Inclusive Higher Education Access for Underrepresented Groups: It Matters, But How Can Universities Measure It?

Measuring access to higher education for underrepresented groups is a relevant yet challenging task. The article shows that while social inclusion is recognised as a priority, policymakers, academics, and institutional leaders struggle to define, operationalise, and measure it. This makes answering the question of what constitutes a socially inclusive higher education institution quite difficult. While the answer to this question may be context‐specific, there is a clear need for a set of commonly defined indicators that allow higher education institutions to measure their progress throughout time and in relation to others. The article synthesises insights from policy, practise, and scientific research to identify which indicators are the most promising for assessing the access of under‐representative students to higher education. By discussing indicator relevance, validity and feasibility, the article contributes to the quest for internationally comparable social inclusion indicators of underrepresented student groups

Refugee Mobilities and Institutional Changes: Local Housing Policies and Segregation Processes in Greek Cities

Many studies have explored the dynamics of immigrant and refugee settlement at the local level, highlighting that it is actually a two-way process: On the one hand, the local socio-political context specifies the conditions for refugee inclusion, and on the other, migrant mobility leads to the transformation of localities in various ways. In Greek cities, the social practices of local actors have played an important role in the implementation of the immigration policy, where refugees were perceived as a threat to personal and community security. Yet, new forms of social mobilisation and solidarity by individual citizens and community initiatives have worked to alter these attitudes, mitigating tensions and obstacles in refugee acceptance. The article draws on the Greek experience to explore the role and importance of the local socio-political texture in refugee inclusion, shedding light on how it gave rise to various local initiatives that inform refugee allocation as well as urban transformation and institutional change. In methodological terms, the article considers three neighbouring Greek cities as case studies to identify the different institutional and policy responses to refugee accommodation, giving rise to different paths and forms of social inclusion. The study reveals the complexity and context of the social-spatial diversity that refugees face but also the transformation dynamics of local states and civil society.The paper draws on the Greek experience to explore the role and importance of social infrastructure in refugee integration, shedding light on how these qualities, materialized in local initiatives for refugee integration to influence urban transformation and institutional change. In methodological terms, the paper employs three small and medium-size Greek cities as case studies to identify the different institutional and policy responses to refugee accommodation followed, giving rise to different paths and forms of social inclusion and urban transformation. The study reveals the complexity and the contextuality of the social spatial diversity that refugees face but also the transformation of local states and civil society

The Role of Institutional and Structural Differences for City-Specific Arrangements of Urban Migration Regimes

In recent years, an increasing influx of migrants to Europe has led to a heated public discourse about integration capacities within receiving countries such as Germany. During this period, German society, with its changeful immigration history, is again challenged to provide policy responses and foster migrant integration, especially in urban areas. The efforts of cities along that path, however, vary greatly. Complementing locality approaches on immigration and integration policies, which are focused on metropolises and the U.S.-American context, this article is an empirical application for understanding institutional and structural conditions for local variations in integration strategies in Germany by presenting a comparative analysis of four mid-sized cities. The particular research interest lies on discourses from interviews with local authorities and civil society actors. Our analysis reveals city-specific streamlines: For instance, discourses at a center of the ‘knowledge society’ focused on a strong municipal power structure that allowed communally-financed, sustainable projects to evolve from a historically-grounded commitment to welcome migrants and from high financial capacities at its disposal. In another case, discourses revolved around a city’s financially constraints, which were equalized by compensatory civil society networks. In other cities, progress was associated with spontaneous local happenings or individual innovative leadership. These street-level patterns create a degree of locality within the global migration discourse, since they emerge from the interplay of financial, economic, and demographic features; historical concepts; or local events. We therefore contend that urban planning initiatives would profit from considering place-specific institutions that influence integration stakeholders, which are regime-makers and foster institutional, migration-led changes

Mobile Journalists as Traceable Data Objects: Surveillance Capitalism and Responsible Innovation in Mobile Journalism

This article discusses how Shosana Zuboff’s critical theory of surveillance capitalism may help to understand and underpin responsible practice and innovation in mobile journalism. Zuboff conceptualizes surveillance capitalism as a new economic logic made possible by ICT and its architecture for extracting and trading data products of user behavior and preferences. Surveillance is, through these new technologies, built into the fabric of our economic system and, according to Zuboff, appears as deeply anti-democratic and a threat to human sovereignty, dignity, and autonomy. In Europe, the framework of responsible research and innovation is promoted as an approach and a meta-concept that should inform practice and policy for research and innovation to align with societal values and democratic principles. Within this approach, ICT is framed as a risk technology. As innovation in mobile journalism is inextricably tied to the technologies and infrastructure of smartphones and social media platforms, the apparent question would be how we can envision responsible innovation in this area. Zuboff provides a critical perspective to study how this architecture of surveillance impedes the practice of mobile journalism. While the wide adoption of smartphones as a key tool for both producing and consuming news has great potential for innovation, it can also feed behavioral data into the supply chain of surveillance capitalism. We discuss how potentially harmful implications can be met on an individual and organizational level to contribute to a more responsible adoption of mobile technologies in journalism

More Than Open Space! The Case for Green Infrastructure Teaching in Planning Curricula

Since the mid-1990s, the concept of Green Infrastructure (GI) has been gaining traction in fields such as ecology and forestry, (landscape) architecture, environmental and hydrological engineering, public health as well as urban and regional planning. Definitions and aims ascribed to GI vary. Yet, agreement broadly exists on GI’s ability to contribute to sustainability by means of supporting, for example, biodiversity, human and animal health, and storm water management as well as mitigating urban heat island effects. Given an acknowledged role of planners in delivering sustainable cities and towns, professional bodies have highlighted the need for spatial planners to understand and implement GI. This raises questions of what sort of GI knowledge planners may require and moreover by whom and how GI knowledge and competencies may be conveyed? Examining knowledge and skills needs vis-à-vis GI education opportunities indicates a provision reliant primarily on continued professional education and limited ad hoc opportunities in Higher Education. The resulting knowledge base appears fragmented with limited theoretical foundations leading the authors to argue that a systematic inclusion of green infrastructure knowledges in initial planning education is needed to promote and aid effective GI implementation

Deepfakes on Twitter: Which Actors Control Their Spread?

