Defying Higher Education Borders with Migrant Students in Canada - Building Counterstories and Sanctuary Universities

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.