Ethnic Differences in Education and Diverging Prospects of Urban Youth in an Enlarged Europe / EDUMIGROM

The collaborative research project Ethnic Differences in Education and Diverging Prospects of Urban Youth in an Enlarged Europe (EDUMIGROM) was made possible by a 36 months-grant from March 2008 to February 2011 by the European Commission in its 7th Framework Program. Central coordination lies with the Central European Univerity in Budapest.

EDUMIGROM investigated how far educational policies, practices and experiences in markedly different welfare regimes protect ethnic minority youth against marginalization and eventual social exclusion, or else contribute to the reproduction of diverging prospects along lines of ethnicity. The reseach involves nine countries from among old and new member states of the European Union, including the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Despite great variations in economic development and welfare arrangements, there seem to be similar negative outcomes for certain groups of second-generation immigrants in the Western half of the continent and Roma in Central and Eastern Europe. People affiliated with these groups tend to experience new and intensive forms of separation, social exclusion, and second-class (social) citizenship.

The project has critically examined the role of education in these processes of ‘minoritization’. EDUMIGROM aimed to study how schools operate in their roles of socialization and knowledge distribution agencies, and how they influence young people’s identity formation. The project has also explored how schools contribute to reducing, maintaining, or deepening inequalities in young people’s access to the labor market, further education and training, and also to different domains of social, cultural, and political participation. The results of macro-level investigations, a comparative survey and multi-faceted field research in local settings have provided rich datasets for intra- and cross-country comparisons and evidence-based policy making.

The project provides information on its research concept, methodology and partner institutions at its web site. The project publications, the newsletter as well as the Policy Briefs can also be downloaded there: www.edumigrom.eu

Members of the German Research Team:

Frauke Miera
Rainer Ohliger
Gaby Straßburger
Meryem Ucan

Please find a complete list of all European cooperation partners at www.edumigrom.eu/participants.html.

Publications:

Please visit www.edumigrom.eu/publications to obtain the latest publications, country analyses, policy briefs and the project's newsletter.