IncluSTEM final conference
The project IncluSTEM will wrap up with several webinars on migration and higher education on 29–30 August.
Time: Tue 2023-08-29 10.00 - Wed 2023-08-30 11.00
Location: Online
Language: English
Participating: Mattias Wiggberg, Kajsa Hallberg Adu and more
Last year’s rapid change in students with a migration background in the European Union has shown that the universities were not equipped to accommodate these groups, often not having complete transcripts or residence permits. With a more inclusive system, Europe can give individuals more fulfilling lives and also benefit from their skills put to use benefitting societies.
The IncluSTEM webinars discuss and present the novel work done by four European universities in order to make the path to higher education smoother for migrants.
The webinars are free, and you can join them all or participate in the ones that interests you most.
Program
Tuesday, August 29th
10.00 – 11.20 Online Session 1: Onboarding refugees – Give bureaucracy a break
From residence status to admission processes: Refugee students and professionals working with them are overwhelmed with bureaucratic questions during the onboarding process at the university. Usually, refugees don’t plan and prepare for staying abroad like other international students which is why it is likely that their applications don’t fit our standard evaluation criteria. This, on the one hand, makes it particularly difficult for this group to enter our education systems, and, on the other hand, also prevents us as universities from winning over well-trained and highly motivated candidates to our institutions just because they are “different”.
In this session we will discuss why it is important to “give bureaucracy a break” to successfully integrate refugee students in our academic systems and why we should develop a new mindset when working with “atypical” student groups in general.
Speakers: Katharina Kube, Barış Ünal (TU Berlin, Germany)
11.30 – 13.00 Online Session 2: Language Learning
Language learning is one of the big challenges for refugee students, as many of them didn’t prepare in the way international students did for their studies abroad. In addition, refugee students need academic language competencies (CALP) and to comprehend complex linguistic structures.
This session deals with the results of our needs analysis amongst teachers and coordinators of language courses with refugee students, which we would like to present. This will be followed by a round table with representatives from language teaching, research and course management.
Speakers: Mareike Brlecic Layer (TU Berlin), Rami Abo Zarad (TU Berlin), Marc Deckers (HWR Berlin), Joanna Hashold (University of Potsdam), Carmen Fonseca-Mora (Universidad de Huelva, Spain), Nuria Vaquero Ibarra (Instituto Cervantes, Spain)
Moderator: Dr. Almut Schön
14.00 – 15.20 Online Session 3: Training for Employability & Job Matching
Different countries and universities have different approaches to job-matching, partly due to differing understandings of job-matching and different levels of addressing the challenge. Some universities do not see it as their role to provide job-matching services, while others provide that service, or provide that service in conjunction with various partners.
In this session we will discuss how effective training for employability and job matching could be done based on both IncluSTEM’s partners’- and the invited panellists’ experience.
Speakers: Maria Fogelström Kylberg (Stockholm Akademiska Forum, Sweden), Ana Andric (TechSweden, Sweden), Kajsa Hallberg Adu (Uppsala University, Sweden)
Moderator: Mattias Wiggberg (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
15.30 – 17.00 Online Session 4: Staff training & Quality Control/Risk Management
Staff caring for refugee students on the front line need specific training to meet their needs.
This session presents the results and products produced in the framework of the IncluSTEM project related to the training of staff working directly with refugee students, the quality plan of the implemented webinars and the risk management of the project. The round table of experiences, with the participation of institutions with a recognised track record in the care of refugees, will allow us to learn about other experiences similar to the one developed within the framework of the IncluSTEM project and will provide us with new points of reference and reflection.
Speakers: Manuel Sierra (UPM Madrid, Spain), Nava Maroto (UPM Madrid, Spain), Alicia Rodríguez (CEAR, Spain); Olalla Pérez (UNHCR, Spain), Cati Jerez (UB, Spain), and Nadia Maftahe (Rescate NGO, Spain).
Moderator: Nava Maroto (UPM, Spain)
Wednesday, August 30 th
9.00 – 11.00 Putting it all together – IncluSTEM Concluding Session
The slow inclusion of highly skilled migrants and refugees into European society and labor market and the demand for STEM and IT-professionals of the increasingly digital labor market have both been addressed in the IncluSTEM project.
By implementing a quadruple helix model integrating stakeholders from academia, industry, government, and civil society, the project will develop a model to build inclusive higher education institutions for students with a migration background.
In this online session, results from the InluSTEM project are presented and discussed.
Speakers: Kajsa Hallberg Adu (Uppsala University, Sweden), Virginia Díaz Barcos (UPM Madrid; Spain), Barış Ünal (TU Berlin, Germany), Manuel Sierra (UPM Madrid, Spain), Lea Schomaker (Rambøll Management Consulting, Germany) and Mattias Wiggberg (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
The IncluSTEM project, funded under the strategic partnership program by Erasmus+, seeks to connect STEM universities in Europe and provide a training program for sustainable rapid inclusion leading to employment for students with a migration background. IncluSTEM partners are KTH Stockholm Sweden, TU Berlin Germany, and UPM Madrid Spain.