Beyond Access: Building the Resilience of South Sudanese Refugee Higher Education Students from the Bidi Bidi Settlement, Uganda
Abstract
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), set a global target of 15 percent enrolment of refugees, in higher education, by 2030. Relatedly, UNHCR stated that beyond access, higher education should build individual and collective resilience of refugee students. This paper looks at the support mechanisms various stakeholders use, to build the resilience of South Sudanese refugee higher education students, from Bidi Bidi settlement in Uganda. This is within the context of Uganda’s Education Response (ERP) for refugees and host communities. The study adopted a qualitative approach, an exploratory case study design, and an advocacy/ participatory philosophical lens, using the intersectional theory. Twenty-seven (27) purposively sampled participants took part in the study. They included 12 undergraduates from two private Ugandan universities, a total of 13 government and non-governmental organization (NGO) officials, and two officials from public and private universities, all involved in refugee higher education. Data was collected through a literature review, in-depth interviews with key informants and students, and a students’ focus group discussion. The study established that, within the context of Uganda’s ERP, South Sudanese refugee higher education students have their resilience built through support, mainly from HEIs and NGOs. The support uses multiple approaches and takes place mainly within the HEIs, with a bit in the settlement. However, it is offered within each stakeholder’s context and thus takes on a silo rather than integrated approach. Support also does not always consider the individual and complex student needs. Nevertheless, the support, which is relatively student-centred does register good social and academic resilience. The study therefore recommends that through a situational analysis and needs assessment, Uganda develops clear objectives, activities and outcomes in the ERP, to guide stakeholders, towards strengthening refugee higher education students’ resilience. The study also designed a model towards enhancing student resilience
Downloads
References
Abebe, T, T. (2021). Ethiopia’s refugee response: focus on socio-economic integration and self-reliance. Institute for Security Studies.
Baker, S., Lenette, C., & Ramsay, G. (2019). Students from refugee and asylum-seeker backgrounds and meaningful participation in higher education: From peripheral to fundamental concern. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 21(2): 4-19. https://doi.org/10.5456/WPLL.21.2.4.
Carciotto, S., & Ferraro, F. (2020). Building blocks and challenges for the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees in Africa. The Journal on Migration and Human Security, 21(2): 120-140. https://doi.org/10.1177/2331502420908247.
Carciotto, S., & D’Orsi, C. (2017). Access to socio-economic rights for refugees: A comparison across six African Countries. Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa.
Chaplin, D., Lovell, E., & Twigg, J. (2019). Intersectional approaches to vulnerability reduction and resilience-building. Resilience Intel, 12, 1- 35. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.13404.03209
Chow, P. Y. S. (2016). Has Intersectionality Reached its Limits? Intersectionality in the UN Human Rights Treaty Body Practice and the Issue of Ambivalence. Human Rights Law Review, 16 (2016), 453–481. doi: 10.1093/hrlr/ngw016
Crawford, N., & O’Callaghan, S. (2019). The comprehensive refugee response framework: Responsibility-sharing and self-reliance in East Africa. Overseas Development Institute.
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum.
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design (3rd Ed.). Sage.
Dare, O., & Abebe, A. M. (2018). Regional Solutions and the Global Compact on Refugees: The Experience from Africa. International Journal of Refugee Law, 30 (4), 704–706. doi:10.1093/ijrl/eey063
Détourbe, M., & Goastellec, G. (2018). Revisiting the issues of access to higher education and social stratification through the case of refugees: A comparative study of spaces of opportunity for refugee students in Germany and England. Social Sciences, 7(186): 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7100186.
Devereux, E. (2017). Refugee crisis or humanitarian crisis? Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, 24, Spring, 1- 5. https://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue/issue-24/refugee-crisis-or-humanitarian-crisis
Dryden-Peterson, S. (2016). Refugee education: The crossroads of globalization. Educational Researcher, 45(9): 473-482. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16683398.
Dryden-Peterson, S., Adelmana, E., Alvaradoa, S., Andersona, K., Bellinob, J. M., Brooksa, R., & Suzukia, E. (2018). Inclusion of refugees into national education systems. Paper commissioned for the 2019 global education monitoring report, migration, displacement and education: Building bridges, not walls. UNESCO.
European Union. (2020). Communication from the commission to the European parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions action plan on integration and inclusion 2021-2027. European Union.
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. (2018). Ethiopia country refugee response plan: The integrated response plan for refugees from Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, January- December 2018. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Global Platform for Syrian Students. (2020). Higher education in emergencies: On the road to 2030. International Conference on Higher Education in Emergencies, April, 2018, Lisbon, Portugal.
Grüttner, M., Schröder, S., Berg, J., & Otto, C. (2018). Refugees on their way to German higher education: A capabilities and engagements perspective on aspirations, challenges and support. Global Education Review, 5(4): 115-135.
Hakami, A. (2016). Education is our weapon for the future: Access and non-access to higher education for refugees in Nakivale refugee settlement, Uganda. [Masters Dissertation, University of Stavanger]. University of Stavanger.
