Migration and Integration: People, meetings and methods

The course is given as a free-standing course.

Bachelor's degree in social science or equivalent Swedish or foreign degree. Language skills equivalent to English A/English 5 are also required.

This course focuses on migration and integration processes within public administration and collaborating actors. Particular attention is given to the processes and initiatives that shape individuals’ opportunities for integration, including encounters with public authorities, educational initiatives, labor market measures, and social support structures at the local, national, and international levels. The course addresses both structural perspectives and personal experiences of migration and integration. Through case studies and examples, students analyze how policies are designed, interpreted, and implemented in practice.

The course highlights how institutional frameworks and professional interactions influence individuals’ opportunities to participate and become established in society. The course draws particularly on research that illuminates people’s encounters with public administration. In addition to more traditional research methods for exploring and communicating actors’ experiences, such as treatment by authorities, the implementation of integration programs, and the role of civil society in policy processes, special emphasis is placed on arts-based methods. By considering arts-based methods in relation to other established research methods, primarily qualitative, students are trained to reflect on how the choice of method and perspective impacts research and practice in public administration.

After completing the course, the student will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• describe and analyze processes and encounters related to migration and integration within public administration, in local, national, and international contexts
• explain how key research methods are used to analyze the design, implementation, and experience of migration and integration policies at various levels
• account for how migrants’ personal experiences of migration and integration can provide insights into public administration processes.

Skills and abilities

• apply various qualitative methods to analyze encounters with public administration in the field of migration and integration
• plan and carry out an independent project that explores and represents encounters with public administration in a well-considered and well-motivated form, and communicate the results.

Judgement and approach

• problematize the role, opportunities, and challenges of public administration in the context of migration and integration
• critically reflect on how different methodological choices influence understandings of public administration processes and policy implementation.

Teaching is conducted through lectures, seminars, workshops, and independent project work.

Language of instruction: English.

The course is assessed through active participation in mandatory seminars and workshops, as well as through an individual project that is presented at a final course exhibition. Students who do not participate in a mandatory component will be required to complete a compensatory assignment focused on the content of that component. Completion of the final project is allowed through revision of the project.

If a student who has been failed twice for the same examination element wishes to change examiner before the next examination session, such a request is to be granted unless there are specific reasons to the contrary (Chapter 6 Section 22 HF).

If a student has received a certificate of disability study support from the University of Gothenburg with a recommendation of adapted examination and/or adapted forms of assessment, an examiner may decide, if this is consistent with the course’s intended learning outcomes and provided that no unreasonable resources would be needed, to grant the student adapted examination and/or adapted forms of assessment.

If a course has been discontinued or undergone major changes, the student must be offered at least two examination sessions in addition to ordinary examination sessions. These sessions are to be spread over a period of at least one year but no more than two years after the course has been discontinued/changed.

If a student has been notified that they fulfil the requirements for being a student at Riksidrottsuniversitetet (RIU student), to combine elite sports activities with studies, the examiner is entitled to decide on adaptation of examinations if this is done in accordance with the Local rules regarding RIU students at the University of Gothenburg.

The course uses the following grading scale: Pass with Distinction (VG), Pass (G), and Fail (U).

To achieve the grade Pass (G), the student must participate in all mandatory components and receive a grade of G on the final project. To achieve the grade Pass with Distinction (VG), the student must participate in all mandatory components and receive a grade of VG on the final project.

Students are offered the opportunity to submit a written course evaluation at the end of the course. The results of the evaluation are summarized in a course report, which is made available at a location specified by the department.

The course is held on campus, but digital components may occur.
Permitted aids will be communicated by the course coordinator.