The achievements of a group of unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugees have been recognised by the University of Glasgow after the students completed the first year of their English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programme at Glasgow Clyde College, part of an educational collaboration between the two institutions.

The 38  multicultural students, who are all studying ESOL at the college, have been part of the University's research project Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, The Body, Law and the State. The ESOL "16+" course is specifically designed to help non-native speakers improve their understanding of the English language and increase their confidence in everyday life. 

To mark one year of collaboration between Glasgow Clyde College and the University of Glasgow, the students were invited to attend a special awards ceremony which was designed to inspire them to pursue their dreams of progressing on to higher education. At the event, they were each awarded with a certificate in recognition of their participation in the University of Glasgow’s three-year Researching Multilingually at Borders project. Many of the students took the opportunity to speak out about what it was like to move to the UK from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan in search of asylum and refuge.

Lyn Ma, Senior ESOL Lecturer at Glasgow Clyde College, said: “We’re delighted that our students have been given the opportunity to participate in the University of Glasgow’s research project as we are confident it will be of great benefit to understanding the needs of current and future unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugees.”

Dr Katja Frimberger, postdoctoral research associate on the project, said: "The AHRC project Researching Multilingually has benefited greatly from the collaboration with Glasgow Clyde College's 16+ students of refugee and asylum background. The creative, thoughtful approach the college takes to learning has brought new insights from practice into our knowledge about language education. It was an honour to welcome the students to the University after a year of working with them in Glasgow Clyde College, and to share with them our workplace and celebrate their extraordinary achievements, which we have witnessed as researchers."

The Researching Multilingually project, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, includes an investigation into the educational and psychological impact of creative arts pedagogies on students' educational performance and mental well-being. The Glasgow Clyde College 16+ course takes students' life contexts into account and integrates creative arts, personal guidance and collaboration with counselling and menal health services into its teaching.

Find out more

• Professor Alison Phipps
• Dr Katja Frimberger
• Glasgow Clyde College

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Media enquiries: Liz.Buie@glasgow.ac.uk / 0141 330 2702

First published: 21 May 2015