Drawing upon the findings of the Erasmus+project "MUSIC - Making Universities Ready for Social Inclusion and Cultural Diversity", a conference on Friday 1st July 2022 will focus on the inclusion of students with migration and refugee background into European universities and will explore different theoretical and policy approaches, in particular following recent developments in Ukraine. Zooming in on the Austrian case, the event will then analyse the current institutional framework on social and educational inclusion and discuss the reforms that can be developed to strengthen the university system.

Kristina Schäfer, PhD student at the Department of Economic and Organizational Sociology at JKU Linz, will present the efforts at JKU to integrate Ukrainian refugee students into the university and society: A coalition of mainly JKU staff members and Linz residents (esp. current and former students) emerged to commit themselves at the local level in solidarity with Ukraine right after the beginning of the war. The focus of this initiative lies on the support and integration of Ukrainian refugee students. The initiative benefitted from committed individuals who bring in their volunteering experience and their talent to mobilize others as well as of already established university structures. This initiative shows how important long-lasting institutional structures as well as their reliable financial funding are and how cooperation between formal bodies and informal, spontaneous individual commitment can succeed in the context of handling societal challenges.

For further information to the program of the online conference and how to take part in the audience: https://lehrerinnenbildung.univie.ac.at/en/fields-of-work/didactics-of-civic-and-citizenship-education/current-research-projects/research-projects/music-erasmus/registration-music-conference-1st-july-2022/, öffnet eine externe URL in einem neuen Fenster