(Un-)Bordering Universities? Staggered Pathways to Higher Education for Displaced Students in Italy
(Un-)Bordering Universities? Staggered Pathways to Higher Education for Displaced Students in Italy
Monday, 7 July 2025: 11:45
Location: SJES006 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
Oral Presentation
Thriving on the growing literature on refugee participation in higher education (HE), this contribution sheds light on the institutional opportunity structure by examining how universities problematize and redefine social, juridical, and educational boundaries that characterize the participation of displaced students in HE. In doing so, the paper argues that universities are not just educational providers, but also key (un-)bordering actors as they actively shape these dynamics of in-exclusion through dedicated policies, practices, and narratives, defined here as ‘bordering practices’. The focus is on Italy, a context whose increasing sensitivity towards displaced students has yet to be thoroughly examined by dedicated research.
Specifically, the paper inquires how Italian universities create obstacles and opportunities for displaced students by delving into the heterogeneity of dedicated institutional provisions implemented by 12 public universities in 2015-2023. More than 160 documents and 50 semi-structured interviews with academic and administrative staff were collected.
Data reveals two important aspects. Firstly, universities create staggered pathways of inclusion, where displaced students face various difficulties at different stages of their academic careers, starting from the selection phase. Secondly, bordering practices occur along three main dimensions of inequalities: geographical, symbolic, and social. First, universities act as gatekeepers in crossing political borders, determining who is granted access to education based on legal and administrative borders (geographical dimension). Second, each university provision establishes different selection criteria according to citizenship, educational level, or migration trajectory, thus creating multiple categories of displaced students (symbolic dimension). Third, universities also influence the broader academic inclusion of displaced students with the presence or absence of dedicated services and support, which are often provision-based (social dimension). Overall, although showing sensitivity towards forced migration, the (un-)bordering practices implemented by Italian universities also create new lines of inequalities between displaced students themselves, directly impacting their educational trajectories.
Specifically, the paper inquires how Italian universities create obstacles and opportunities for displaced students by delving into the heterogeneity of dedicated institutional provisions implemented by 12 public universities in 2015-2023. More than 160 documents and 50 semi-structured interviews with academic and administrative staff were collected.
Data reveals two important aspects. Firstly, universities create staggered pathways of inclusion, where displaced students face various difficulties at different stages of their academic careers, starting from the selection phase. Secondly, bordering practices occur along three main dimensions of inequalities: geographical, symbolic, and social. First, universities act as gatekeepers in crossing political borders, determining who is granted access to education based on legal and administrative borders (geographical dimension). Second, each university provision establishes different selection criteria according to citizenship, educational level, or migration trajectory, thus creating multiple categories of displaced students (symbolic dimension). Third, universities also influence the broader academic inclusion of displaced students with the presence or absence of dedicated services and support, which are often provision-based (social dimension). Overall, although showing sensitivity towards forced migration, the (un-)bordering practices implemented by Italian universities also create new lines of inequalities between displaced students themselves, directly impacting their educational trajectories.