Higher Education in Exile: Developing a Sense of Self, Belonging and Purpose for Newcomer Youth

Abstract

This chapter examines higher education opportunities and inequalities encountered by recently arrived immigrants in the United States. Through the portrait of one recently arrived Syrian youth in the United States, the chapter examines experiences of public education, particularly within the context of community college, an important social institution for newly arrived newcomer youth to the United States. The authors develop a conceptual framework that situates newcomers’ educational and life experiences at the intersections of a sense of self, belonging and purpose. Rarely do educational institutions recognise the confluences of these different factors, address newcomer youth’s pre-arrival experiences and educational trajectories or provide explicit support to navigate the socio-cultural scripts young people experiencing forced migration confront in unfamiliar host societies. The chapter argues that the obligation for building caring, inclusive and welcoming communities rests not only on newcomers but equally on long-time residents, particularly those within higher educational institutions. With community colleges and other higher education institutions in the United States poised to educate increasingly diverse student populations in the near future, this chapter begins filling gaps in understandings to enable higher education programmes that develop newcomer youths’ sense of self, belonging and purpose in connection with their academic institutions.