Professor publishes book on immigrants and refugees in German universities
(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – AUGUST 8, 2024) Assistant Professor Lisa Unangst explores how immigrants and refugees experience higher education in Germany in a new book published with Routledge titled “Immigrants and Refugees at German Universities: Diversity, Internationalization and Anticolonial Considerations.”
The book is part of a series Routledge is putting together on global student mobility. It is Unangst’s first book as a solo author, diving deeper into her dissertation and research interests.
“Thinking about migration and displacement as drivers of student mobility and specifically the German higher education sector where the vast majority of students enroll at public universities, I take a critical and historical perspective in analyzing how refugee and immigrant learners access and experience college in Germany,” Unangst said. “Part of this has to do with how immigrant and refugee students have been racialized in German context. One chapter discusses Germans of color and representation in K-12 education and another parses how ‘diversity’ has been constructed and operationalized at German universities.”
Unangst said her interest in this topic stemmed from analyzing the relationship between German universities, which are world-renowned for their research efforts, and the experiences of refugee and immigrant students.
“While German investment into higher education entry for refugees may be considered world-leading, there are few, if any, supports for refugee and immigrant students once enrolled,” Unangst said. “I see this as intertwined with the legacy of German colonialism and the ‘guest worker’ program that drew ostensibly temporary laborers from southern Europe and North Africa from the 1950s through 1970s.”
Unangst said support for minority students varies across German institutions and she believes German universities can be understood as sites for discussion about internationalization and immigration.
“There is a clear separation among supports for ‘international students’ enrolled in degree or study abroad programs at HEIs, students of refugee background, and students of immigrant background,” Unangst said.
For people in higher education, Unangst hopes the book will provide a closer look at student equity considering multiple factors, including historical context, geopolitical developments, and higher education internationalization.
The book is out now and can be published on Routledge.com.