Aspirations for Higher Education among Newcomer Refugee Youth in Toronto: Expectations, Challenges, and Strategies

Yogendra B. Shakya; Sepali Guruge; Michaela Hynie; Arzo Akbari; Mohamed Malik; Sheila Htoo; Azza Khogali; Stella Abiyo Mona; Rabea Murtaza; Sarah Alley

doi:10.25071/1920-7336.34723

Aspirations for Higher Education among Newcomer Refugee Youth in Toronto: Expectations, Challenges, and Strategies

Authors

Yogendra B. Shakya Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
Sepali Guruge Ryerson University
Michaela Hynie York University
Arzo Akbari Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
Mohamed Malik Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
Sheila Htoo Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
Azza Khogali Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
Stella Abiyo Mona Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
Rabea Murtaza Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
Sarah Alley University of Toronto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.34723

Keywords:

Toronto, Canada, Afghan refugees, Karen refugees, Sudanese refugees, higher education, educational goals, youth, resettlement

Abstract

A large percentage of refugees have low levels of education and official language fluency upon arrival in Canada. Thi spaper discusses educational goals of newcomer refugee youth from three communities in Toronto (Afghan, Karen, and Sudanese), and explores how these are linked to premigration and post-migration determinants. Guided by community-based research principles, we collaborated with eight refugee youth peer researchers and conducted ten focus groups and thirteen interviews with refugee youth. Results show that newcomer refugee youth develop strong aspirations for higher education in Canada as a proactive response to overcome pre-migration experiences of forced migration and educational disruptions. We then discuss how these youth negotiate educational goals in post-migration context in relation to shifts in family responsibilities and everyday encounter with multiple systemic barriers in Canada. In doing this, we examine the thin line between vulnerability and empowerment that refugee youth straddle and reveal policy gaps and contradictions in the depoliticized humanitarianism within refugee resettlement in Canada.

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Published

2012-01-18

How to Cite

Shakya, Y. B., Guruge, S., Hynie, M., Akbari, A., Malik, M., Htoo, S., … Alley, S. (2012). Aspirations for Higher Education among Newcomer Refugee Youth in Toronto: Expectations, Challenges, and Strategies. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 27(2), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.34723

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Issue

Vol. 27 No. 2 (2012): Higher Education for Refugees

Section

Feature Articles

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Refuge authors retain the copyright over their work, and license it to the general public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows for non-commercial use, reproduction and adaption of the material in any medium or format, with proper attribution. For general information on Creative Commons licences, visit the Creative Commons site. For the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, review the human readable summary.