User:Emelia Merchant/sandbox

Education Discrimination Against Iranians

Experiences of rejection and discrimination experienced by Iranian students is widely accounted. With instances of education discrimination against Iranians being impacted by one’s status as an immigrant , their gender and if they live with a disability. Negative representations and portrayals of Iran presented in mass media have negatively effected experiences for Iranian students studying abroad. International sanctions have led to an increase in discrimination against Iranian students within the education sector. International sanctions regulate Iran’s development and interaction with nuclear programs, which has impacted the lives of ordinary Iranians. Western nations are cautious of Iranian students acquiring knowledge that could lead to the distribution or construction of nuclear

Flag of the EU Council

weapons in Iran, whose studies are considered ‘sensitive’ . This has led to campaigns including ‘Stop Education Discrimination Against Iranians’ (SEDAI) supporting calls to end education discrimination .

History of Education Discrimination against Iranians

The war between Iran and Iraq between 1980 and 1988 and the regime change within Afghanistan and Iran in 1978 has led to an increase in Middle Eastern immigration . Following the September 11 terrorist attacks a ‘war on terror’ from Western nations including the United States was announced, creating further instability in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan . On November 4, 1979, the 'hostage crisis' took place, in where 53 Americans were held hostage in Iran. This event dominated media coverage and immediately transformed the reception of Iran in America, with Iran being called the 'evil enemy', as well as 'backward' and 'fanatic'. . Following the U.S hostage crisis and the Iranian revolution the relationship between the United States and Iran worsened and ultimately deteriorated. This has effected the regulation on Iranian immigrants, as well as impacted their engagement with education systems . In America, racial profiling of people who appear to be Middle Eastern, Muslim or Arab increased following the terrorist attacks of September 11, with the comment made by former US Congressman John Cooksey “If I see someone come in and he’s got a diaper on his head and a fan belt around that diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over and checked” . This profiling affected the ‘identity citizenship’ of some minority groups in America, in where they feel a lack of belonging within the national community, and are without ties of solidarity .

In the Netherlands, the Technical University of Delft informed Iranian people that their application would be put on hold, due to new sanctions introduced on the 23^rd March 2012 from the EU Council .  The role of sanctions has impacted the research projects and medical scientific publications that Iran produces. For instance out of the five countries in the Middle East with the most published papers, Iran has the least amount of international collaboration. In comparison to countries such as Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia, Iran's progress in sciences and international collaboration is lower . One instance of education discrimination can be evident for instance in the Netherlands, where the Technical University of Delft informed Iranian people that their application would be put on hold, due to new sanctions introduced on the 23^rd March 2012 from the EU Council.  Similarly in Norway Iranian students were found to be having their residence permits and visas denied.

Role of refugee, migrant and minority status 

Refugees, migrant’s and minorities are typically a subordinate group within society held in less regard by a dominant group . Being of refugee, migrant and minority status shapes one’s engagement with education systems. New legislation was introduced in July 1980 to target Iranian students. New Mexico State University Regents passed a motion barring Iranian immigrants and non-immigrants from enrolment, stating that if a student’s home nation allowed U.S citizen’s to be held hostage they will be denied enrolment . Following an appeal to this, the regents expressed that they had not intended to apply this to Iranian students who had permanent residency, however no initial distinction was made between non-immigrants and permanent residents . Acts of violence were targeted at Iranian students, at Southern Illinois University 7 out of 90 Iranian students were attacked and beaten, and in one class a student’s nose was broken .

Due to economic sanctions it is more difficult for Iranian students to make international bank transfers from Iran, meaning many students studying in Europe must travel back to Iran to gather money required for university. Such uncertainty over the financial situation of Iranian students has caused many universities to treat Iranian students differently. For example the University of Aarhus in Denmark changed their decision to accept an Iranian PhD engineering student explaining it was "due to the international economic sanctions against your country and the severe problems with transferring money from Iran to foreign countries". When responding to Iranian students some European governments have advised universities to reject Iranian undertaking their PhD and masters within specific academic fields. For instance in the Czech Republic the Czech education ministry advised universities to not accept students from Iran who sought education areas which could somehow be useful in manufacturing or developing weapons or that could eventually support any industrial or military nuclear programmes .

