OAFP 6500 - Migration and integration policies: a sustainable development approach

Migration shapes international and local realities, including the very neighbourhoods in which we live. Migration is on the rise everywhere, and is shaped by current events. Most recently, flows have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. An in-depth understanding of migration's role in global inter-dependencies and contemporary economic and social structures is more important than ever. Border control and anti-migration policies are often put forward to gain the confidence of misinformed electorates, potentially putting migrant and refugee rights at risk, as well as the foundations of our globalised economy. But migration can be leveraged for socio-economic development, especially in the right context, enabling environment, with the right policies. Scenarios where people are better off, and the costs of migration are minimised, are possible. This course offers students the critical tools, perspectives and theoretical foundations to understand global migration and how it interplays with global, national and territorial policies for sustainable development. Students will use different sources (i.e. statistics, policy frameworks and strategies, academic research, press and artistic media) to analyse the drivers and policy responses to migration at global, national and sub-national levels of government and society. The course will begin by placing migration in today's global economy, providing an overview of its definition and the tools at disposal to understand it. The course will then provide an introduction on the determinants of different types of migration (related to insecurity and inequality, differences in migrant profiles and foresight on future migration flows), the course will provide an overview of migration policies - admission, resettlement, settlement and the right to work - as well as the notions of circular and return migration. The focus of the course will be on coherent migration and integration policies and on measuring socio-economic impacts in countries of origin and destination. Integrated policies (labour market, welfare, housing, health, education) can contribute to migrant departures as well as to their labour and social outcomes in their country of destination. The course will also explore policies that seek to maximise the benefits of migration in countries of origin and destination, while minimising the costs, and explore such issues in the context of transit migration. A comparative analysis of migration-related policies will be discussed for countries of origin as well as in several OECD member hosting countries, through concrete case studies and across different levels of government. The analysis will account for public perceptions of migration and communication as key factors in policy design and implementation. The course will then focus on the local dimensions of migration. It will explore the experience of cities of different sizes, gradually exposed to consequences of climate change, in integrating migrants and refugees as an asset for their sustainable development strategies. While there is no silver bullet many cities have implemented holistic approaches to integration through economic inclusion, equal access to services and promoting participation and social innovations that enhanced citizen-migrant inclusion.

Anna PICCINNI,Jason GAGNON

Enseignement électif

English

● Participation: All students are expected to participate and take the floor during class. In addition to regular participation, students are expected to contribute to the quiz exercise. For this purpose, students will read the recommended reading(s) and the media article selected and respond to the quiz exercise. ● Weekly press review: once per semester, each student (or by groups of two) will send two news articles (published within the last 24 months) by email three days before each class for professors' approval; the students will lead discussions on the articles (using a two slide PPT) for approximately 20 minutes (including their presentation). The theme of the news articles will be related to the topic discussed during class the previous week. This will allow students to compare “real-life” migration-related events against the theoretical background presented during the previous class and to develop a comparative and critical analysis on the way the information is presented in the media. The student(s) will select two articles that provide complementary or opposing points of view on the theme and present them according to the analytical grid provided by the professors. In addition to the media analysis, students will provide the contextual background and facts described by the theme of the articles (1-2 minutes). ● Group project: by groups of two or three, students will prepare a Ministerial level policy brief with infographics on a migration related policy. The short brief (10pages max) will inform a ministerial committee on a migration-related legislation or policy, using available data, critical analysis and theoretical arguments. The brief will be presented over the last three classes of the semester in a simulated assembly that will have to debate and vote over the draft bill or policy. The brief should include ◊ Migration profile on the country/group of countries: overview of historical and contemporary migration flows (if data allows, include information on the composition of migrant flows by age, type of permits and countries of origin); ◊ Overview on the outcomes, conditions and impact of migrants: compile data comparing native, foreign-born and migration background population (when available) for a series of socioeconomic-outcomes, including security (crime rate), economic inclusion, education (access, outcomes), labour market (wage gap, employment, unemployment, underemployment, informality), housing (conditions, cost), health, and other areas where data is available. ◊ Country demographic and economic overview: public dept, demography (trends, age-dependency ratio), education (early school leavers), labour market (critical skills gaps), inequality, poverty, urbanisation (sprawl), and other relevant areas. ◊ Governance of migration: inter-ministerial and cross-level governance migration platform, spaces for migrants' political participation, national migration or integration strategy (with action plan and indicators), recent migration decrees, etc. ◊ Present the proposed migration related policy/legislation with an analysis on the impact on winners and losers, related policies, the consultation steps undertaken during policy formulation (i.e. with other parts/levels of the government, with civil society) and the cost for the public administration to implement it. Deadline for a mid-term outline indicating the subject of the paper, overall structure and a preliminary bibliography (2 pages max): second week of October Deadline for the final 10-page (excluding bibliography, single spaced paper) brief ahead of the 3rd last class of the semester

No pre-requisites

Autumn 2023-2024

15% Participation in quizzes and engagement in class discussion 45% Group project: a Ministerial-level policy brief with infographic + presentation to the class 40% Comparative media press review

Two teachers will manage the classes and sometimes guest teachers will be invited to participate. Guest teachers will include academics, migrant associations representatives, officers from local, national and supranational authorities, experts from associations and international organisations. Weekly class flow Weekly Media Press Review (20 minutes) Wooclap Quiz (5 minutes) (Mentimeter, Wooclap, Moodle) N.B. students are asked to bring their laptops and mobile phones to class, will be necessary for engaging with online platforms during lectures Course theoretical framing by the teachers (15/20 minutes) Guest Speaker intervention (15/20 minutes) + Q&A (10 minutes) Q&A and Conclusions (10 minutes) The last 3 classes will be organised as simulation of an assembly which will vote on the Ministerial policy proposal proposed by each student group