Conference Program

Across Europe, higher education systems are increasingly shaped by global mobility, yet institutional frameworks often struggle to recognise the prior educational trajectories of students with migrant and refugee backgrounds. Despite the principles enshrined in the UNESCO Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education (2019), recognition procedures remain lengthy, opaque, and unevenly implemented. This contributes to processes of deskilling and cultural-capital devaluation, limiting migrants’ educational continuity and reinforcing patterns of exclusion already documented in European contexts (Pastore et al. 2023; Scardigno et al. 2019). Universities thus emerge as ambivalent arenas: while they may reproduce structural inequalities, they can also function as strategic spaces for democratic inclusion and capability expansion (Nussbaum 2000).

Adopting an intersectional and critical perspective (Crenshaw, 1989), this paper analyses the experiences of migrant and refugee women who completed or partially completed university studies in their countries of origin and subsequently sought recognition or continuation of their studies in Italy and Greece. The research compares two institutional contexts: in the Apulia region (Italy), participants were refugee students enrolled in university programmes; in the Attica region (Greece), participants were women holding foreign university degrees but largely excluded from the higher education system due to complex and opaque credential-recognition procedures.

The study draws on 18 qualitative case studies conducted through focused interviews (Merton, Fiske & Kendall, 1956): 10 refugee students reached through the Learning Centre (CAP) at the University of Bari Aldo Moro (affiliated with the RUIAP network) and 8 refugee women in Greece contacted through local NGOs. The differing recruitment channels already signal a structural divergence: while the Italian context provides university-based inclusion mechanisms, the Greek case highlights the absence of institutionalised academic support structures for non-European migrants. This contrast enables an exploration of how national and institutional arrangements shape educational justice in practice.

The interviews reconstructed participants’ migration trajectories, previous socio-economic conditions, educational backgrounds, professional aspirations, and experiences of discrimination. Gendered inequalities, racialisation processes, unpaid care responsibilities, and experiences of gender-based violence emerged as crucial intersecting factors influencing access to higher education. Findings reveal recurring administrative and legal barriers, language obstacles, and institutional rigidities in credential recognition. In Italy, despite bureaucratic complexities, access to university enrolment functioned as an intermediary mechanism capable of reactivating agency and fostering academic belonging. Academic participation allowed some women to renegotiate their identities as students and professionals, partially counteracting dynamics of downgrading. In Greece, conversely, the opacity and restrictiveness of recognition procedures generated widespread disillusionment, often leading women to redefine their professional aspirations outside academic pathways.

The comparison highlights how universities may either mitigate or reinforce inequalities affecting students with migrant backgrounds. When institutional arrangements provide structured inclusion pathways, higher education can operate as a site of democratic negotiation between equality and difference, enabling self-determination and social participation. Conversely, when recognition systems remain exclusionary, educational injustice risks becoming naturalised. By foregrounding refugee women’s experiences, this contribution speaks to broader debates on educational justice, intersectionality, and the democratic role of universities in increasingly diverse societies.