Refugee students during pandemic time: keywords for academic integration

The present paper reports the experience of the CAP (Centre of lifelong learning of the University of Bari Aldo Moro) and its activities in the field of validation and certification of competences acquired in formal, and informal contexts of learning of young student refugees who have chosen to continue their studies which were interrupted in their own countries. This CAP’s experience highlights how informal education is crucial within the processes of academic integration. Moreover, this experience represents an attempt of internationalization aimed to institutionalize the “finalized recognition” procedure, through the comparability of qualifications and the certification of competences. In particular, the paper focuses on the most relevant words of a Focus Group Discussion held with the refugee students at the University of Bari “A. Moro”. The event was realized during the UNHCR World Refugee Day celebration. How did the students face the restrictions due to anti-Covid-19 security rules? How did they respond to the stop of face-to-face classroom teaching and to the solely digital learning arrangement and on-line administrative services of the host University? The paper presents the key words of the most relevant answers to these questions and starts from the testimony from a Dept. of Economy University freshman and from a Dept. of Education graduate student, different in the concern of integration levels but very similar on the aspect of motivations and resilience capabilities.