Higher Education (HE) enables students to gain advanced knowledge in subject areas and key transferable skills, supporting both personal and professional development. Refugees face systemic barriers to accessing HE, notably financial constraints, restrictive policies, and inadequate infrastructure (Martin and Stulgaitis, 2022). As a result, only 7 percent of refugees access HE (compared with a global average of 42 percent), which the UNHCR aims to increase to 15 percent by 2030 through the 15by30 goal (UNHCR, 2023). Literature on HE for refugees is limited, with sparse evidence on support required to access HE and the experiences of refugee students.

This paper aims to explore the role of guidance in supporting refugee youths to access HE and the transformative effects of HE on their lives. The paper is based on a tracer study with former participants of the Mosaik Education Guidance Programme for refugee youth in Jordan, Lebanon and Uganda. Grounded in the Capability Approach (Sen, 1999), the paper considers the role of guidance as a conversion factor to enable refugees to turn available personal, social and institutional resources into an HE opportunity. Furthermore, reflections of the refugee youth on the impact of HE on their personal and professional lives uncovers the diverse functionings and capabilities of refugees accessing HE.

The tracer study, conducted during 2025, followed a mixed methods methodology to develop in-depth understanding of the perspectives of the refugee students and graduates. The methodology comprised a quantitative survey of 32 participants of the Mosaik Education Guidance Programme, followed by qualitative interviews of eight selected refugee participants from Syria, Iraq and Sudan residing in Lebanon and Jordan. Findings of the study are framed around access of refugees to HE, impact on personal and professional development, challenges and barriers for refugees in HE, and effectiveness of guidance.

The pathway to higher education for students from a refugee or migrant background is not an easy one. Despite their potential, they face numerous challenges both in accessing higher education as well as completing their studies successfully. They remain an ‘underrepresented equity group’ necessitating specific policies and actions to facilitate their access to higher education which take into consideration their past experiences and the challenges they face, and that provide flexible and alternative entry pathways to higher education. They also require a safe, inclusive and enabling learning environment with adequate academic, social and psychological supports tailored to their needs. This paper discusses these challenges, focusing on the University of Malta as a case study on how it is seeking to address this challenge. It proposes a policy proposal for broadening access and increasing participation for students from a refugee and migrant background. The policy describes policy actions to attract and recruit students from refugee and migrant background so as to enhance their participation in higher education, including flexible and alternative entry pathways, and to improve the academic and psychosocial support systems so as to enhance their inclusion, wellbeing and learning experience.

This article examines how students experience voice and agency within the Icelandic primary school system by looking at it through the lens of participation as defined by Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the same time, legislators have taken progressive steps in formulating inclusive educational policies and have implemented them into national law in 2013; however, the realities within new-arrival programmes (i., móttökudeild) often present complex challenges for newly arrived children seeking international protection regarding their belonging, recognition, and participation within the general school population. The article aims to investigate how asylum-seeking students are positioned as learners and social agents, for example, in their right to have their voices considered in decisions about their education. This research will employ qualitative methods, including interviews with nineteen parents, as well as the analysis of policy documents and classroom observations. The article will highlight the systematic and cultural factors that support or inhibit the agency of refugee students. Using qualitative methods, including interviews with parents as well as analysis of policy documents and classroom observations, the paper will highlight systematic and cultural factors which either support or inhibit the agency and participation of refugee students. Findings reveal tensions between staff who support inclusive and exclusive education as pathways for refugee education. Deficits also categorise refugee students (trauma, language barriers, interrupted schooling and othering), which limits students' agency in schools. Furthermore, refugee students are often subjected to reductive categorisation based on trauma, language deficiency, knowledge skill gap, interrupted or limited schooling, passive recipients of support and cultural outsiders - limiting their opportunities to act, decide and contribute meaningfully to the school community. The paper argues for a shift in educational discourse and practice from passive inclusion to active participation; new-arrival programmes must create relational learning spaces with a change from a deficit view as framing students as incomplete learners to an asset-based approach where students' existing knowledge, skills and experiences, both linguistic, cultural and academic, are valued and embraced.