A whole university approach to the integration of humanitarian migrant and refugee students: Reflections on the practical implementation of education policies and programs at the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) in Brazil

Résumé 0

We analyze how the arrival of migrants with humanitarian visas and refugees in Brazil impelled a university to develop grassroots practices of welcoming students and their communities. After an initial assessment of the linguistic needs of this newly arrived community, the university, under the initiative of the Department of Law, developed what we could call a whole university approach to integration, based on the principles of multidisciplinary work and of research-education-action. In accordance with this approach, it developed and integrated several actions aimed at developing various literacies, maintaining health and emotional well-being, and providing legal and community outreach support, through multidisciplinary work teams and the involvement of student and volunteer educators. In this humanistic understanding of the role of higher education institutions in welcoming and integrating migrant and refugee students, we discuss the goals achieved and the points that we continue to consider as being critical for a better integration of multidisciplinary initiatives, and for a better articulated offer of initiatives aimed at the university and extra-university levels.