Rita Katoola

Thesis project

This thesis looks at how existing reception and support arrangements in French higher education meet or fail to meet the specific needs of exiled people (refugees, asylum seekers, beneficiaries of subsidiary protection).
Access to university is recognized as a key vector of social integration, but current policies remain fragmented, conditional and often ill-adapted to the realities of the public concerned. This research proposes a cross-cutting analysis of public integration policies, migratory pathways and institutional practices, based on a body of theory combining the sociology of integration and social inclusion. It is also based on in-depth fieldwork, in particular with the SILLAT association, which the doctoral student co-founded and directed at regional level, and which works to help exiles gain access to further education. The aim is to identify the systemic, institutional and symbolic obstacles to effective resumption of studies, while proposing an integrative inter-institutional model, articulating universities, support structures, local authorities and associative actors in a logic of co-responsibility. Through a qualitative approach involving interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis, this thesis aims to contribute to a critical reflection on French integration policy and to the construction of more inclusive public policies in the field of higher education.

Edited by Éric Savarese and Catherine Mercier-Suissa