Role of gender

The life experiences of immigrant Iranian women and their contact with higher education is impacted by processes of racism and orientalism in western capitalist society .  Following the Iranian revolution in 1979, Iran’s new International policy produced negative imaging of Iranian women. Stereotypes characterised Iranian women as backward, uneducated, submissive to men and tradition-bound . The aftermath of the events of the September 11 terrorist attacks further stigmatized Middle Eastern women. This has led to discrimination against Iranian women, for example in Canada despite a doubling in the amount of educated immigrant’s from the period of 1986 to 2001, unemployment of Immigrant women represents four times the amount of Canadian born women . This indicates a discrepancy between level of education and job opportunity for Iranian immigrant women. Research has found that Iranian women sometimes feel “other” and different within their new country . Factors including one’s race, gender, language, religion and ethnicity intersect to negatively stereotype Iranian women, thereby effecting how they are treated within education institutions. Wearing a hijab can impact either the inclusion or exclusion of an individual during their studies and influences discriminatory behaviours and attitudes amongst some university staff . In 2012, 30 different public universities in Iran banned women from a range of 77 differing university majors, which as expressed by some Iranian women is the motivation to why they chose to undertake education abroad. However some European universities will only accept undergraduate students thereby decreasing the options for Iranian women to access post-graduate study.

One study focusing on the perspective of individual immigrant Iranian women living in Canada explored how these women attached meaning to higher education. Within this study, many Iranian immigrant women associated higher education with an opportunity for personal empowerment, economic advancement and independence as well as social mobility. They noted that within Iranian culture higher education is a symbol of prestige that can create a social division between those who are educated and those who are uneducated. This explains the increased number of immigrant women who attend institutions of higher education. However, for these women the study found common challenges amongst there engagement with higher education. These included tensions from their personal cultural obligations and roles, resistance from family, language barriers and institutionalised racism. Despite immigration challenging traditional gender roles that assign men as ‘bread winners’ of the family, some Iranian women express that marriage can reduce their ability to make and plan out decisions regarding their education and future career prospects. Iranian women express that this can create a double responsibility, in where they maintain their role as mother and wife and a life of domesticity while simultaneously life as a working woman. This indicates the increased complexity and pressure for Iranian women and their engagement with institutions of higher education.

Role of disability

Processes of marginalisation within different social contexts have led disabled Iranian immigrants to be discriminated against in education systems. Iranian immigrant groups who live with disability have been reported to be excluded from society and their local community . The response of nations to the treatment of immigration and disability holds political significance, and effects the nations system of health, welfare in addition to education . Unclear disability and nationality statuses mean disabled immigrants are at a larger disadvantage . It is the case that nations can understand impairment differently, which can mean one disability recognised in one country is not in another, affecting someone’s claim to support and benefits . In 2002, a national consensus conducted by the Belgian government showed that 18.4% of Belgians aged between 16 to 64 had long-term disabilities or health problems . Of these official statistics those living with disability were significantly more likely to be of a lower education level, unemployed and with a lower income .

Throughout the 1980s a new 'social model of disability' was developed, which according to this approach considers disability to be caused by cultural and social structures which disadvantage people living with some form of physical, cognitive or mental impairment. The social model of disability focuses on the roles of citizenship, politics, choice and empowerment on producing disability, rather then the mental and physical impairment itself. For instance in Australia disability income support in some instances excludes non-residents including refugees, in addition to temporary migrant workers from receiving support. In Australia the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was established to provide increased inclusion for people with disability and providing them with better choice and control. However, Iranian immigrants living with disability who are not able to access support services from the NDIS will experience less opportunity and choice then other Australians. This is not due to their own physical, cognitive of mental impairment, but because the Australian political system prevents them from accessing the services of the NDIS, which can detriment their interaction with education more so then other Australians living with disability.

For Iranians being an immigrant and without proper papers can lead to isolation, miscommunication, structural exclusion and discrimination , which in turn can increase the disabling effects of society described by the social model of disability. This is because these individuals carry the added stigma’s associated with disability constructed by their surrounding environment in addition to presumptions made about immigrants which can legally prevent them from accessing services and support .