By Lisa Unangst, Ishara Casellas Connors, and Kerri Evans
With a record 100 million people forcibly displaced worldwide as of 2022 (UN News 2023), many nations are developing measures to support displaced learners at the higher education level. A definitive statistic on displaced learners within the United States does not exist. However, data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (2016) capture trends in flows of refugees, asylees, Special Immigrant Visa holders, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, parolees, and others seeking or holding humanitarian protection. These data indicate that nearly one-third of individuals completed secondary school before resettlement, but less than 8 percent are pursuing postsecondary education in the United States.
Higher education institutions (HEIs) develop innovative short- and long-term initiatives to support displaced learners. These initiatives are differentiated based on resources, legal protections available to displaced people, and the (de)centralization of higher education systems and span teaching, research, and service functions. Given that displacement will continue to proliferate in the midst of continued economic, security, and climate challenges, there is an ever-increasing need to investigate and develop systems to support displaced individuals with a range of lived experiences. Cultivating HEIs that are supportive of the diverse population of displaced learners requires engagement with iterative policy and program development—incorporating a participatory approach and ongoing feedback from the broader community of policy actors, rather than policy “targets,” as discussed by Turner and Figueroa (2019)—to address this vital human rights issue.
Some authors—not all of whom are focused on the U.S. setting—have argued that relevant work at the higher education level reflects new kinds of internationalization: one driven by humanitarian aims (Streitwieser et al. 2018) or as a response to crisis termed “forced internationalization” (Ergin et al. 2019). Moreover, intersectional approaches considering displacement as a salient experience or identity continue to emerge, with models such as Rhode Island College’s Office of International, Immigrant, Undocumented, DACAmented, and Refugee Student Services offering an important example. In parallel, the extant U.S.-focused research is sparse though growing. In the context of displaced learners’ access to U.S. higher education, our aim here is to: 1) briefly consider whether the existing definition of internationalization of higher education applies in the case of HEIs responding to displacement and 2) highlight promising practices across the formal, informal, and hidden curricula.
A New Type of Internationalization
Internationalization has been defined in several ways. Knight (2003) proposed that it may be understood as “the process of integrating international, intercultural, and global dimensions into the goals, primary functions and delivery of higher education at the institutional and national levels.” De Wit and Hunter (2015) extend this, suggesting that internationalization be understood as intentional and that it be ought to be pursued “in order to enhance the quality of education and research for all students and staff and to make a meaningful contribution to society,” a normative expansion of the earlier definition. In turn, Streitwieser et al. (2018) have proposed that a humanitarian rationale is at play with respect to current trends in internationalization. Ergin et al. (2019) expanded this proposal suggesting a new kind of internationalization called “forced internationalization,” which further underscores the need to be “intentional, strategic” and “addresses the three core functions of universities: teaching, research, and service.” However, a new definition for internationalization has recently been offered by Savo Heleta and Samia Chasi (2023), who assert that it is “a critical and comparative process of the study of the world and its complexities, past and present inequalities and injustices, and possibilities for a more equitable and just future for all. Through teaching, learning, research and engagement, internationalisation fosters epistemic plurality and integrates critical, antiracist, anti-hegemonic learning about the world from diverse global perspectives to enhance the quality and relevance of education.”
Whether the definition of internationalization is normative or descriptive, tactical or strategic, we echo the call of Tran et al. (2023) to center the human in processes and policies around internationalization and consider specific models that do just that. Evans, Perez-Aponte, and McCoy (2020), for example, have explained the benefits of school-community partnerships in helping immigrant students because schools can utilize the tailored knowledge of immigrant-serving organizations to provide services without having to develop new programming alone; this values the learner, the community member, and the educator as humans with human capacities and rights.
