To Be or Not to Be Integrated When We are a Refugee: The CoLAB Project in France

“We usually limit our perception of refugees to their condition, people in need. And of course, at some point and to a certain extent, they do. But they are not limited to their needs. We need to acknowledge the fact that refugees have skills and expertise to share with us. This is what the project coLAB intends to do : find a space where refugees can share their knowledge with students from 4 European institutions of higher education. coLAB is running from April 2018 until October 2019. The project partners (in France, Belgium, Italy and United Kingdom) have recruited refugees who intervene as experts in the framework of the courses offered by their institution. The recruitment of refugees have been based on define criterias : language skills, motivation, previous experience. The interventions are taking different shapes : workshop, conference, class, … coLAB’s goal is multiple but the overall aim is to create and promote inclusive practices in Higher Education institutions in order to enhance the mutual understanding between local communities and refugees.” Here is a brief summary of the coLAB project of the "Democratic and Inclusive School Culture in Operation" (DISCO) program, co-funded by the Council of Europe and the European Commission. The issue of integration is central to the project. From October 2018 to May 2019, 5 migrants, with the status of refugees, are teaching to students from Clermont Auvergne University. It is on the basis of this research project that we propose to participate to the section dedicated to "International Migration from a Comparative Perspective". More specifically, we will analyze how the different steps of the project not only support the integration of refugees in society, but also promote intercultural communication between the different stakeholders. The 5 refugees-teachers have different life stories in France. Assuming that the knowledge of the other and the exchange with the other are the basis of living together in society, and based on a qualitative methodology, we propose to analyze and report their discourse on their process of integration into French society. To do so, we have different material: interviews done before the beginning of the teaching period and when it is finished, a diary they are writing about their experiences and the opinion of students they had in class. At the moment, we have already done the first interviews with refugees before they begin their teaching period and we are collecting regularly their diaries. The first results indicate that these experiences have been considered like challenges by the refugees. They had a lot of stress but after one or two sessions they enjoy what they do and they have real exchanges with students. Moreover, it has an impact on their daily life: they are more confident in what they can do and overcome, they better understand the French society, etc. In September, for the conference, we will be able to deliver more results and to analyse how this experience of teaching has impacted the integration of the refugees.