DESCRIPTION AND METHODOLOGIES
Incluusion was founded in 2016 and has since that time welcomed more than 500 refugee students from over 40 countries.
Incluusion gives refugee students the opportunity to follow bachelor courses at Utrecht University. The programme focuses on both students with and without residence status. Many refugees are on hold for quite some time in an asylum seekers' center. Incluusion offers them the opportunity to keep on developing themselves academically, by joining UU courses and Utrecht Summer School courses. When Incluusion students successfully complete a course, they receive a certificate (but no ECTS).
During a UU course the Incluusion students are linked to 1 or 2 buddies: regular UU students who have volunteered as a buddy to help the Incluusion students on their way. They do this by:
- Providing a social network: most buddies meet with their student once every 2 weeks.
- Helping with practical matters, such as finding the right buildings/rooms, library, use of Blackboard (university system) and Teams.
- Helping with education, for instance how they can best tackle an assignment or how to avoid plagiarism. The buddies don't help with the content itself, but can refer the Incluusion students to the help they need.
Incluusion students are enrolled just like regular students, which means they can make use of the UU facilities during their course. This means they have full access to the library, but also to the UU student support services: the Skills Lab and Career Services. The Skills Lab offers students workshops in academic skills (eg. the writing a thesis week, personal coaching, or a workshop on how to give a presentation). The Career Services can help students with their cv, setting up a linkedin profile and preparing for job interviews.
A recent development in which Incluusion is broadening its scope is a pilot (start March 2020) in which UU offers status holders a work placement position for ~ 6-8 months within the UU. 5 positions have been fulfilled in IT, communication and teaching. The UU will decide before the end of 2021 whether to continue this pilot.