Call For Chapter Proposals

Handbook on Migration and Higher Education Editors: Khalid H. Arar, Kussai Haj-Yehia, Linyuan Guo-Brennan, Anna Saiti

About the Handbook

Migration and higher education are deeply intertwined. Today, more than 281 million international migrants and 117 million forcibly displaced people are reshaping societies and higher education institutions worldwide (World Migration Report, 2024). Refugee access to higher education remains disproportionately low, just 7% compared to 42% among their non-refugee peers (UNHCR, 2025). Meanwhile, restrictive visa regimes, credential recognition challenges, anti-immigrant policies, and neoliberal market-driven internationalization continue to frame mobility and access.

Building on the foundation laid by “Education, Immigration and Migration: Policy, Leadership and Praxis for a Changing World” (Arar et al., 2019), this text brings together leading and emerging authors to consider how higher education institutions are shaping and shaped by these complex topics. Contributors of this book will examine educational access, inclusion, leadership, justice, and knowledge creation in the context of global mobility, refugee flows, statelessness, forced displacement, and challenges related to the integration of diverse student populations into host institutions and societies.

Despite policy gains, major barriers persist—and this book examines how they play out across regions. Refugees remain starkly under-represented in higher education. Gaps widen through credential non-recognition, restrictive visas, and legal-linguistic hurdles (Kondakci, 2023; Lenette, 2022;). Intensifying geopolitics and anti-immigration narratives have reshaped higher-ed norms; in the U.S., proposals such as revoking visas for online-only students and restricting international admissions— though reversed — signaled protectionist aims. International students, once framed as cultural ambassadors and engines of innovation, increasingly face suspicion and surveillance (Streitwieser & Unangst, 2021. Meanwhile, market-driven internationalization prioritizes elite mobility and prestige over social justice (Stein, 2021; Ilieva, 2023). Addressing these contradictions requires rethinking leadership, responsibility, and the academy’s moral purpose—not just technical fixes.

This Handbook offers a critical and comprehensive examination of the evolving relationship between migration and higher education. It explores how higher education institutions (HEIs) both shape and are shaped by global migration, forced displacement, and mobility, focusing on

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS

equity, access, leadership, social justice, and the reimagination of higher education in the face of global challenges.

The volume will:

● Critically analyze policies and practices influencing migrant and refugee learners’ access to higher education.

● Investigate leadership responses and institutional strategies to support migrant, refugee, undocumented, and stateless students.

● Explore lived experiences of displaced students and scholars navigating exclusionary academic systems.

● Examine epistemic justice, decolonization, and the moral role of universities in contexts of migration and displacement.

● Highlight innovations, partnerships, and transformative practices that support inclusion, social mobility, and intercultural understanding.

● Analyze current trends in student mobility and their impact on global higher education.

Publication Schedule

Editors and authors will adhere to the following schedule.

All chapters must follow APA 7th edition referencing style.

About the Chapters

Chapters in this handbook examine how higher education both shapes and is shaped by migration, forced displacement, and global mobility. Each contribution should engage the volume’s aims—equity, access, leadership, social justice, and the reimagination of higher education—by situating its argument in relevant theories (e.g., migration and mobility studies, internationalization, leadership, decolonial and feminist lenses, ethics of care) and by drawing clear implications for institutional practice and policy across cross-cultural and cross-border contexts.

We welcome empirical, conceptual, ethnographic, and comparative work. Each chapter should include: (1) a concise problem framing grounded in current literature; (2) a transparent theoretical framework; (3) methodology and context (for empirical pieces) or analytic approach Chapter Proposal Submission Link

(for conceptual pieces); (4) analysis that speaks directly to migrant, refugee, undocumented, stateless learners or scholars, credential recognition, visa regimes, language and legal barriers, institutional leadership, internationalization logics, epistemic justice, and/or partnerships; and (5) actionable recommendations for leaders and practitioners. Reflexivity/positionality statements are encouraged where appropriate.

Those interested in authoring a chapter for this book are invited to submit a brief description of their chapter idea (750 words or less) by October 31, 2025. The editors will send authors their decision by November 21, 2025. If the chapter is accepted, the author(s) will receive a chapter template. Download call for book chapters here 

Each chapter is limited to 7000 words, including references. It adheres to APA (American Psychological Association) (7th edition) formatting and citation guidelines.

