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Refugee support at Leibniz Universität Hannover

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Most of these students were studying in Syria, Iran, or Iraq

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before they had to flee their respective countries.

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Now that they’re in Germany, they wish to continue their studies.

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And depending on their field of study, we’re able to advise them.

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The university is happy to welcome every student who wants to study here.

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But refugees have to meet the same requirements as every other student.

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First, I explain the basic requirements that most are not aware of.

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Then we check the qualifications students have acquired in their home countries to see

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if they are eligible for university admission and the studies to which they pursue.

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It’s also important to assess the students’ language skills. 

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Their knowledge of German is often at an A1-A2 level rather than the required C1 level.

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Then we can consider contacting the respective department to find out 

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if the previously studied subjects fit one of our master programmes,

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or if there are any further requirements;

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whether they should start with a bachelor’s programme, or choose a master's programme.

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It’s a highly individual process, and very different for each applicant.

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It’s crucial to first inform refugees of what options there are for enrolling at university.

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Our visiting student programme is a good starting point,

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as regular studies are often too difficult. 

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Through visiting and senior student programmes, refugees can gain easy access to university courses.

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In this way, they can attend a course and get a general idea 

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of the subject to see if it suits them. 

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Can I keep up? Do I understand what is being discussed?

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Language skills play a key role here.

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There’s a great demand for German courses amongst refugees.

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We cooperate with the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Special Languages (CALSL),

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as we cannot meet this demand on our own.

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CALSL have the expertise and staff to teach German as a foreign language.

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We enrol the refugees, counsel them, and refer them to the CALSL,

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which coordinates the lecturers, course offers, lecture halls, etc.

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Our role is to finance these courses. 

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Our university also has student initiatives, such as the Refugee Law Clinic. 

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The Refugee Law Clinic Hannover is a registered society

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providing free legal advice for refugees. 

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We’re there for them, offering our help, explaining procedures,

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and assisting them in legal issues – both large and small.

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We have become a large team. We started out with ten people, who founded the society. 

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After two rounds of training, there are now approx. 70 consultants,

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paired in 35 consulting teams that take refugees

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as clients and try to help them.

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It’s great that the university provides all these services 

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to help refugees get started. 

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If things become too difficult, or if we change things,

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we can at least try to support and help people.