The term deepfake was first used in a Reddit post in 2017 to refer to videos manipulated using artificial intelligence techniques and since then it is becoming easier to create such fake videos. A recent investigation by the cybersecurity company Deeptrace in September 2019 indicated that the number of what is known as fake videos had doubled in the last nine months and that most were pornographic videos used as revenge to harm many women. The report also highlighted the potential of this technology to be used in political campaigns such as in Gabon and Malaysia. In this sense, the phenomenon of deepfake has become a concern for governments because it poses a short-term threat not only to politics, but also for fraud or cyberbullying. The starting point of this research was Twitter’s announcement of a change in its protocols to fight fake news and deepfakes. We have used the Social Network Analysis technique, with visualization as a key component, to analyze the conversation on Twitter about the deepfake phenomenon. NodeXL was used to identify main actors and the network of connections between all these accounts. In addition, the semantic networks of the tweets were analyzed to discover hidden patterns of meaning. The results show that half of the actors who function as bridges in the interactions that shape the network are journalists and media, which is a sign of the concern that this sophisticated form of manipulation generates in this collective

University Applicants from Refugee Backgrounds and the Intention to Drop Out from Pre‐Study Programs: A Mixed‐Methods Study

The mixed‐methods project WeGe investigates key factors for refugees’ integration into pre‐study programs and conditions for successful transitions to higher education institutions (HEIs). In this article, we first examine the dropout intentions of international students and refugee students participating in formal pre‐study programs at German HEIs to disclose both barriers and resources. We use insights from migration research to extend theoretical student dropout models and analyse novel data from a quantitative survey with international and refugee students in pre‐study programs. Our findings show that refugee students intend to drop out from pre‐study programs more often than other international students. This difference disappears when other characteristics are controlled for. Effect decomposition shows that financial problems and perceived exclusion are driving dropout intentions of refugee students, whereas German language use in everyday life and a strong connection to the prospective field of study function as a resource and reduce the dropout risk. Depending on the reference group, deficits or resources of refugee students become apparent. This result suggests that refugees should be addressed as a student group in their own right. As a second step, we analyse qualitative expert interviews to reconstruct the staff’s perspectives on barriers and resources of refugee students to analyse how the driving factors of dropout intentions are represented in their knowledge. In particular, we show if and how this knowledge is used to address refugees and to develop inclusive educational concepts within pre‐study programs

“I Have to Further My Studies Abroad”: Student Migration in Ghana

The literature on migration intentions of university students and their decisions to travel abroad as student migrants is limited. This article outlines how the thought of student migration is created and nurtured. It investigates how facilitators and/or constraints influence the decision to migrate as students. Using a multi-sited approach, fieldwork in Ghana focused on prospective student migrants, while fieldwork in the Netherlands provided a retrospective perspective among student migrants. Life story interviews were adopted in the collection of data. In the minds of the respondents, there is a clear distinction between the idea of ‘migration’ and the idea of ‘student migration.’ The article concludes that childhood socialization shapes the idea of ‘migration’ that culminates in the thought of ‘student migration.’ Apart from studies, experiencing new cultures and networking are among the notableexpectations that inform the thought of studentmigration. Religiosity categorised as prayers and belonging to religious community is a cultural principle employed to facilitate the fulfilment of student migration intentions. With a shift from the classical economic models of understanding the decision to migrate, this article elucidates the fears, anxiety, joys and perplexities that are embedded in the thought of student migration

Urban Planning by Experiment: Practices, Outcomes, and Impacts

The impact of urban experimentation on urban planning approaches is so far insufficiently assessed and discussed. This thematic issue sets out to investigate the possibilities and limitations of ‘urban planning by experiment,’ defined as an approach that uses experimentation to innovate and improve urban planning instruments, approaches, and outcomes. It brings together eight contributions presenting original research on urban experimentation and its relation to urban planning. All contributions are empirically grounded in (illustrative) case studies, mostly from European cities. Here, we summarize and discuss the major findings across the eight contributions with respect to three key themes: the practices of urban experimentation, its outcomes, and its impacts on urban planning. We conclude that the practices of urban experimentation described in the contributions generated a wide variety of substantive and learning outcomes, which, according to the authors, represent worthwhile additions or alternatives to the current repertoire of approaches and instruments of urban planning. However, except for a single case, large-scale integration of experimentation in established approaches to urban planning was not observed, let alone a complete transformation of urban planning practices. An area for further research concerns the relation between the way urban experiments are organized and conducted, and their impact on urban planning

Saving Lives: Mapping the Power of LGBTIQ+ First Nations Creative Artists

In 2020, I was funded by the Australian Research Council to undertake research that examines the ways in which queer Indigenous creative practitioners create impact and influence. With a program titled “Saving Lives: Mapping the Influence of LGBTIQ+ First Nations Creative Artists,” the mapping is currently underway to explore how creativity has been used to demonstrate our reality and potential as queer First Nations’ Peoples. The title of this commentary explicitly reframes this from influence, to one of insistent resistance. It explores beyond how we persuade, to understand why the resistance in the work of First Nations’ queer creatives lays the groundwork for a future where the complexity of our identities are centred, and where young, queer Indigenous people can realise their own imaginings