Establishing an Intentional and Cohesive Response to Displacement
In light of profound policy and service gaps across U.S. HEIs, the contours of internationalization as related to displacement are not defined or consistent. In fact, HEI responses toward displacement lean towards the ad hoc, time limited, and fragmented (Casellas Connors et al. 2023; Mihirig 2022). HEIs have approached displacement very differently, typically without employing a participatory approach or acknowledging the intersections of displacement and the U.S. settler-colonial context. Indeed, many HEIs have not engaged with displacement at all, and other, more recent displacement initiatives that have been put in place (e.g., mentorship initiatives, such as at the University of Texas-Austin, and ongoing community engagement initiatives, such as at Bates College) are not generally connected to internationalization plans, supported by centralized offices, or provided with new funding streams. A few initiatives are more long term, including programs to deal with trauma and conflict, such as at Harvard University, and the Afghan Women’s Education Project, which Arizona State University has operated since 2021. In lieu of a centralized, cohesive expansion of dedicated resources or pursuit of new fiscal supports, institutions tend to offer a constellation of siloed programs responding to displacement (Unangst et al. 2022). While individual programs in operation may themselves be intentional, strategic alignment of response to displacement is lacking.
Engagement with displacement, while not new, indicates one way that HEIs make a meaningful contribution to society. Some HEIs and state systems have adopted an international, intercultural, and global dimension into their delivery of education given refugee, asylee, etc. inflows in recent years (Casellas Connors et al. 2023). Despite recent calls for a renewed commitment to support displaced learners, however, HEIs continue to be challenged by institutional structures, such as degree verification, that serve as significant structural obstacles for displaced learners (Loo 2021). Importantly, reconsidering the purpose of higher education in light of displacement remains urgent work for the higher education community. Establishing an intentional and cohesive response to displacement that draws upon best practices in internationalization and equity is key to long-term efforts to address the current inequitable engagement of displaced learners. Long-term, sustainable interventions must be considered to address the reality that displacement is permanent and has implications for individuals and the communities that serve this population.
Displacement and Promising Practice(s)
The framework of Internationalization of the Curricula (IoC), which is sometimes also called “curriculum internationalization” (Leask 2015), can be engaged to present promising programs and areas for growth. IoC focuses on elements of higher education internationalization apart from physical mobility and spans the formal, informal, and hidden curricula (Leask 2015; Clifford and Montgomery 2015). “Curricula” here is understood expansively and encompasses higher education practices apart from what is included on a course syllabus or departmental or university website, such as comprehensive exam formats, dress codes, and access to summer opportunities. Moreover, IoC spans teaching, research, and service—all of which engage learners to support their preparation for citizenship and professional practice. Institutional practices and policies reverberating across these spaces are not value free; instead, they reflect dominant paradigms as well as institutional, local, and national specificities. Considering formal, informal, and hidden policies helps to clarify both the promise of existing initiatives and indications for future program development.
A variety of existing U.S. HEI initiatives address the formal, informal, and hidden curricula. This includes (formal) admission policy. At Minnesota’s Macalester College, for example, the admissions website hosts a separate page outlining its policy for displaced learners. This work is guided by the 2016 establishment of the Committee for Refugee Student Access, which collaborates as a student-led group with campus constituents to “modify policies and attitudes in order to make the application process more accessible and to promote a more supportive environment on campus for refugee and displaced students.” The admissions page for displaced students begins with the assertion that the college “welcomes all students who have experienced the effects of displacement to apply and will ensure applications are given full consideration regardless of their official status.” These formal administrative policies make institutional priorities public.
Not-for-credit orientation programs represent part of the informal curriculum. A number of community colleges across the country offer educational orientation programs aimed at adult refugees; Central Piedmont Community College is one such example. At Bowdoin College, an orientation program option invites students to “get a jumpstart acquainting yourself with the communities nearest to Bowdoin and exploring the issues that they face. Participants in this program will learn about the immigrant and refugee populations in the Midcoast region, particularly in Portland, and the organizations that are working to serve them.” Programs such as these are important in that they recognize the range of groups that have worked over the long term alongside displaced communities with different national origins, languages, etc. and underscore that there is a need and potential for extended engagement as well as participatory work.
