PhD Defence: Ayla Bonfiglio

On 20 February 2020, Ayla Bonfiglio successfully defended her PhD dissertation entitled “Student Migrant, Refugee or Both? Exploring Refugee Agency and Mobility through Tertiary Education in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda”. Tertiary education institutions in resettlement and asylum countries across the world are asking what role they can and should play in responding to today’s forced displacement crises. Examining the journeys of Congolese and Somali refugees and migrants, the dissertation finds that higher education impacts how refugees and migrants planned the timing of their exits from origin countries, their choice of destination, and the legal or irregular channels they used to enter and settle in destination countries.