UNI NOVA – Research Magazine of the University of Basel

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  Dossier

  Migration holds the key to the future

  Text: Walter Leimgruber / The idea of society as a stable structure providing those born into it with a clear framework of shared belonging while demarcating them from «others» is a concept which only arose with the modern nation state – and it is already obsolete.

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  Dossier

  The fall of the border guards

  Text: Irène Dietschi / Political sociology professor Bilgin Ayata explains the surge in migration toward Europe largely as a consequence of the Arab Spring. In cozying up to Turkey’s Erdogan regime over the refugee crisis, the European Union has shown that it learnt nothing from previous events in Libya and the Arab Spring, she argues.

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  Dossier

  Highly skilled migrants in Senegambia and Switzerland

  Text: Pascal Schmid / Diplomats, academics, scientists and professionals: Many well-educated people live on different continents and experience foreign cultures. The doctoral researcher Khadeeja «Haddy» Sarr is examining life experiences, transnational activates and decision-making of highly skilled migrants from Senegambia living in Switzerland and Swiss migrants living in the Senegambia region.

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  Dossier

  Careers on the move

  Text: Samuel Schlaefli / Increasingly, highly qualified professionals live and work in different locations. Cultural studies expert Katrin Sontag has examined mobility among business founders, and believes it is time to revise our concept of migration.

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  Dossier

  The economy benefits from immigration

  Text: Christoph Dieffenbacher / Immigration from the European Union is especially beneficial to highly qualified Swiss nationals, while low-skilled foreigners are among those hardest hit. Economist Ensar Can from Basel has investigated the relationship between immigration and job security.

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  A diverse religious heritage

  Text: Urs Hafner / Like other immigrants, many migrants from the former Yugoslavia look to religion – both Islam and Christianity – for a sense of direction. Maurus Reinkowski is an academic specializing in Islamic studies. He stresses the need to take a historically informed view on the role of religion in shaping identity.

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  Dossier

  Vote influences where people choose to live

  Text: Christoph Dieffenbacher / Negative attitudes towards foreigners can influence where they decide to live in Switzerland. This is the conclusion reached by the economists Michaela Slotwinski and Alois Stutzer from Basel University, based on an analysis of the minaret vote and data on where foreigners in Switzerland choose to live.

• University

  Open Auditorium

  Since early 2016, the student association «Open Auditorium» (Offener Hörsaal) has enabled refugees with an academic background who live in the region to attend lectures and language courses.

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  In conversation

  «The university and the Kunstmuseum are both products of this city’s open-mindedness.»

  Interview: Matthias Geering / Josef Helfenstein, who became director of the Kunstmuseum Basel in September, hopes to develop links with the university. He is working closely with researchers from numerous disciplines to prepare a major Chagall exhibition, which will open in fall 2017.