Chapters in this book could focus on, but not limited to the following topics:

● Global migration trends and higher education responses

● Refugee access and policy contradictions across regions

● Credential recognition, language policies, and equity in admissions

● Trauma-informed pedagogy and migrant student support

● Leadership, governance, and university partnerships with civil society

● Academic freedom and support for at-risk scholars

● Gender, identity, and intersectionality in migrant student experiences

● Digital inclusion, online learning, and displaced learners

● Decolonization of knowledge and higher education reform

● Climate-induced migration and academic futures

● Universities as sanctuaries and safe spaces

Audience

The Handbook targets scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and graduate students in higher education, migration studies, refugee studies, comparative and international education, and human rights. It will also serve policymakers, NGOs, and global development agencies working on migration and education.

About the Editors

Khalid H. Arar, Ph.D. is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, at the College of Education at Texas State University. His international and comparative research program is rooted at the nexus of social justice, equity, and diversity in K-12 and Higher Education as it covers the following domains: 1) Diversity, equity, and inclusion, 2) Social justice and ecological leadership for educational change, 3) Immigration, refugees, diverse cultures, and educational policy. His research interests contribute to the scholarship of social justice leadership and policy, more specifically to the area of refugee welcome in education and higher education settings. Receipt of major scholarly awards, Division A-Administration, Organization and Leadership, Excellence in Research Award (AERA 2023), Presidential Distinction for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activity, College of Education, (2022, 2023), Honorary Professor of International Studies at TXST, Best Book Honorable Mention Award, Comparative and International Education Society (CIES, 2023), AERA, the SJ Bridge People Award, 2024. Founding and editor-in-chief of two book series in Routledge, Editor of School Improvement Book series (AERA, SI SIG), Co-Lead Convener, International Research Network on Education Leadership (WERA), and editor-in-chief of Leadership and Policy in Schools.

Dr. Kussai Haj-Yehia is an associate Professor at the Department of Advanced Studies at Beit Berl College and Sakhnin College, Israel. He was formerly the head of the Arab Academic Institute for Education at Beit Berl College. His research deals with internationalization of higher education, Palestinian Arab students’ mobility and migration for studies abroad as well as Palestinian Arab graduates from Israel. In addition, he specializes in the fields of social and cultural change among the Arab Palestinian Minority in Israel. He has published many books and articles in Arabic, Hebrew and other languages on these topics, which include The higher education and the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel (with Prof. Khalid Arar), published by Palgrave Macmillan, USA. He has edited (with Prof. Khalid Arar, Prof. David B. Ross, and Prof. Yasar Kondakci) with PETER LANG Publishing an edited book with the title: Higher Education Challenges for Migrant and Refugee Students in a Global World.

Dr. Linyuan Guo-Brennan is a Professor of International and Global Education at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada. Her recent publications include Education for Global Citizenship and Sustainability (Island Studies Press), Global Leadership for a Sustainable Future (Emerald), Global Leadership for Equity and Inclusion in Education (Routledge), and Global Public Leadership for Inclusion and Innovation (Routledge). She is currently serving as the President of Comparative and International Education Society of Canada (CIESC), an Executive Committee Member of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES), the co-editor of the Routledge Book Series titled Education Leadership for an Equitable, Resilient, and Sustainable Future, and the lead convener of the World Education Research Association (WERA) International Research Network on the same topic.

Dr. Anna Saiti, is a Professor of Management and Economics of Education. She is the Director of the Lab Leadership & Innovation of the School of Administrative, Economics & Social Sciences at the University of West Attica. She is President of International Council of Professors in Educational Leadership (ICPEL) for the academic year 2025-2026, Board Member of the

Educational Leaders Without Borders (ELWB) Board and Publication Director Aramid Consortium. She is Co Editor of the journal Leadership & Policy in Schools (Taylor & Francis) and member of the Editorial Board of the journal Research in Educational Administration and Leadership. Her research interests focus on educational leadership, management and economics of education and health as well as the labor market. She is the author of six books (in Greek), five books in English published by Springer and Routledge publication, two books in English published by Lulu publishing (ICPEL). She has written several articles regarding leadership, management and economics of education and health care published by international scientific journals. She has been a reviewer for several international scientific journals and she has also been a reviewer for book proposals (Routledge, Palgrave McMillan, etc.). Moreover, her papers and books have been cited by many Greek and foreign researchers.