Diverse communities of learners: The journey of second-generation immigrants to university

In the first part, this paper reports on recent research on the attitudes of students with a migration background towards learning for employability. Using individual student data from 2014 (TEL4-G), the findings indicate both immigrant-specific patterns of university enrolment and significant differences within the group of second-generation immigrants. In the second part of the paper, we further gain insights from a representative survey of first-year students in Business and Economics (conducted in 2016-17). In particular, we study the role of non-traditional pathways to university and their relative importance for students with a migration background. These findings are relevant for strategies that aim at widening the overall participation in higher education and for policies that encourage academia to become a diverse community itself.