUCTION December 30, 2016 Slide 3
Who is a migrant student in Finland? Migrant= Council of Europe: any person who lives temporarily or permanently in a country where he or she was not born, and has acquired some significant social ties to this country. (Council of Europe) UN Commission on Human Rights: (a) Persons who are outside the territory of the State of which their are nationals or citizens, are not subject to its legal protection and are in the territory of another State; (b) Persons who do not enjoy the general legal recognition of rights which is inherent in the granting by the host State of the status of refugee, naturalised person or of similar status; (c) Persons who do not enjoy either general legal protection of their fundamental rights by virtue of diplomatic agreements, visas or other agreements Who is a migrant student in Finland? EU students (free movement within EU)? Non-EU students Self-funded international degree student Funded international degree student (Erasmus Mundus, home country scholarships, etc.) Asylum-seeker, refugee, undocumented Exchange students? December 30, 2016 Slide 4
Part 2 Tuition December 30, 2016 Slide 5
Theoretical considerations 1.) Knowledge as commodity: Higher education as a commodity: governmental reforms reorient universities towards economic productivity and reposition higher education as a global commodity (Naidoo, 2007). International students=tuition= economic productivity
Theoretical considerations: 2.) Student as consumer: The neoliberal agenda perpetuates the idea that international students are consumers (Britez & Peters, 2010). Implications: More accountability? More demand for quality? More assessment (student surveys)? More demand for services? Value for money? Branding & marketing? Students as active consumers : co-creation of curriculum, classroom dynamics, etc.
Theoretical considerations 3.) Competition fetish: Policies are enacted to promote, control, and maximize returns from market forces in international settings while abandoning some of the core discourses and functions of the welfare state (Naidoo, 2011, 41).
Why introduce tuition fees for international students? 1.) Revenue: knowledge as commodity o Australia: 3 rd largest export o Yet, the question remains whether or not international students are truly a new revenue stream or if the revenue is simply a cost-recovery for the additional marketing, branding, and administrative capacity that universities incur when entering the international student market (Knight, 2004). o Approximate cost of HE studies per year (Finland): ~ 7000 (CIMO, 2015) o 2017 Tuition fees o University of Helsinki: 13,000-18,000 o University of Jyväskylä 8,000-12,000 o JAMK: 8,000 Bachelors/ 9,000 Masters
Why compete? (cont.) 2.) Brain power: labor market & knowledge economy o Buying Talent: scholarship schemes 3.) Reputation: Competition fetish o Prestige: World Class o International proxy for Quality o Rankings: League tables December 30, 2016 Slide 10
Part 3 Asylum seekers/refugees & European higher education December 30, 2016 Slide 11
Research What are the educational needs of asylum seekers/refugees? Hellenic Open University, Greece Fieldwork research: what are the educational needs of refugees? Social anthropologist, sociolinguists, interpreters, methodology experts December 30, 2016 Slide 12
Preparatory & bridge courses University of Lausanne, Switzerland Offers preparatory and bridge courses: audit a class before admittance University of Tübingen, Germany Refugee programme Admitted 50 refugees Courses offered: Intensive language, intercultural competencies, living in Germany Opportunity to audit an introduction course in various academic fields Buddy program (with students) and trauma therapy Central European University, Hungary Weekend and semester-long programme: academic tutoring, academic discussions seminars and academic skills, career consultations, English courses, a participatory video-making workshop and a short introduction to life and culture in Hungary December 30, 2016 Slide 13
Qualifications recognition Lisbon recognition convention (LRC) legal text of the EHEA (international agreement=55 signatory states) LRC section VII article VII Recognition of qualifications held by refugees, displaced persons and persons in a refugee-like situation Article VII Each Party shall take all feasible and reasonable steps within the framework of its education system and in conformity with its constitutional, legal, and regulatory provisions to develop procedures designed to assess fairly and expeditiously whether refugees, displaced persons and persons in a refugee-like situation fulfill the relevant requirements for access to higher education, to further higher education programmes or to employment activities, even in cases in which the qualifications obtained in one of the Parties cannot be proven through documentary evidence. December 30, 2016 Slide 14
Specialised admission processes VUB, Belgium online registration for student-refugees is different than the normal direct registration for all students Why? individual screening of each application academic background check (credentials) every student-refugee situation is different December 30, 2016 Slide 15
Scholarships & fee waivers Application fee waiver DAAD Registered refugees can submit university applications to uniassist for a formal review without having to pay the usual fee. Scholarships Scotland University of Glasgow offers Humanitarian Scholarships University of Aberdeen's "Shining Light" scholarship fund covers tuition and accommodation fees for refugees Tuition waiver University of Exeter, UK partial tuition fee waiver for undergraduate asylum seekers December 30, 2016 Slide 16
Exclusionary vs. inclusionary internationalisation Exclusionary internationalisation: more strategic, targeted and exclusive international efforts. Inclusionary internationalisation: collaborative and equality-focused international efforts that facilitate the social responsibility and third mission. (Olson, 2016) The present situation asks us to imagine what inclusive internationalisation looks like as institutions support the integration of this new mobility into European higher education and society. December 30, 2016 Slide 17
Part 4 Conclusion December 30, 2016 Slide 18
References Britez & Peters (2010). Internationalization and the Cosmopolitical University. Policy Futures in Education 8(2). CIMO (2015). What is the cost of education of international students? http://www.cimo.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/cimo/embeds/cimow wwstructure/55457_factsexpress_2b_2015.pdf Naidoo (2007). Higher Education as a Global Commodity: The Perils and Promises for Developing Countries. The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education. 1 February. Naidoo (2011). Rethinking development: Higher Education and the New Imperialism. In King, Marginson & Naidoo (eds.): A Handbook of Globalization and Higher Education. Olson (2016). Imagining internationalisation as a first responder to the new mobility in European higher education. In Weimer (ed.): EAIE Conference Conversation Starter 2016. December 30, 2016 Slide 19