The issue of higher education (HE) and migration has received scant attention in sociological and geographical research (Banks, 2017; Brooks and Waters, 2011; Collins, 2010). Dynamic globalization processes, easy transport and passage between different areas of the world, facilitated by political unions such as the European Union and the internalization of HE have led to international declarations recognizing the global mobility of students (Hatton, 2017; Trevor, 2014). Simultaneously economic crises and wars especially in the Middle East and political upheavals in various world regions have stimulated mass movements of displaced persons, and refugees.

However, previous studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between discrimination, ineffective policies for the integration of immigrant, foreigner, and refugee students from different and underdeveloped countries, integration of ethnic, religious and national minorities and equal access to HE (Arar & Haj-Yehia, 2016; Brooks & Waters, 2011).

Students' temporary and permanent migration for education is not considered a new phenomenon, whether from free choice or under constricted choice due to oppression and restrictions in their home country (Brooks & Waters, 2011; Trevor, 2014). Nevertheless, it seems that the dynamics of the “global village” have accelerated this phenomenon empowered by global and local crises (Arar & Haj-Yehia, 2016; Hatton, 2017) so that in 2016 it was estimated that close to 65 million refugees and displaced persons were seeking refuge throughout the world (UNICIF, 2017). Although, the number of foreign tertiary students enrolled worldwide increased by 50% between 2005 and 2012. As many as 4.5 million students were enrolled outside of their home countries in 2012 and the total number is estimated to have surpassed five million by 2015 (OECD, 2016) (Bel-Air, 2016).

Nevertheless, there has been little research concerning equitable access for refugees and displaced persons to HE and the specific constraints that shape their choices and opportunities to advance their education, let alone the push factors that force them to leave their former homes and countries including their prior studies to seek their fortune, safety and quality of life abroad (Hatton, 2017; Waite, 2016). Thus, the symposium is prompted by the continuous increase in the movements of migrants due to globalization, economic or ethnic discrimination or due to wars and natural disasters. Migrant students, refugees and foreigners strive to realize their equal and just right to HE in the host states where they are absorbed.  The symposium therefore aims to fill this gap in knowledge and practice, tracing the HE issues raised by mass migration and displacement of various populations in different countries, especially relating to opportunities for HE. The symposium has the advantage that it is crafted by authors from both "Western" and "Oriental" cultures (a Palestinian from Israel, a Turkish and a citizen of the USA) with varied academic backgrounds enabling the composition of a rich global overview of the studied subject.

Aims

The symposium will facilitate dialogue and fertilization of ideas among the region’s researchers in order to answer the main research question from several perspectives presented in this symposium. More specifically, the symposium poses the following questions: (1) How do HE institutions in different parts of the world deal with the challenges that refugee and immigrant students face on their way to HE; and (2) What are the effective models and tools used to deal with these challenges, barriers and problems faced by this group of students?

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