African Refugee Student Research Report

Diversity Initiative Grant 2007/08 - Report

Susanne Schech: The Educational Challenges of African Refugee Students

Aims and Objectives

This project sought to identify the challenges students with a refugee background in Africa face at FlindersUniversity and the challenges teachers of African refugee students perceive. Based on this analysis the project aimed to assess the strategies and services in place to respond to these challenges, and to establish what support programs might be required, if any.

Outcomes

Focus group interviews with 20students were conducted by Dr Vandra Harris and Tibo Rogers in 2008. Dr Harris also conducted interviews with 10 academic staff members who had experienced students of refugee background. Students were asked to comment generally about their experience at university, the challenges they had encountered in their studies, what supports they had, and what would help them to succeed at university. Staff were asked how they perceived the challenges students of refugee background faced, and how they differed from other students. They were also asked about their response to these challenges and what they found helpful in meeting the specific needs of students of refugee background.

Research findings were as follows:

Students with refugee backgrounds in Africa face several challenges related to English language skills which students felt were affecting their grades. Preparing for classes was also a challenge, with some finding it financially difficult to afford textbooks (particularly those studying sciences). Access to the library and other university based resources was constrained by long hours of commuting from home in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, the inability to afford rental accommodation closer to the campus, and work pressures. A number of students did not have conducive environments at home where family members did not sufficiently understand the university’s expectations for independent study.

While many of these factors were also shared by students of other backgrounds, students of refugee background were also facing specific external pressures related to their cultural communities. Many of these students are very active in their communities, and their status as university students also means that the community has particular expectations of them. Absent family members were also a specific burden on students of refugee background, as most (if not all) have family members still living in Africa under precarious circumstances who required financial support. Many students with refugee backgrounds in Africa thus face a triple burden as students working to support themselves and family members and as members of their communities.

At FlindersUniversity, students felt that most staff had an open and positive attitude to African students, and some went out of their way to be helpful. Only a minority of teaching staff was identified as being unhelpful, but this unhelpful attitude was not interpreted as racist or discriminating. Rather, a lack of understanding was seen to be responsible for teaching practices that students felt hampered their progress, including speaking too quickly, marking aggressively, being impatient with questions, assuming that African students had nothing to contribute in class, and confusing their names with those of other African students.

Support

Studentsrelied mostly on support from peers of similar background in matters related to topic (and tutor) choices, emotional support, and practical matters such as finding materials in the library. They expressed a preference against additional classes such as orientation sessions, which would add to the demands on their time. There wasstrong support for the idea of an African Students’ Association on campus, would give them the opportunity to formalise their support for one another in ways that was recognised and valued by the university.

Outputs

The project involved research mentoring provided by A/Prof Schech for early career researchers, including a research assistant of African background.

One practical output of this research project was the establishment of an African Students Association at FlindersUniversity.

Academic outputs include a poster presentation by Dr Harris at the ISSBD international conference hosted at Flinders University in July 2009 (‘Hard Yards and High Hopes: African refugees entering tertiary education’), and a paper by Dr Harris and Dr Jay Marlowe (Auckland University) was accepted in July 2010 for publication by the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (‘Hard Yards and High Hopes: The Educational Challenges of African Refugee University Students in Australia’).

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