Improving Access to Higher Education for Asylum Seekers: A Partnership Approach

This paper considers two, linked examples of innovative practice in widening participation activity designed to work with adult asylum seeker and refugee communities. Specific examples of interventions that have been undertaken at Cardiff University are describes, namely 'Live Local; Learn Local' a suite of courses delivered in communities around South East Wales, ane the 'Aspire Summer School', offering a combination of courses in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) alongside academic short courses. The authors suggest these programmes are innovative as: (1) they provided free and meaningful English language courses; (2) they provided flexible routes to undergraduate and postgraduate study; (3) the programmes seek to remove structural barriers to education through a contextualised approach; and (4) the specificity of the Welsh context and partial devolution of Wales played a role in creating these opportunities. These interventions are presented in terms of their positive aspects and also where further development is required. The paper concludes with suggestions as to how higher education institutions can improve the provision offered to support asylum seekers and refugees.