Università degli Studi di Trieste Refugees admission process The experience of the University of Trieste University of Cyprus 7 th International Week 2017 Angela Alessio Università degli Studi di Trieste Ufficio per la Mobilità Internazionale
Migrant flows to Italy TRIESTE 2
The Italian migrants reception in brief Spread reception and welcoming CAS First or extraordinary reception centre SPRAR Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees Municipalities can join SPRAR on a voluntary base 3
Migrants reception in FVG FVG hosts ~5500 refugees and asylum seekers (CAS & SPRAR) 1,8% /Italy in SPRAR system 208 SPRAR places in the provinces TS and GO Hosted in private apartments and one large former military barrack in Gradisca (GO) 4
Italian University admission policy Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (Lisbon Convention, signed 1997) Signed and/or ratified by 55 countries 5
Recognition of qualifications held by refugees, displaced persons and persons in a refugee-like situation Section VII 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 fulfil 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. 6
Procedures for entry, residence and enrolment of foreign/international students for higher education courses in Italy during the 2017-2018 academic year: Higher education institutions are therefore invited, based on their own autonomy and in line with the possibilities afforded by the current legislation to perform recognition of the cycles and periods of study undertaken abroad and of the foreign academic qualifications, with a view to accede to higher education, to proceed with university studies and to gain Italian university qualifications (Art. 2 L. 148/2002), to perform all efforts necessary aimed at establishing procedures and internal mechanisms to evaluate the qualifications of refugees and holders of subsidiary protection, even in those cases where all or part of the relative documents substantiating the academic qualifications are missing. 7
How to deal with it? Verifying credentials might be impossible (personal safety) Lack of standard procedures both in single institutions and at State level Qualifications certify acquired competences competences evaluation Limited number of cases Such approach can be usefull to improve standard evaluation procedures Need of a network for sharing data, best practices and experiences 8
And in practice? Database: information about the education system and school/university Information about the student education from any possible source (student card ) Questionnaire about the student education External support: ENIC-NARIC, Ministry of Foreign affairs Interview: formal and academic (not needed i.c.o. admission test?) Need to improve staff skills in credential evaluation 9
What has UniTS done so far? OLS for refugees Tuition fee exemption Cooperation with associations in charge of asylum seekers reception Courses auditing Student dossier starting from first contact CNVQR - National workgroup on the evaluation of refugees qualifications 10
CNVQR Established 2016, thanks to ENIC-NARIC Italy (CIMEA) ~20 universities Each university designates a group of 3 staff members (1 responsible) Training in credentials evaluation Evaluating single cases in own and other partner universities 11
CNVQR 2 cases: Afghan student, high school, only photocopied qualifications, applying to Medicine Kosovan student, graduate, uncertified qualifications, applying to MA in Diplomacy and International cooperation 12
Students were asked to submit whatever proof they had of their qualifications Questionnaire 9 th June: Meeting of the evaluation commission: Training Interview Evaluation Result? CNVQR 13
What else? Develop a standard procedure (is any standard possible with international students?) How to deal with asylum seekers: Need of any kind of registration Access to courses auditing Access to University services (library, canteen) Access to language courses 14
Any advice welcome! Thank you for your attention Angela Alessio angela.alessio@amm.units.it Skype: international.exchange.units Phone: +39 040 558 2569 15
SEE YOU SOON IN TRIESTE! 16
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