Open Learning Initiative (OLIve) at the University of East London has been preparing forced migrant students for university in the UK since 2019. One of the main barriers for creating meaningful support for forced migrants is the hostile environment which shifts border control to educational institutions; ever increasing bureaucratic pressures to follow and document procedures; and the neo-liberalisation of universities wherein students are valued for their financial contributions to the university and the society through graduate employment. Creating meaningful support and inclusion is therefore limited in the current system, which is designed to exclude students and applicants who do not fit the nationalist, neoliberal agendas of states and institutions. An important aspect of this support is using creative, participative pedagogies and valuing students as participants, as holders of knowledge and creative experts, as this can help create educational and participatory spaces where knowledge production can coexist with a critical widening of the current higher education agenda.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-43593-6_5

ISBN: 9783030435936; 9783030435929