Understanding access to higher education amongst humanitarian migrants in Australia

Understanding access to higher education amongst humanitarian migrants in Australia

Francisco Perales, Matthias Kubler, Ning Xiang & Wojtek Tomaszewski

The University of Queensland

Humanitarian migrants are a highly vulnerable social group and experience significant barriers to integration in the host country society. While access to higher education could improve the socioeconomic status of this subpopulation, engagement with the educational system by refugees has been limited, as has been its analysis. This study examined unique empirical evidence on enablers/barriers to higher education amongst humanitarian migrants in Australia, using data from sources such as the 2016 Australian Census and Migrants Integrated Dataset, to compare the higher education participation of recent humanitarian migrants in Australia to that of other migrants and the local-born population.

BACKGROUND

Between 2006 and 2016, Australia provided settlement opportunities to more than 145,000 humanitarian migrants. Despite the breadth of services offered by government and third-sector institutions, they remain among the most vulnerable population groups in Australian society.

An important channel for humanitarian migrants to successfully integrate into mainstream society is through participation in education, particularly higher education. Yet, individuals from humanitarian migrant backgrounds face multiple and unique barriers to education participation and success, over and above those faced by other migrant groups.

Few studies to date have empirically examined the ties between humanitarian migrant status and circumstances and higher education participation and attainment in Australia. This report was a first step in addressing this significant gap in knowledge.

OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

The key objective of this study was to quantify the level and determinants of higher education participation among humanitarian migrants in Australia. This involved the analysis of three key data sets:

• 2016 Australian Census and Migrants Integrated Dataset (ACMID).

• 2016 Census of Population and Housing (the Census).

• Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA).

The first two sources provided data on the relative higher education participation patterns of humanitarian migrants, while the BNLA provided a data set for analysing the key determinants of participation by migrants.

KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Key findings

The comparative analysis of the ACMID/Census data revealed that, despite their younger age profile overall, humanitarian migrants tended to enrol in higher education at later ages —typically after age 23—than people from other migrant groups or the Australian-born population. As a result, they were less likely to participate in higher education during normative ages (18–21 years).

Humanitarian migrants were clearly disadvantaged in relation to higher education attainment: they were approximately half as likely as Australian-born individuals to have a university degree, a third as likely as family migrants and a fifth as likely as skilled migrants.

Humanitarian migrant women were more likely to participate in higher education than men, particularly in the younger age groups. However, this participation gap tended to narrow as humanitarian migrant men raised their participation levels as mature-aged students.

The analysis of the BNLA data revealed that, while only a small share of humanitarian migrants participated in post compulsory education (including higher education) early into their settlement period, there was an upwards trend over the five-year observation window. By the end of the fifth year, 15.4 per cent of humanitarian migrants were enrolled in a course (other than an English language course) and 26.1 per cent had attained a qualification.

However, the engagement of humanitarian migrants with higher education was found to be modest. Of all humanitarian migrants enrolled in any course other than an English language course (i.e., a degree; a trade/technical course; or some other course/work experience), only 14.2 per cent pursued a higher education option. Similarly, of all completions, only 7.6 per cent involved a higher education course.

While multiple socio-demographic factors played a role in structuring humanitarian migrants’ engagement with the Australian education system, two factors consistently predicted higher engagement. These were English language proficiency and pre-arrival education level, with developing English language proficiency and limited prior educational experiences emerging as core barriers to education/higher education participation and success in Australia.

The results revealed significant differences in the probability of university participation and engagement—studying a course; attainment; intentions for future study—by humanitarian migrants’ country of origin. The largest group of humanitarian migrants in Australia, people from Iraq, exhibited comparatively poorer outcomes than humanitarian migrants from other countries.

Summary of recommendations

These results bear important lessons to inform equity policy and practice. Taken together, they support the notion that humanitarian migrants experience unique barriers to participation and success in the Australian education system and should be the focus of policy attention.

An important policy intervention would be the creation of a new equity student group consisting of humanitarian migrant students, separate from that already existing for the non-English speaking background (NESB) students.

As part of this new focus, attention needs to be paid to humanitarian migrants with developing levels of English language proficiency, those entering Australia with low or no educational qualifications, and specific disadvantage relating to certain countries. Each one of these factors necessitates further research and program development.

Dr Lisa Hartley

Senior Lecturer and Co-Director Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University

Dr Lisa Hartley

The findings of this report establish both how humanitarian migrants’ higher education participation and attainment compare to those of other groups in Australia, and identify socio-demographic characteristics associated with the chances of recently arrived humanitarian migrants participating in the Australian education/higher education system and attaining Australian education/higher education qualifications.

At a time when higher education institutions in Australia face significant funding challenges, this research highlights that particular equity student cohorts cannot be forgotten. Humanitarian migrants are not currently classified as a separate equity group, yet the findings highlight the importance of a commitment and investment into student-facing equity programs aimed at ameliorating the disadvantages they face in accessing higher education.

The robust quantitative analyses underpinning the research give further strength to the need for the Australian Government to invest additional resources to gather data on the access and success of humanitarian migrants in higher education, including the need to obtain data from humanitarian migrants with temporary visas.

This research offers a unique contribution to the scholarship which has a particular focus on humanitarian migrants who had already entered the higher education system, rather than their experiences in the access phase. The findings of this research highlight that both English language proficiency and pre-arrival education level predict higher engagement within the Australian higher education system. This is significant as it reinforces previous calls for continued investment and commitment to English language programs.

ACCESS THE FINAL REPORT ONLINE

https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/access-higher-education-humanitarianmigrants-australia/