Students with refugee experience Students with refugee experience

In winter semester 2024, the KOMPETENZ KOMPAKT preparatory studies programme for prospective students with refugee experience, which is offered by the Centre for Migration Research and Integration Practice, will begin with a one-week orientation module. This will be followed directly by a comprehensive semester programme that will run until February 2025. You can apply from 1 June 2024 to 31 August 2024.

• Attend selected courses in your subject area with support from subject tutors.
• Earn credit points and acquire subject-specific language skills.
• Enhance your study strategies and your self-management and intercultural skills.
• Obtain advising on all matters related to your studies and get support with your application.

You will also benefit from the following offers, which are part of the preparatory studies programme:

• Multilingual tutors will accompany and support you in learning the subject-specific language and with getting oriented in everyday student life.
• HAW Hamburg will give you access to the libraries and an open study room.
• Hochschulsport Hamburg will provide you with the opportunity to take advantage of the sports and leisure activities it offers and get to know other students. 

Programme attendance is free of charge and binding. Participation in the preparatory studies programme does not result in automatic admission to regular studies at HAW Hamburg. Participants can undertake preparatory studies for a maximum of two semesters and will receive a certificate of participation upon completion.

Participation requirements
The preparatory studies programme is open to qualified prospective students with refugee experience who meet the following criteria:

• They have a higher education entrance qualification (even without proof) or have interrupted their studies.
• They are interested in a degree course offered at HAW Hamburg.
• They have German language skills at at least the B2 level.
• They live in Hamburg or the surrounding area.

We especially encourage women to apply.

Recognising the skills of people with refugee experience
The preparatory studies programme for students with refugee experience offered by the HAW Hamburg Centre for Migration Research and Integration Practice differs from the offers at other universities and applied sciences universities because it is oriented towards your skills and your specific situation.

We want to enable prospective students with refugee experience to start their studies at HAW Hamburg as quickly and successfully as possible. Among other things, multilingual tutorials that accompany the courses you attend play an important role here: even before you have achieved university-level language skills (C1), you can learn the subject-specific language, can refresh any subject-related skills which might have been impacted by your situation, and can learn more about what it takes to study successfully at HAW Hamburg.

Centre for Migration Research and Integration Practice
The KOMPETENZ KOMPAKT programme for prospective students with refugee experience was developed as part of the project 'Higher Education Skills of Individuals with Refugee Experience at HAW Hamburg – Competencies for a Plural Society'. It is offered by the HAW Hamburg Centre for Migration Research and Integration Practice, which is headed by Prof. Dr. Louis Henri Seukwa, the HAW Hamburg Executive Board's representative for migration-related university development. As a 'laboratory for migration-related university development', the centre's measures facilitate suitable education opportunities for people with refugee and migration experience through a systematic emphasis on these individuals' resources and skills.

The centre's overarching goal is to bundle and link academic activities in the area of migration and integration in order to ensure that they are systematically developed and advanced on an ongoing basis, both within the university and in the Hamburg metropolitan region.

The KOMPETENZ KOMPAKT preparatory studies programme for prospective students with refugee experience is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service's (DAAD) Integra und Welcome programmes with financial support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).