The aim of the paper is to develop a comparison of policies, practices and tools used by universities to improve human capital and promote the education and skills necessary for the growth and employment of students in a socio-economically fragile, legally and socially vulnerable situation, including those who fall into the category of refugees. Recently, attention to these categories has increased and many HEIs have developed initiatives and projects for these categories, focusing on migrants and refugees, particularly in Europe. Recently, due to various migration flows, HEIs have had to address the challenges posed by asylum seekers, refugees and those who came to Europe under special resettlement programs (e.g. Afghans, Syrians and Ukrainians). Enrolment is only one side of the coin. The ability to achieve good results in any educational pathway requires integration into society. Thanks to extensive qualitative research  across Europe, it is possible to show to what extent the reception, integration and support of students from conflict areas with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds can succeed when a network of public and private institutions work together. Supporting these particular students helps universities to better understand the importance of building networks with all those institutions, NGOs and ethnic and religious associations that support migrants on their integration journey: Refugees and, more generally, those who arrive in a new country on a student visa under UNCHR programs (e.g. UNICORE – College Corridors for Refugees) run the risk of dropping out of their studies and wasting potential human capital. 

Alla the data have been collected using qualitative methods: indeed, interviews with students (no. 40, refugee students or belonging to ethnic minotities, gender balanced), faculty members (no. 12), administrative staff members (no. 15), stakeholders (no. 16). the interviews have been anonymized, and each interviewee has been codified by gender, age, citizenship, country of living, job/enrolled course).

Three principles drive the collected projects across the countries: a) welcoming culture: the characteristic feature of the universities, the people who live, study and work in them, the territory, the institutions, facilities and associations; b) equality: giving people – and especially women – who come from dramatic histories and territories the chance of a high-caliber education; c) Inclusion: involving the beneficiaries of the project in a social fabric that makes them feel creators of their own future, "bridges" between territories of awakening and hospitality, responsible for building "peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development." Based on these three principles, the limits and possibilities of promoting higher education are discussed, comparing and contrasting the experiences in Italy, Spain, Germany and Greece.

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