Robertson Helps to Inform New Policies for Refugees, Asylum Seekers in Europe

Dr. Linda Robertson, the Center for International and Intercultural Education director at Kent State University, will take part in the European School Administrator Program (EAP) Return Seminar at ESENESR, a higher education institute located in Chasseneuil-du-Poitou, France from January 11-13, 2017.

The goal of the conference is to help 20 European school principals, vice principals, and district and regional educators from five countries – France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom – prepare a briefing to give to the French ministry on how to integrate refugees into their public school systems.

During the three-day conference the group will examine and exchange ideas on various approaches to promote the economic and social advancement of minority, refugee, and immigrant youth. Robertson and Marina Aleixo, from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, will share best practices and research regarding this topic.

“At the end of the seminar we hope to inform new policies regarding asylum seekers and refugees from Syria and North African countries that are moving to Europe because of civil unrest and war in their home countries,” said Robertson.

This is the first time this conference will be held in Europe. The first EAP seminar was held in Washington, D.C. at the end of October 2016. Robertson served as the overall facilitator of this project, helping participants connect what they learn to the situations in their home schools, conducting debriefing sessions throughout the program, and tying the various school visits, panel presentations, policy briefings all together.

The EAP conference is sponsored by the United States Department of State, the Fulbright Commission in France, and the French Ministry of National Education. The International Research & Exchanges Board is administering the United States portion of the program.

For more information about Kent State’s Center for International and Intercultural Education, visit http://www.kent.edu/ehhs/centers/ciie.

POSTED: Monday, January 9, 2017 01:24 PM
Updated: Thursday, December 8, 2022 08:21 PM