Abstract
Despite an increase in the number of people from a refugee background settling in Australia, this group continues to be under-represented in higher education. This under-representation suggest that more can be done to make university education more accessible and inclusive. The assets that refugees possess and can utilise to successfully participate in and complete higher education are insufficiently elaborated. This presentation, therefore, elaborates on a key finding of this study, specifically the impact of multicultural diversity in Australian society on the successful higher education participation of refugees in Australia. The concepts of cultural and social capital, habitus and field, as articulated by Pierre Bourdieu, are used to interpret qualitative data collected during in-depth interviews with refugee-background participants. The findings suggest that facilitating social diversity within and outside of the classroom allows for people from a refugee background to maximise the utilisation of these assets.