Covid-19 e os impactos na integração dos estudantes imigrantes e/ou racializados de instituições de ensino superior portuguesas

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to important socio-economic transformations and demanded from governments and other institutions measures and policies that can mitigate or minimize some of its impacts. Considering that the impacts (and also the measures) are suffered differentially by people in different social positions, this study looks at the experience of migrant and/or racialized Higher Education students in Portugal. The pandemic has been understood as a limit situation and therefore we tried to understand how people in this group were impacted in their integration and academic trajectories, namely how the changes imposed by the pandemic situation may have contributed to worsening and deepening their vulnerability and fragility, both social and economic. Therefore, the objective of the study was to understand the lived experiences of immigrant and/or racialized students, and the transformations that the pandemic situation brought to their integration and academic trajectories. We used narrative episodic interviews to collect the material that was analyzed using thematic analysis. From the analysis of the 15 interviews online of undergraduate, master and PhD students, we note the importance of the motivations to migrate, and of the economic, academic and institutional difficulties. Nevertheless, it was possible to note that a feeling of belonging and brotherhood has also prevailed among the students. Both findings favour a reflection on the process of integration in Higher Education contexts.