Learning on the margins: programmes for students and scholars at risk

23.11.2021

The task force “Enabling refugees” of Action Line 2 of Arqus Alliance organizes the second of this year’s two webinars on “Learning on the margins: programmes for students and scholars at risk” on November 24, 2021 from 10 am to 12.30 pm CET.

In the second webinar, the task force has decided to go beyond the question of refugee access to higher education and to encompass issues related to both students and scholars at risk from a broader perspective. The tragic and shocking events taking place recently in Afghanistan and at the Belarussian border have prompted task force members into questioning the role of Arqus in raising awareness of emergency situations and in showing support in times of humanitarian crisis. For this reason, the task force has decided to invite an expert, Dovilė Jakniūnaitė from the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, to discuss briefly with participants the context of the Belarussian border crisis. It was deemed important that those involved in refugee access to higher education should reflect on the world events leading to students and scholars finding themselves “at-risk”.

The first presentation, given by Francesca Helm and Claudia Padovani from the University of Padova will illustrate the work of Scholars at Risk (SAR), an international network of higher education institutions, whose aim is to foster academic freedom by providing sanctuary for threatened scholars, taking action against attacks on higher education, and promoting discussion amongst staff and students. This introduction will lead to a discussion about the conditions in universities to support academic freedom in practice and the role of Arqus in promoting academic freedom.

The second presentation, given by Toma Limontaitė of Vilnius University, will illustrate support programmes at Vilnius University for students from Belarus.The talk will lead to reflection on how universities support students affected by conflict/students at risk, who are not necessarily “refugees” and the way in which Arqus go beyond the boxes of “refugees” and “access to university”.

The third presentation, given by Johannes Gebhardt of Leipzig University, will illustrate how support structures for scholars and students at risk work through networking by presenting the online platform Chance for science. 

The webinar will be run on Zoom, administered and moderated by the University of Padua.

Register until 23rd November at 12 pm CET, through the following link.