How to help refugees get into university in Germany

ProRef

The program for study preparation and integration of refugees at the Europa-Universität Flensburg supports refugees who are interested in studying when starting their studies. The EUF facilitates integration into the German higher education system, the labor market and society through language and key competence courses as well as study, career and social counseling.

I organized that process with several student colleagues. Perhaps the program was implemented by the University of Flensburg, but our goal is much more global. We encouraged those interested in learning not only to study at one of the two universities in our city, but also helped to apply to various other universities in Germany.

The main part of the program consists of German and English language teaching, and we student-workers were busy organizing that course. Every week we have an online meeting for all participants, where they can ask different kinds of questions, from integration to organizing entertainment. Yes, learning is important, but we also focused on entertainment and communication.

Campus Friends

I have been one of the Campus friends coordinators twice. In the framework of the Campus friends, we gathered the students studying at the university and the participants of the ProRef program.“ As part of the kick-off meetings, the German students and the ProRef participants got to know each other. Usually, such events are followed by the organization of working groups. For example, twice I was the coordinator of a political group, the participants of which met separately and talked about various political topics. The cooking and sports group is also very interesting also. For example, a cooking group organizes a food evening once a month, all members of the group prepare some national food and eat together. In the sports group, there are mainly fitness and football fans, who also organize events.

Study buddy

Within the framework of Campus friends, there is also the student buddy program, within which one student and a ProRef member form a tandem. The student introduces himself to his university, talks about student life, or what difficulties there are during learning. Such a tandem helps the refugee who came to Germany and wants to study at the university, get to know the university life in Germany more closely. That contact promotes motivation.

ProRef‘s results

It is very gratifying when you see the result of your own work. Every year we organize the annual ProRef Alumni Meeting of former Proref participants. During the meeting, former participants tell about their successes. It is so nice to see how the people under your care have been accepted to the university and are studying successfully.

I may no longer work in ProRef, but I always love to visit my former colleagues. At the moment, the ProRef program is also focused on the problems of training refugees from Ukraine. The experience and knowledge provided by Proref allowed me to further specialize in refugee foster care. I will always fondly remember the days I worked at ProRef and my dear colleagues.