Passerelle University Diploma - Students in Exile
A University Diploma to prepare students in exile to resume their studies at a French university.
The university has been engaged in the education and socio-professional integration of refugees since 2018.
In 2020, this resulted in a new university diploma or DU called “Passerelle- Etudiant(e)s en exil” (Bridge - Students in Exile). The program, which receives support from the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, Bienvenue en France, and the BNP, will allow the University to become meet its goals in a key area of its social responsibility policy.
The University Diploma is designed to offer refresher training in French for non-Francophones with asylum seeker, refugee, or subsidiary protection status so that they can pursue higher education in France.
Most of the class content focuses on fluency in written and oral French, which are essential to pursuing third-level study in France.
The diploma includes university methods courses, refresher courses, orientation and professional integration workshops, and cultural activities. Dauphine-PSL faculty members offer tutoring to participants to help them in their journey back to education. The program also features student peer membership thanks to a partnership with “Fleur de Bitume,” a student organization.
On September 21, 2020 we welcomed 19 refugees or asylum seekers for an academic year. The cohort included seven women, and its members had an average age of 26 and came from Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Bangladesh, India, Palestine, Egypt, and Mongolia. 11 of them have an undergraduate or Master’s degree.
The program aims to be a collaborative University project that calls on all the entire Dauphine community. Each year, about 100 people, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, and professionals, are involved in the program.
Our supporters and pedagogical partners
Fleur de Bitume Dauphine
"Fleur de Bitume Dauphine” is the university's oldest humanitarian association, founded at Dauphine-PSL in 1996. Today, it brings together more than 80 members divided into three divisions. Together, they organize daily local actions to fight against exclusion. The Alpha division, which has been teaching French language classes since its inception, has joined forces with us. They play a role that is vital to the diploma’s success: recruiting around fifty students to support our participants and then leading this mentor network, monitoring the support students provide, and engaging with the program’s teaching team on an ongoing basis.
Réseau Migrants dans l’Enseignement Supérieur (Migrants in Higher Education Network)
Dauphine-PSL is a member of the MEnS (Migrants dans l’Enseignement Supérieur) network, an organization that brings together French institutions of higher education who are hosting and supporting students and researchers in exile. Its mission is to support and coordinate institutional activities, to help provide students and researchers in exile with optimal living conditions and integration into French life, and to situate this work in an international context.
L'Atelier du français (French Workshop)
The l'Atelier du français association provides the program with FLE (French as a foreign language) interns who offering tutoring sessions to students after they complete the diploma program. This allows our students to benefit from additional support for several months after their graduate.
Contacts
Joachim JARREAU
Associate Professor DIAL - LEDa
Program Director
Christine VICENS
Project Manager for University Social Responsibility
Send an email
Pause Program
National program for the urgent aid and reception of scientists in exile
Through its participation in the national PAUSE program initiated by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dauphine has been engaged in supporting scientists in exile in emergency situations since 2018.
Over a two-year period, the university hosted a Turkish media economics researcher who was being threatened in her country. It also supported a Turkish doctoral candidate in geography for two consecutive years while she wrote her thesis. Another doctoral student, whose doctoral work focuses on the Kurdish diaspora, will be joining Dauphine-PSL in September 2021.