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Highly skilled asylum seekers: Case studies of refugee students at a Swiss university

Author

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  • Katrin Sontag

    (University of Basel, Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology, Switzerland)

Abstract

The article argues that the applicability and value of “skills” depend to a considerable degree on the way in which a person enters a country. Based on a study on potential university students with refugee backgrounds, it shows how difficult it can be to transfer skills through the migration channel of asylum in Switzerland and how social and cultural capital may be reduced. The space in which asylum seekers live and operate is restricted in such intersecting fields as mobility, time, finances, languages, or access to information. In addition, the educational system has regulations regarding recognition. The article raises questions as to how education systems in the destination countries recognize, integrate and develop skills. It makes the case for re-assessing the very term “highly skilled”, along with the notions and associations that surround it, as an empirical object of research, rather than accepting it as a category in its own right.

Suggested Citation

  • Katrin Sontag, 2018. "Highly skilled asylum seekers: Case studies of refugee students at a Swiss university," Migration Letters, Migration Letters, vol. 15(4), pages 533-544, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:mig:journl:v:15:y:2018:i:4:p:533-544
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    File URL: https://journals.tplondon.com/index.php/ml/article/view/5/533
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    Cited by:

    1. Katrin Sontag, 2019. "Refugee Students’ Access to Three European Universities: An Ethnographic Study," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 71-79.
    2. Nina Lazarczyk-Bilal & Beata Glinka, 2020. "What Determines the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Highly-Skilled Women with Refugee Experience? An Empirical Analysis in the Context of Sweden," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, December.

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