[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-594860-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-594860-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","australian-universities-review-the-experience-of-accessing-university-for-people-seeking-asylum-in-australia","Australian Universities’ Review - The experience of accessing university for people seeking asylum in Australia","","People seeking asylum in Australia face complex barriers when trying to access higher education. Because temporary visa conditions limit pathways, admission as an international student is generally the only route, yet it is financially prohibitive. The study examines lived experience and identifies six major themes: the value of study, financial stress, mental health challenges, support needs for disability and health issues plus family responsibilities, the importance of language support and navigational brokers, and higher education’s role in settlement. Findings call for expanded university and community support and policy-level change, particularly addressing restrictive Australian federal government measures.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/australian-universities-review-the-experience-of-accessing-university-for-people-seeking-asylum-in-australia/594860/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/australian-universities-review-the-experience-of-accessing-university-for-people-seeking-asylum-in-australia/594860.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Mary Man","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-05","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why is admission to university financially difficult for people seeking asylum in Australia?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Their visas are temporary and the main pathway to university is admission as an international student, which requires paying international student fees. They are also ineligible for many income support programs and federal student financing assistance.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What themes does the paper identify about lived experience in accessing higher education?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It identifies six themes: the importance of accessing studies, stress from living-expense pressures while studying, mental health issues, support needs related to disability, health challenges, and family responsibilities, the importance of language support and navigational brokers, and the role of higher education in settlement.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How do policy and visa entitlements differ for refugees versus people seeking asylum?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Refugees resettled offshore through Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program can access services and entitlements that are denied to people seeking asylum who arrive without a valid visa, with higher-education access being a significant difference.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},594860,1792192685,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":123,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},7421720224475,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \n‘My study is the purpose of continuing my life’  \nThe experience of accessing university for people seeking asylum in Australia  \nLisa Hartley Curtin University  \nSally Baker  \nUniversity of New South Wales  \nCaroline Fleay Curtin University  \nRachel Burke University of Newcastle  \nPeople seeking asylum in Australia face complex and significant barriers accessing higher education. Due to the temporary nature of their visa, their only pathway to university is being granted admission as an international student, which is financially prohibitive. This paper focuses on the lived experience of people seeking asylum with regard to accessing higher education, and identifies six major themes: the importance of accessing studies; the stress of struggling to meet living expenses while studying; mental health issues; support for people with disabilities, health challenges, and family responsibilities; the importance of language support and navigational brokers; and the role of higher education in the settlement of people seeking asylum. The research indicates that more university and community support is needed to foster access and participation, but the priority should be on addressing the Australian Federal Government policies that underpin the most significant barriers facing people seeking asylum in accessing higher education. This recommendation is most pressing in light of the re-election of the Coalition Government in May 2019, which has committed to continue these restrictive policies.  \nKeywords: refugees, asylum seekers, international students, temporary visas  \nThe United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated in 2017 that only one per cent of refugees have access to higher education, compared with  \n36 per cent of the global population (UNHCR, 2017) . Without access to higher education, refugees and people seeking asylum – those who have sought protection as a refugee, but whose claim for refugee protection has not  \n4 ‘My study is the purpose of continuing my life’ Lisa Hartley et al.  \nyet been finalised – are denied opportunities to develop the capacities and knowledge to sustain their livelihoodsand to contribute to their communities and host societies. The lack of access to higher education is particularly complex in the Australian context where refugees and people seeking asylum are afforded different rights and entitlements based on their mode of arrival to Australia.  \nvol. 61, no. 2, 2019  \nA U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nFor example, refugees and humanitarian entrants who are resettled to Australia through the offshore component of Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program have access to services and entitlements that are denied to people seeking asylum who arrive to Australia without a valid visa (the majority of whom have arrived in Australia by boat) (Hartley & Pedersen, 2015) . One of the significant differences in entitlements relates to access to higher education.  \nFor much of the past six years, approximately 30,000 people seeking asylum in Australia have resided in community detention, or lived in the community on temporary Bridging Visas, while they await the processing of their claim for refugee status. These are people who arrived in the country by boat either before 13 August 2012 without having their protection visa application finalised as at 18 September 2013 or those who arrived on or after 13 August 2012 and were not sent to offshore detention on Nauru or Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island. If people seeking asylum are deemed eligible for protection in Australia, the Department of Home Affairs issues them with one of two temporary visas: a 3-year Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) or a 5-year Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) . While more than half of these people have now received a decision on their refugee claim, as at July 2018 there were still 12,290 people seeking asylum who continue to wa","cbCaif4EmGIxYu4E","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaif4EmGIxYu4E","pdf",168416,"English","# Barriers to higher education access for people seeking asylum\n## Visa pathways and international-student admission constraints\n## Financial exclusion from income support and government programs\n## Defined populations: bridging visas, community detention, and temporary visas\n## Entitlement differences by arrival and resettlement route\n## Policy recommendations and federal government barriers","[{\"question\":\"Why is admission to university financially difficult for people seeking asylum in Australia?\",\"answer\":\"Their visas are temporary and the main pathway to university is admission as an international student, which requires paying international student fees. They are also ineligible for many income support programs and federal student financing assistance.\"},{\"question\":\"What themes does the paper identify about lived experience in accessing higher education?\",\"answer\":\"It identifies six themes: the importance of accessing studies, stress from living-expense pressures while studying, mental health issues, support needs related to disability, health challenges, and family responsibilities, the importance of language support and navigational brokers, and the role of higher education in settlement.\"},{\"question\":\"How do policy and visa entitlements differ for refugees versus people seeking asylum?\",\"answer\":\"Refugees resettled offshore through Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program can access services and entitlements that are denied to people seeking asylum who arrive without a valid visa, with higher-education access being a significant difference.\"}]","Australian Universities’ Review - The experience of accessing university for people seeking asylum in Australia | PDF",1792079980,25]