Beyond "Integration" - Why There is More at Stake

This essay critically engages with the notion of integration in the context of access to higher education for refugees. It argues that integration is a fuzzy and controversial concept and points to the risk of drawing attention away from structural issues, such as accessibility, debates on economization, notions of internationalization, and ways in which universities can be developing organisations. It argues that the debates around students with refugee backgrounds provide a chance to revisit processes of diversification and organisational change, development of and access to the educational system (e.g. beyond methodological nationalism, Western-centrism, and classism) and presents alternative perspectives of addressing the topic.