Higher Education Admission Process for Immigrant and Refugee Students: A Systematic Review

Authors

  • Efrén Alvarado Cevallos Faculdade de Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9610-5194
  • Enrickson Varsori Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Univrsidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal/Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8875-9278
  • Alexandre Anselmo Guilherme Centro de Internacionalização da Educação Brasil-Austrália, Escola de Humanidades, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4578-1894

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.5711

Keywords:

refugee students, immigrant students, university, affirmative action policies, higher education

Abstract

This paper is a literature review and develops a framework for theoretical understanding of transnational migratory phenomena related to the growth of global displacement and opportunities for entry into higher education by systematizing the literature available in 15 articles. We used PRISMA Scopus Review, a tool specialized in this type of scientific production, and Ryyan, the free information processing program, which is widely used in the production of systematic reviews. This is a critical analysis of how the principles of equity operate in institutional admission activities. This paper makes use of the theoretical contributions provided by Scott’s (2004) institutional theory, considering the relationship between academic integration materialized in institutional provisions, with an impact on the lives of students in the context of forced mobilization, by implying social, cultural and political determinations that influence the way discourses are conceptualized and constructed (Scott, 2004). It is argued that these equity constructs have an impact on the materialization of policies related to social justice organized politically by states. The article discusses how standardized institutional policies and practices to evaluate the construction of applications and standards of access and equity end up creating new exclusions for migrants. Institutional arrangements used to meet the educational needs of asylum seekers are critically analysed, highlighting the participation of non-state organizations, in an attempt to generate debate that could lead to more structural changes.

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Author Biographies

Efrén Alvarado Cevallos, Faculdade de Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Efrén Alvarado Cevallos is a master’s student in the Postgraduate Program at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He has a degree in Philosophy and Pedagogy from the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana del Ecuador in Quito, and is a clinical psychologist from the Universidad Central del Ecuador, also in Quito. With experience of working on social phenomena related to human mobility, his area of social research is transnational movements and human displacement resulting from armed conflicts in Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil.

Enrickson Varsori , Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Univrsidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal/Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Enrickson Varsori holds a PhD in Communication Sciences from the University of Minho (2016–2023), a master’s degree in Multimedia Communication from the University of Aveiro (2014–2016) and a degree in Social Communication from the State University of Londrina – Brazil (2009–2012).
He is particularly interested in research on the following topics: the use of hyperconnectivity technologies; the objective and subjective perception of time; and young people’s daily lives. Between 2014 and 2017, he was a member of the Media and Digital Interaction Research Centre at the University of Aveiro, with research related to digital television, in addition to his master’s thesis, which focused on digital technologies. He is currently an academic collaborator at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Alexandre Anselmo Guilherme, Centro de Internacionalização da Educação Brasil-Austrália, Escola de Humanidades, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Alexandre Anselmo Guilherme holds an MA Honours degree in Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh (2001), an MA in Philosophy from the University of St Andrews (2002), a PhD in Philosophy from Durham University (2008) and a post-doctorate from the Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanity, University of Edinburgh (2010). He has worked at the universities of Edinburgh, Durham and Liverpool Hope University. He is a visiting professor at the Faculty of Education of the University of Cambridge, and others such as the University of Maastricht, Universitat Bern, Université de Neuchatel, Universitet i Oslo, Université de Luxembourg and University of Haifa. He often visited the Buber Archives at the National and University Library of Israel and the Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) in Jerusalem, Israel. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Graduate Program in Education at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, working mainly on the following topics: education and violence and education and dialogue.

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Published

2024-12-20

How to Cite

Alvarado Cevallos, E., Varsori , E., & Guilherme, A. A. . (2024). Higher Education Admission Process for Immigrant and Refugee Students: A Systematic Review. Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies, 11(2), e024020. https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.5711