Intergovernmental Authority on Development. (2017a). Djibouti Declaration on Regional Conference on Refugee Education in IGAD Member States, (Adopted on 14 December, 2017). https://www.refworld.org/docid/60a28cea4.html
Jungblut, J., Vukasovic, M., & Steinhardt, I. (2020). Higher education policy dynamics in turbulent times: Access to higher education for refugees in Europe. Studies in Higher Education, 45(2): 327- 338. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1525697.
Kenya Ministry of Education. (2018). National education sector strategic plan for the period 2018–2022. Kenya Ministry of Education.
Kimoga, J., Kibuuka, E., Namuli, P., Namuwaya, E., & Mukalere Nadongo, E. (2015). Refugees and higher education accessibility: Issues of policy and law. British Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science, 10(1): 1- 13. https://doi.org/10.9734/BJESBS/2015/18007.
Kivunja, C., & Kuyini, A.B. (2017). Understanding and applying research paradigms in educational contexts. International Journal of Higher Education, 6(5), 26- 41. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v6n5p26
Korstjens, I., & Moser, A. (2017). Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 4: Trustworthiness and publishing. European Journal of General Practice, 24(1): 120-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/13814788.2017.1375092.
Lambrechts, A. (2020). The super-disadvantaged in higher education: barriers to access for refugee background students in England. High Educ. 80(4), 803–822. doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00515-4
Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(85)90062-8
Maringe, F., Ojo, E., & Chiramba, O. (2017). Traumatized home and away: Toward a framework for interrogating policy–practice disjunctures for refugee students in higher education. European Education, 49(4): 210-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/10564934.2017.135245.
McCann, G. (2017) Migration and public policy in a fragmenting European Union, Policy & practice: A development education review. 24, Spring, 104-125.
Nambi, R., Najjuma, R., & Gallagher, M. (2023). Integrating refugee students into Ugandan higher education: Language, othering and everyday enactments of participation. Research in Comparative and International Education, 18(4), 600- 619. https://doi.org/10.1177/17454999231185647
Republic of Uganda. (2006). Refugees Act. 4 August 2006. http://www.judiciary.go.ug/files/downloads/Act%20No.%2021of%202006%20Refugees%20Act2006.pdf.
Republic of Zambia. (2019). Implementing a comprehensive refugee response: the Zambia experience. Republic of Zambia.
Stoeber, H. (2019). Higher education for third-country national and refugee integration in Southern Europe. International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Tamrat, W., & Habtemariam, D. (2020). The quest for refugee higher education in Ethiopia: The case of self-financing Eritreans. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 21(2): 120-140. https://doi.org/10.5456/WPLL.21.2.120.
Thomas, M. (2017). Turning the comprehensive refugee response framework into reality. Forced Migration Review, 56: 69-72. https://www.fmreview.org/latinamerica- caribbean/thomas.
Tobin, G. A., & Begley, C. M. (2004). Methodological rigour within a qualitative framework. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 48, 388– 396. doi:10.1111/j.1365- 2648.2004.03207.x
Tulibaleka, P. O. (2022). Refugee education: Refugees’ perceptions of educational challenges in Uganda. International Journal of Educational Administration and Policy Studies. 4(1), 38- 45. DOI: 10.5897/IJEAPS2022.0729
Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports. (2018). Education response plan for refugees and host communities in Uganda (2018–2021). Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports.
Uganda National Council for Higher Education. (2019). A report on higher education delivery and institutions. Uganda National Council for Higher Education
UN General Assembly. (2016). New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants: resolution / adopted by the General Assembly, (3 October 2016), A/RES/71/1. https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ceb74a4.html
Unangst, L., & Crea, T, M. (2020). Higher Education for refugees: A need for intersectional research. Comparative Education Review 64(2), 228-248. DOI: 10.1086/708190
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2014). Toward a learning culture of safety and resilience: Technical guidance for integrating disaster risk reduction in the school curriculum. UNESCO.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2019). Global Education Monitoring Report, 2019: Migration, displacement, and education: Building bridges, not walls. UNESCO.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2012). The 2012-2016 Education Strategy. UNHCR.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2019). A strategy for refugee inclusion. UNHCR.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2021). UNHCR Tertiary Education Strategy: 15by30 target – achieving 15% enrolment of refugee learners in higher education by 2030. UNHCR.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2022a). The Regional Refugee Response Plans: Ten years of coordinated action in support of refugees. UNHCR.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2024). Uganda – population dashboard as of March 2024. https://data.unhcr.org/en/country/uga
Wang, J. (2009). A study of resiliency characteristics in the adjustment of international graduate students at American universities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(1), 22- 45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315307308139
World Bank. (2021). The global cost of inclusive refugee education. World Bank.
Yin, R.K. (2014). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (5th ed.). Sage.
Yuval-Davis, N. (2006). Intersectionality and feminist politics. European Journal of Women’s Studies 13(3), 193– 210. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350506806065752
Copyright (c) 2024 Christine Semambo Sempebwa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
