Handbook for National Unions of Students on Students with a Migrant or Ethnic Minority Background
Author: Maoláin, Aengus Ó.
Date: 2016-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Student Unions,Minority Groups,Ethnic Groups,Guides,Immigrants,Refugees,Educational Policy,Guidelines,Foreign Countries,Social Discrimination,Access to Education,Academic Achievement,Higher Education,College Students,Group Membership

This handbook has been written by the European Student's Union's Ethnic Minorities Working Group (EMWG) based on the work it conducted from its establishment at ESU's Board Meeting 57 in 2009 until its expiration at the Board Meeting 64 in 2013. The work was undertaken by representatives from ESU's members SAMOK (Finland), NUSUK (UK), LSVb (the Netherlands), ANOSR (Romania), NASC (Bulgaria), FAGE (France) and NSUM (Macedonia), as well as ESU's Equality Coordinator and Human Rights and Solidarity Coordinator and previous members of social affairs committee. Ethnic minorities are vast and complex groups of people. Some identifiable groups, such as the largest in Europe--the Roma people, live in no single geographic region and live in every country in Europe and beyond. Other groups, such as the Basque community have maintained coherence because of their geographic location. Migrants, whether from within the European Union, whether migrants of economic necessity, personal choice, or so-called third-country migrants resident in Europe for reasons of asylum, economic necessity or choice all have as many different contextual backgrounds as there are people. As such, it is intensely challenging to attempt to create any single policy or set of guidelines to deal with a non-unified group of demographic convenience, rather than a single community. As the numbers of people within Europe who might fall into the category here discussed runs to the dozens of millions, the statistical data which reinforces the underperformance and underrepresentation of these groups in higher education is an unacceptable aberration and it is the responsibility of all parties involved in higher education governance to take actions to improve the chances of any group which is victim to inequality. This document will discuss the obligations of the &quot;majority&quot; population to the minority groups described. Perhaps the most challenging barrier to education for underrepresented groups is the fact that a highly disproportionate majority of policy makers and leaders are from the traditional majority groups. It is a right in democratic societies for individuals to criticise and engage in making and shaping change. In order for higher education to truly adapt to a more inclusive model of governance, those responsible for governance must more accurately reflect the groups for whom higher education is available--which should, of course, be everyone. It is hoped that this document provokes questions in the readers' minds and gives them some insights to what is, after all is said and done, a hugely local/national matter, and requires very local actions. This European overview can only serve to provoke these discussions, but will feed into ESU's European-level inputs. A bibliography is included.