Defying Higher Education Borders with Migrant Students in Canada - (Challenging Migration Studies) by Paloma E Villegas & Tanya Aberman (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book examines how migrant students in Canada challenge exclusionary policies through a groundbreaking access program, .

Book Synopsis

This book explores migrant students' struggles for equitable access to higher education in Canada, focusing on a first-of-its-kind bridging program at York University.
Through the concepts of "bordering" and "countering," Villegas and Aberman examine how students excluded due to immigration status resisted systemic barriers by forming supportive classroom communities and challenging dominant narratives. Providing essential insights for educators, policymakers, and advocates seeking to build more inclusive and just higher education systems, this book reveals how everyday acts of resistance can transform exclusion into opportunity and reimagine universities as sanctuaries.

Review Quotes

Paloma E. Villegas and Tanya Aberman have been instrumental in the development and implementation of a unique initiative promoting access to higher education for migrant students, regardless of immigration status, in Canada. In this timely book, they shed light on immigrant students' lived experiences in the education system and highlight the key role of agency and advocacy in advancing equitable education for all.
Idil Atak, Toronto Metropolitan University

This book shines a critical light on migrant youth access to higher education, shifting the discussion away from complementary pathways, to explore this issue through the lives of migrants already living within the Canadian border. Young people at the centre of this study are not defined by their immigration status, but as students with lives and dreams that can be both recognised and met by Canadian universities. The book effectively translates research grounded in practice, into a ready-made agenda for universities to pick up and run with.

About the Author

Paloma E. Villegas is associate professor of critical migration studies in the Department of Sociology at California State University, San Bernardino.
Tanya Aberman is the coordinator of the Sanctuary Scholars programs at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University.