What do Flight and Migration Mean for our Society?
University of Bamberg scholars have provided comments outlining various facets of their research on flight and migration. These scholars are active in the fields of sociology, labour studies and education and would gladly make themselves available for more in-depth interviews.
What do more stringent deportation regulations mean for policing and society?
Dr. Georgiana Banita, Trimberg Research Academy:
“The tightening of asylum laws has shifted deportation into the focus of the discussion of refugees. When it comes to the deportation of those asylum seekers legally obliged to leave the country, police at both the state and federal levels are being granted ever more authority. This development has caused a shift in both the everyday role of police and the public perception of persons seeking protection. Police involvement in cases of forced removal is becoming more routine, and this results in a broader public suspicion concerning asylum seekers and a growing perception that there’s a connection between refugees and crime.”
Email: Georgiana.Banita(at)uni-bamberg.de, Tel.: 0951/863-3505
Research focus areas:
- cultural aspects of policing in migration societies, e.g. the emergence of prejudice/biases towards persons with migration backgrounds
- the use of prediction systems for the prevention of potential crimes
- the impact of deportation policy on the cultural perception of police officers and migrants
How can integration succeed?
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Friedrich Heckmann, Professor of Sociology former director of the european forum for migration studies (efms):
“Refugees who have found protection in a receiving country are thinking of a temporary stay and wish to return to their home countries when conditions allow it. This results in partial integration. As with other migrant groups, longer stays, legal security and interests increasingly tied to the receiving country lead to the development of an integration process based on an acquisition of membership. Migrants’ willingness to learn and to achieve and the receiving society’s openness and its willingness to learn and utilise its institutions to support and invest in the integration process are the cornerstones of successful integration. Additional factors include the migrants’ assimilation of social and cultural relationships beyond their ethnic origin, and natives’ willingness to accept the migrants as belonging.”
Email: friedrich.heckmann(at)uni-bamberg.de, Tel.: 0911/557570
Research focus areas:
- municipal integration policy
- evaluation of integration measures
- multicultural society and nation-building
What are the appropriate conditions for successfully integrating refugees into the German education system?
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Hans-Günther Roßbach, Professor of Education:
“The German education system is faced with high expectations to contribute to refugee integration. The Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) at the University of Bamberg is currently researching the conditions necessary for this in a longitudinal study titled “Refugees in the German Educational System”. We’re studying the integration of pre-school age and adolescent refugee children over the course of several years. The study will continue through June 2021. So far, research suggests that early access to child day-care facilities likely fosters success – not only for making contact with the German language, but also due to the fact that German day-care facilities traditionally work closely with families. Pre-school age children are even a means of reaching parents and further promoting integration. This means it’s essential to make access to day-care facilities as easy as possible for families.”
Email: hans-guenther.rossbach(at)uni-bamberg.de
Research focus areas:
- quality in early education
- model experiments in preschool
- longitudinal research
Can families with a migration background get what they want for their children from day-care?
Dr. Lars Burghardt, Research Assistant in Early Childhood Education:
“Waiting lists for childcare facilities are long and ever more parents are making use of this kind of offering for their children under three years of age. This, however, is not the case for families with a migration background. It is far less common for their children to attend such a facility at such a young age, but this in no way corresponds to these families’ wishes! One of our studies has shown that parents of children with a migration background often have no choice but to care for their children at home. This particularly problematic because children from families that don’t speak German at home reap considerable benefits from early, high-quality childcare. The foundational development of grammar is achieved by age four. In order for children to be successful in school, it’s crucial that they come into contact with the German language from a young age.
Further information: www.uni-bamberg.de/presse/pm/artikel/studie-kita-migration/
Email: lars.burghardt(at)uni-bamberg.de, Tel.: 0951/863-1988 (Mon, Tue) or 0951/863-3476 (Wed-Fri)
Research focus areas:
- quality and quality measures in institutions of early child care
- (longitudinal)analysis of effects of early child care
- utilisation of institutional early child care facilities
- gender representation in picture books
How does increased refugee immigration in recent years affect the labour market’s skilled worker shortage?
Prof. Dr. Olaf Struck, Professor of Labour Studies:
“A positive effect of refugee immigration for a reduction of the skilled worker shortage is linked to some specific conditions. Compared with other migrant groups, refugees are generally poorly prepared for immigration and don’t possess the appropriate qualifications. This means that expenditures for professional or university training for the mostly younger refugees would be very high. But considering our ageing society and the current skilled worker shortage, it would be a worthwhile investment.”
Email: olaf.struck@uni-bamberg.de, Tel.: 0951/863-2690 or -2692 (secretary)
Research focus areas:
- labour market analysis and occupational research, including geographic mobility and occupational and working hours flexibility in the labour market, demographic change and the future of labor and digitalisation
- organisational research, including wages, motivation and equity in corporations, job requirements and physical and psychological stress in corporations, in-house training and further education and learning environments
Further information for media representatives:
Media contact:
Samira Rosenbaum
Research Communication
Tel.: 0951/863-1156
forschungskommunikation(at)uni-bamberg.de