In a paper focused on HEIs employing chief diversity officers, Unangst et al. (2022) found that three of the institutional diversity statements—from Houston Community College, Saint Louis University, and Polk State College—produced by 238 institutions reviewed were available in languages other than English, including Arabic, Haitian Creole, German, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The authors argued that given a rich literature on the need for key institutional documents to be available in multiple languages in accordance with the linguistic preferences of the student body, this finding indicates promising work at public and private institutions that can be taken up by other HEIs. While these promising practices indicate an attention to participatory campus programming that engages constituents to ensure transparent program development, there remains the need for further work on making institutional websites and documents accessible to linguistically diverse stakeholders, including displaced groups.
Building an Intentional, Cohesive, and Quality-Focused Response
The following recommendations outline how HEIs can better support displaced learners by building an intentional, cohesive, and quality-focused response:
- Engage the teaching, research, and service functions of the college or university to underscore and support the institution’s existing and future engagement(s) with displaced groups. HEIs might consider hosting communitywide convenings with all relevant stakeholders.
- Emphasize a transparent feedback loop and participatory approach, drawing from existing work on campus climate and the settler-colonial U.S. context.
- Consider existing models for effective internationalization (such as utilizing IoC) as a space through which to engage with displacement.
- Prioritize long-term engagements with existing refugee, asylee, and TPS-focused groups in the local area. Every Campus a Refuge has developed an open-access map identifying those organizations across the country.
Conclusion
In light of shrinking public funding, increasing politicization of immigration and displacement, and declining tertiary enrollments, higher education practitioners looking to build intentional and cohesive responses serving displaced learners should consider how the lived experiences and assets of these populations intersect with other communities. Further, while there are certainly humanitarian rationales at play, there are many drivers of HEI engagement in this space and insufficient research to claim that the existing models and previous understandings of internationalization accurately consider displaced populations. We underscore that the disjointed, piecemeal nature of HEI response(s) to displacement in the U.S. setting cannot in any real sense be described as intentional, cohesive, or quality focused; it is not aligned with internationalization’s “founding” definitions. Furthermore, we are not aware of a single HEI or state-level case study that exists that tracks displaced learner success at the tertiary level over time. Thus, increased research activity at HEI, state, and federal levels that is funded by public and private sector stakeholders is needed.
Several promising policies intended to foreground the needs of displaced learners are underway at the state and federal levels. Kentucky’s recently launched Humanitarian Assistance Scholarship is one example. Further, the U.S. State Department, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has recently announced the formation of the Welcome Corps, an opportunity for campus stakeholders to sponsor refugees. Rigorous evaluations of these programs will provide evidence for policy actors and practitioners on how to expand these practices. While we problematize the assertion that the current research allows for a modification of the internationalization model, we point towards promising practices and simultaneously advocate for HEIs to engage with internationalization and displacement concurrently, working to address the needs of displaced learners in an intentional and quality-focused manner. This moment represents an opportunity for higher education practitioners to catalyze human-centered internationalization on their campuses and beyond, working to cultivate opportunities for displaced learners within the context of international education.
References
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Lisa Unangst, PhD, is an assistant professor of higher education at Empire State University. Unangst’s research focuses on how displaced learners access and experience higher education; comparative constructions of “diversity” and “equity” across higher education institutions and systems; and international alumni affairs. Previously, Unangst worked at Ohio University and Ghent University.
Ishara Casellas Connors, PhD, is an assistant professor of public service and public administration at Texas A&M University. Her research examines issues related to racial equity in U.S. higher education policy, considering several facets, including Hispanic Serving Institutions, institutional policy, and displaced learners. Casellas Connors has a diverse background in higher education administration and in diversity and equity policy, having previously served as associate director for the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University and as assistant dean for diversity at Texas A&M University’s College of Geosciences.
Kerri Evans, PhD, is an assistant professor of social work at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, where her research focuses on agency-engaged projects related to the well-being of immigrants. Much of Evans’s research focuses on immigrants within the context of the U.S. educational system and ways to establish a sense of welcome for new immigrant families. Evans is a licensed social worker, and she previously worked in nonprofits with immigrant and refugee children.