Reexamining engagement in Australian higher education: insights from students with Culturally and Linguistically Marginalised Migrant and/or Refugee (CALMMR) backgrounds

Although engagement is a prominent concept in institutional discourses in higher education, important questions remain regarding representation, voice, and the suitability of one overarching paradigm for all student groups. While a growing body of work explores the higher education experiences of Culturally and Linguistically Marginalised Migrant and/or Refugee (CALMMR) background students, there has been little attention paid to analysing this topic using a student engagement lens. In this chapter, we address this knowledge gap, drawing on Kahu and Nelson’s (2018) prominent model. We contend that, despite Kahu and Nelson’s (2018) treatment of engagement as a complex, multi-faceted construct, institutional representations frequently incorporate an imagined generic student perspective. CALMMR background students encounter unique challenges in higher education, necessitating tailored institutional approaches. We assert that a deeper understanding of the refugee experience and educational impacts can enrich and diversify institutional interpretations of student engagement, fostering greater inclusion of a spectrum of traditionally underrepresented groups in higher education.