Challenges and Opportunities: Conversations about Immigration and Higher Education
Overview:
Research conducted by the National Forum reveals that in the absence of a national policy on immigration, access decisions are being left to institutional, state and local jurisdictions. Information to guide these decisions -- the de facto policies that intersect immigration and college access -- is inconsistent, even among those who indicate strong interest in the issue. Local biases and individual prerogatives guide institutional decision in many cases, and well-qualified students are being excluded from attendance.
The National Forum is seeking to re-situate this problem as one shaping the public interest and to foster a concern among educators that would lead to greater commitment from our professional associations and inter-jurisdictional agencies.
In cooperation with colleagues from around the country and with support of several national foundations, the National Forum has been working to nurture awareness and understanding within the higher education community, among advocacy groups, and among policymakers on the connections between immigration policy and access to higher education. This is being achieved through the development and documentation of a series of national conferences. Some of the goals of this project include:
- Bringing together, for active engagement, a myriad of culturally diverse professionals from across the United States, thus sparking a professional movement of concern and action;
- Developing action steps through a collaborative effort;
- Advancing the discussion on how to increase the level of participation of immigrants in postsecondary education, and;
- Increasing participant awareness of opportunities available to support immigrant students in higher education.
The first conference in this national series, Challenges and Opportunities: Conversations about Immigration and Higher Education, took place in June of 2007 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Following the National Forum’s Dialogic Model of Change approach, more than 140 participants engaged in three days of information sharing, dialogue, and planning with the goal to reframing and intersecting the conversation on immigration and educational access.
Since then, the conversation has expanded to other strategic regions of the country through a network of institutions in California, New Mexico, and future conferences to be hosted in Texas and Nevada. Following the goals of this project, these conferences are aimed at strengthening the knowledge base among educators about the intersecting issues of immigration and educational access, and on setting policies regarding educational access with institutions and across the states.
By continuing to engage educators, administrators, students, researchers, community leaders, state higher education officers, and legislators, viable policy alternatives can be addressed by:
- Building a common foundation of our current knowledge on immigration and the social, cultural and economic impact it is having within and outside of the United States ;
- Clarifying and sharing information with policymakers and citizens on what is at stake for students, communities, higher education institutions, and society in the current immigration debate;
- Strengthening the connection between relevant research, institutional practice and policy;
- Forming collaborative partnerships between policymakers, established and rising scholars, and grassroots organizations;
- Developing policy recommendations and organizational initiatives that address the challenges and the opportunities of the immigration issue at the national, state, institutional and community organization levels; and
- Creating a sustainable working agenda and put into action participant recommendations that identify the roles and responsibilities of individuals and institutions that will continue to promote an understanding of and a strong commitment to immigrant communities.