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BREAKFAST TALKS 29: Students with diverse cultural backgrounds in Belgian educational system, Dr. Altay Manco
25th October 2015 @ 10:00 – 13:00
€8
Date: Oct. 25, 2015, Sunday
Time: 10:00 – 13:00
Venue: Fedactio – Rue des Palais 27-5 1030 Brussels
Price: 8€
Language: Turkish
It is a widely accepted fact that adapting and contributing to society in social and economic terms is possible only through quality education. And yet, in Belgium, a country guaranteeing the principles of equal opportunities, freedom of expression and social justice, are the students with diverse background receiving quality education and becoming successful in their educational careers? Dr. Altay Manço will share his insights and experiences on the subject at a talk on October, 25, Sunday. We kindly invite you and your friends to the talk and the breakfast held before the event.
Ps. All guests attending this event are kindly requested to register by email to register@epnetwork.eu or by calling +32 (0) 2 734 7900 until Oct. 24, 2015.
Programme
10:00-10:30 Registration
10:30-11:30 Breakfast
11:40-12:30 Talk with Altay Manço
12:30-13:00 Questions&Answers
Dr. Altay Manço
Obtaining PhD degree in social psychology field from Liege University, Manço has conducted a number of researches on Turkish migration, socio-cultural and psychological adaptation and migration psychology. He has given consultation services at institutions in Canada, Morocco as well as many countries in Europe since 1986. He is still carrying out partner projects with Paris Descartes University, Sherbrooke University in Quebec and University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland. He is the academic director of the Institute for Research, Training and Action on Migrations (IRFAM) since 1996 and the editor-in-chief of the online magazine of Diversités et Citoyennetés. For a more detailed CV of Manço, please click
Report of the event
Belgium is a multicultural melting pot with 25% of the total population formed by people of foreign background and their descendants. This adds to the importance of the integration and equal education issues. Making a presentation on these matters at the 29th edition of the Breakfast Talk, Dr. Altay Manço, an academician researching mainly on Turkish migration, socio-cultural and psychological adaptation and migration psychology, highlighted that adapting and contributing to society in social and economic terms is possible only through quality education. However, Belgium needs to make certain improvements in education in order to better integrate people of non-Belgian origin into the society. Statistics show that 90 percent of the Turkish people in Belgium hold high school diploma; but only 60 percent can write a letter in French or Dutch. This puts doubts on the reliability and quality of the education they receive, Manço stated.
The European countries where the rate of vocational high school graduates is higher than many are also the countries with higher unemployment rates. Belgium is, unfortunately, one of the above-mentioned countries and diplomas do not measure true success, the academician noted. It is vital to place migrant and economically challenged students in schools in the country homogeneously. USA and Canada are the most, while Belgium and France are the least homogeneous countries in this sense. And the main difference between the two groups of countries is their approach to the migration issue. According to Manço, Belgium and France have failed to admit that they are receiver countries. The presentation rolled with the audience with questions and comments on the matters.