Pilot project for the inclusion of asylum seekers assigned to Trentino in higher education, a.y. 2015-2016

The project stems from a proposal by the Prorector for Equality and Diversity Policies, prof. Barbara Poggio, backed by the rector, prof. Paolo Collini, with the objective to facilitate the access to higher education to a number of selected migrants who are already in our region as asylum seekers and/or under international humanitarian protection, and have the necessary qualifications to attend university. The selected students are currently included either in the SPRAR ordinary reception project or in the extraordinary reception project launched after the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the Province and the Commissariato del Governo.

The massive influx of asylum seekers reached Trentino in 2014, during the Mare Nostrum operation and under the quota system established at national level for every Region/Autonomous Province. The project is currently managed by the operational unit of the Health and Solidarity Department of Cinformi, with the help of many private voluntary organizations at local level.

Group of refugees crouched on the unitrento logo on the floorOne of the goals of the provincial reception project is to provide language and professional training to migrants, so that they can move their first steps in the Italian context. However, apart from this basic training, the project might also offer a university education to candidates with adequate qualifications.

Given the high number of asylum seekers and refugees assigned to Trentino, back in 2015 the University of Trento contacted Cinformi and other local organizations, among which Opera Universitaria, to start collaborating to offer accommodation services and scholarships to the participants in the “Asylum seekers to University project”. Cinformi then presented the project to a restricted number of asylum seekers, based on their specific skills (qualifications) and merit (degree of participation in the reception project). At the end of 2015, Cinformi selected 5 young migrants and started with them a university guidance project.

This project is coordinated by Paola Bodio on behalf of the Prorector, and relies on cooperation with several offices of the Student Support Service under the leadership of Paolo Zanei: the University guidance service with Laura Braico, the Faculty services division with Micaela Bellu, the CLA-University Language Centre as concerns Italian language courses for foreign students, with Daniela Paolino, and the International relations division with the division’s head, Grazia Callovini.

The University’s partner in the project is Cinformi, led by Pierluigi La Spada, with contact points Laura Stabili and Patrizia Toss, who have supervised all the phases in which the future participants in the project were informed, selected and trained.

As concerns Opera Universitaria, the contact person was initially Lodovico Zannini, in charge of the Cultural mediation service, who retired in April 2016 and was replaced by the current director, Paolo Fontana.

The University’s objective for this initial phase is to launch a PILOT PROJECT that will start in the second semester of a.y. 2015-2016 with the 5 selected students: Islam from Pakistan, Cheick from Cote d’Ivoire, Christelle from Camerun, Moussa from Senegal and Lamin from Gambia. The project intends to:

  • provide guidance on academic choice;
  • assess the students’ foreign qualifications so that they can attend single courses and later enrol in degree courses from the next academic year;
  • exempt students from tuition fees due for single courses and Italian language courses for foreign speakers;
  • reserve a number of spots for asylum seekers, if all departments agree on the proposal, to facilitate their access to education given that all courses have admission test and places are limited;
  • provide support and guidance through the tutoring service;
  • provide support in the enrolment process from the next academic year and help students to apply for scholarships and accommodation at Opera Universitaria.

In June 2016 the SuXr project (University students for refugees) started (link), with the aim to involve University students in voluntary work through Student and local organizations to support activities designed for migrants in their specific areas of study (legal aid, language lessons and IT assistance).

Unisport too is part of the project to explore, with Cinformi, the possibility to create study and work opportunities for asylum seekers in the sports sector.

The pilot phase will serve to structure and shape the project for the next academic years. The number of incoming asylum seekers in the Province of Trento is growing and it is therefore fair to predict that the number of people with higher qualifications will increase accordingly. In this context, there might be migrants interested in continuing their studies in Italy if they are offered the opportunity to do so.

The University of Trento is proposing to the Autonomous Province of Trento (intervening with the Department for Health and Social policies, represented by Luca Zeni, member of the Provincial Council, and the Department for University, research, youth policies, equal opportunities and development cooperation, represented by Sara Ferrari, member of the Provincial Council) to sign a memorandum of understanding for academic year 2016/2017 and beyond, so that the students selected this year for the pilot project at the University of Trento will receive a scholarship and proper accommodation for a duration to be determined, but at least for the three years necessary to complete a degree course. Based on the results of the pilot phase, we might see whether to renew the project for academic year 2017/2018 and beyond.

Group of migrants and people involved in the project

Photo by Bernardinatti (Press Office)