The Together project (2019-1-PT01-KA203-060772) has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

The Together project (2019-1-PT01-KA203-060772) has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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Refugees Initiative

More project

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INSTITUTION RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INITIATIVE

UNIKO - Federation of Austrian Universities

COUNTRY

Austria

CITY

Vienna

Address

Universitätsring 1 Vienna

EUROPEAN PROJECT

The MORE Project was started by the Federation of Universities in Austria (Uniko) in 2015. After a successful first academic year, the MORE Project is now offered at all 21 Austrian public universities in Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck.
Asylum seekers and recognised refugees have the possibility to attend university courses, expand their knowledge and improve their language skills. Through the MORE Project Austrian universities hope to open access to higher education and future perspectives to people with migration background as well as benefit from mutual exchange.

TYPOLOGY

- Financial support for refugee students
- Help desk and supporting services for refugee students
- Language and other introductory courses for refugee students

TARGET GROUPS

- Newly arrived refugees

DESCRIPTION AND METHODOLOGIES

The MORE Project was started by the Federation of Universities in Austria (Uniko) in 2015. After a successful first academic year, the MORE Project is now offered at all 21 Austrian public universities in Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck.
Asylum seekers and recognised refugees have the possibility to attend university courses, expand their knowledge and improve their language skills. Through the MORE Project Austrian universities hope to open access to higher education and future perspectives to people with migration background as well as benefit from mutual exchange.
Non-bureaucratic admission procedure
Asylum seekers and recognised refugees can attend selected courses at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt.

The non-bureaucratic admission procedure allows MORE students to be enrolled as non-degree seeking students, they are exempt from tuition fees, they have access to the library and can take exams at the end of the courses they attended. The goal of the project is to include MORE students in the university as quickly as possible, recognise their strengths and build upon them.

What does the MORE programme offer you?
•Enrolment as a non-degree seeking (extra-curricular) student*
•No tuition fees and no ÖH fee
•Attending a selection of ‘open’ courses at the AAU
•Full access to the AAU’s library and its resources
•Possibility to take exams at the end of the semester (if passed successfully, the grades will be listed on your certificate of academic performance).

RESULTS AND IMPACT

After five semesters, the initiative has now been evaluated as to the achievement of its main objectives (orientation and social integration at universities, transfer to degree programs).

With the MORE program, Austrian public universities very quickly established a point of access for asylum-seekers/refugees in Austria. According to the socio-demographic data, the program satisfied the intentions of universities, namely to enable asylum-seekers/refugees rapid access with a minimum of bureaucratic hurdles. The MORE program has been utilized by over 2,500 persons. In the meantime, the program has grown out of its infancy and evolved into various forms in accordance with the conditions of respective universities. As a whole, experiences of both MORE students and universities have been vastly positive and underline the purpose of the program both in terms of its general objectives (orientation and promotion of integration) and its specific goals, such as language acquisition and preparation for a course of studies. MORE students profit from the program not only academically (achieving a very high level of German language skills, access to other university programs and studies), but also personally, through successful integration, including gaining many new friendships with Austrian and international students; and parallel to the MORE program, they often gain first experiences in the Austrian labor market, including gainful employment. Austrian universities experience MORE students as an enrichment: as people whose potential in a narrow sense is further developed to benefit the former as well as the Austrian economy in general. In regards to the MORE program’s sustainability and further development, measures to promote the advancement of women and asylum-seekers’/refugees’ transitions to degree studies are recommended.