NATECLA Yorkshire & Humber: FREE Online Forum - Increasing Access to Higher Education for Migrants

This Online Forum provides a space for ESOL practitioners to come together, chat, collaborate and share the load with like-minded practitioners from the Yorkshire and Humber area but also across the UK. 

This is a joint event between NATECLA's Yorkshire and Humber branch, the Migrant English Support Hub (MESH) and Migration Yorkshire.

• TOPIC: Increasing Access to Higher Education for Migrants.
• DATE: Thursday 25 January 2024
• TIME: 12:00 - 13:30pm
• LOCATION: Online
• COST: Free to both members and non-members.

<< Secure your spot >> - copy and paste this link into your browser:

https://bit.ly/YH-forum2024

 About this forum

Our focus will be on the challenges faced by migrant groups in gaining access to and experiencing Higher Education in the UK. 

Different challenges face asylum seekers, refugees, those with humanitarian protection, family members and others who have experienced displacement and would like to go to university.  Some of these challenges are about English language, some about visa restrictions and immigration control, some about qualification equivalence, some about funding.  The list is long and complex. 

This online forum will provide an opportunity to hear from and raise issues with a range of experts from the Higher Education sector, including academics and access specialists from the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield, and those with personal experience of facing these challenges.  

The forum will consist of three short presentations about different aspects of this issue, followed by a roundtable discussion and open discussion session.  Our presenters and panellists are: 

• Chiara Bruzzano – Principal Investigator on the ‘Forced Migrants, IELTS and Access to HE’ research project (https://forcedmigrantsielts.weebly.com/)
• Fiona Chapel – Leeds University Centre for Lifelong Learning
• Mohammed Hussain – Leeds University Centre for Lifelong Learning
• Rebecca Murray – Sheffield University and national University of Sanctuary steering committee member
• Camilla Priede – Sheffield University Department for Lifelong Learning
• Abdullah Rafiq – Project Researcher, '(Re)imagining the Higher Education Border' project, University of
• Sheffield (https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/migration-research-group/our-work/borders-and-higher-education). 
• Tesfalem Yemane – University of Liverpool and forced migrant

The session will be introduced and led by: 

• Ania Banks – Chair of NATECLA Yorkshire & Humber
• Emma Taylor – ESOL Regional Coordinator Migration Yorkshire
• John Zavos – Director of the Migrant English Support Hub (MESH)

The meeting will take place via Zoom and we'll provide a link via email, the day before the meeting date.