Dal tempo “sospeso” al tempo “produttivo” dell’accoglienza: le sfide per il diritto allo studio del migrante forzato

Access to education is a fundamental human right that must be guaranteed, given the effect that education has on reducing inequalities. In 2021, UNHCR estimated that people with refugee backgrounds are five times less likely to enter university than non-refugee people. The loss of human potential is enormous, if we consider that around 50% of asylum seekers in the European Union, for example, are in the age group between 18 and 34. This article examines the constraints that still produce inequity in Italy in access to university education for asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection and the role that the university can play. The first two paragraphs focus on the right to study and the role of lifelong learning within the reception system in Italy. The following paragraphs analyze the role that learning can play in promoting the human potential of the forced migrant; this process means that the time of reception becomes an opportunity to heal biographical fractures and to aspire to a dignified life in a perspective of social justice. The epistemology underlying the theme of the right to study will be made explicit through the reconstruction of the project “Being an inclusive university for refugee students”, created by the University of Florence to experiment both a pre-academic tutoring activity in reception facilities, and an ongoing tutoring, with the aim of reducing constraints that may limit the inclusion of forced migrants in the academic context.