SBO project with a primary societal finality: From Camp to Campus: Social Investment in Refugees and Newcomers through Higher Education.

Within the EU, Belgium has one of the largest native-immigrant gaps in
education as well as in the labour market, with low participation of
immigrants in higher education, high unemployment and inactivity rates
and a severe ‘brain waste’ among the employed immigrants. Refugees
in particular are in a vulnerable position due to forced migration and
interrupted careers. In Belgium, traditional integration strategies have
not been adapted for qualified refugees and newcomers (R&N). The
need for better integration policies has become even more pressing
with the crisis in Ukraine that has resulted in a large inflow of skilled and
qualified refugees into Flanders. There are strong (demographic,
economic, and budgetary) arguments for a far-reaching policy shift visà-
vis medium and high educated immigrants in general and R&N in
particular: a shift towards a genuine social investment approach. Higher
education represents a typical example of such a social investment.
The research aim of “From Camp to Campus” is to develop a strong
theoretical foundation and to provide the empirical base for the
innovative ‘social investment approach’ in R&N through higher
education. The project is divided into 6 work packages: WP1 provides
theoretical underpinnings of the social investment strategy on investing
in higher education for R&N; WP2 presents a ‘socio-economic case’ for
this investment by estimating the returns on investment in full
education programmes as well as shortened trajectories; WP3 maps and
analyses the aspirations, careers, obstacles, needs and experiences of
R&N in Flemish HE; WP4 assesses the accessibility and quality of
supporting services for R&N in higher education. WP5 provides
implications for policy and practice by translating the findings of the
previous WPs into specific recommendations. Tasks of WP6 include the
general coordination of the project. This project will use mixed
methods, with direct participation of R&N in the research process.