‘It is a university where I felt welcome’: poems of asylum-seeking students’ sense of coherence in Australian higher education

ABSTRACT

Current social and political arrangements of higher education are inequitable for students from asylum-seeking backgrounds. In many countries, their access to university is limited and if they are accepted, their status as forced migrants puts them at multiple disadvantages. This inequity is in contrast with the universal aim of higher education institutions to serve all people and their societies. Utilising a voice centred relational method (VCRM) and the theoretical lens of Aaron Antonovsky’s salutogenesis, this article is a poetic presentation of the experiences of asylum-seeking students in Australian universities. We show that higher education can provide asylum-seeking students with the means for safety (making life manageable), belonging (making life comprehensible), and success (making life meaningful). Thus, we argue that higher education institutions have the potential to help facilitate students’ sense of coherence, which in salutogenetic terms refers to their ability to comprehend their own situation, and the capacity to use the resources available. However, asylum-seeking status poses barriers in achieving this, and this inequity should be addressed.

KEYWORDS:

• Asylum seekers
• sense of coherence
• voice-centred relational methods
• poems
• salutogenesis
• Australia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Fatima is now a fully qualified Lifeguard and is employed part-time at a swimming pool.

2 In June 2022, when Fatima and a researcher discussed the meaning of her poems, a new Federal Government had just been voted in. This new government brings promise regarding a change to Australia’s policies on asylum-seeking visas. Fatima and the researcher noted that this was an interesting development when reflecting on her above poem. Fatima was cautiously optimistic about the new government. When referring to potential changes to asylum-seeking visa policy, she stated ‘fingers crossed. We’ll see. We can only hope’.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australasian Spotlight on Equity – Recognition of Impact grant from National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) and Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia (EPHEA).