Adrift potential(s)

Abstract

In 2015, the dominant discourse in the media was about the large amount of people who fled their homes. Since the start of the civil war in Syrian in 2011, almost one out of three Syrian citizens fled their homes to seek for a safer place in a neighbouring country or in Europe. In the Netherlands, a large amount of the refugee population is Syrian. Many of them are young and obtained high education in Syria. Most of them are ambitious, motivated and eager to start their future without insecurity and war. Despite the often dominant negative sounds in the Dutch national debate on the integration of refugees, optimistic sounds are heard as well when people say high educated refugees can enrich the Dutch society with their skills and talents. But how do highly educated Syrian refugees themselves experience this? Therefore, this research questions what influence pre- and post-migration experiences of education and work of highly educated Syrian refugees have on their perception of belonging to the Dutch citizenry. In order to answer this question, the interrelation of social and human capital and the process of inclusion and exclusion from Dutch education, the Dutch labour market, and the Dutch society at large is examined. In-depth interviews and conversations with young, highly educated Syrian refugees gained insights in their perspective on their structural integration process, and the barriers and difficulties they face in this process. As many media, organisations and companies are optimistic about the value highly educated refugees can add to our society, this research shows a more nuanced and realistic perspective by arguing that the devaluation of pre-migration human capital causes feelings of exclusion from Dutch citizenry for highly educated Syrian refugees. However, the post-migration social capital they obtain in the Netherlands can generate feelings of inclusion and belonging.