In an open letter, they say there is no evidence to support Mr Andrews's claims that African immigrants have more problems resettling here than other groups.

"Many of us work directly with humanitarian refugees and other immigrants," the letter says. "We take exception to the statement by ... Kevin Andrews that links the reduction of Australia's African humanitarian intake to assumed integration difficulties.

"We know of no empirical evidence that refugees from particular countries find it more difficult to integrate into Australian society compared to others." The letter says this country - as a wealthy nation faced with only a small number of asylum-seekers - has a duty to maintain a substantial humanitarian resettlement program.

"Australia has a responsibility to ensure the trauma of the refugee experience is not further exacerbated by racism and discrimination in the resettlement context," the experts say. "There is no place in Australia today for racism and intolerance."

The criticism from the university community comes after Mr Andrews's Coalition colleagues questioned his assertions that African refugees were forming violent race-based gangs, congregating in parks to drink alcohol and engaging in nightclub fights.

Mr Andrews said Africans, especially Sudanese, had serious problems settling in Australia because of their lower levels of education and the trauma of coming from war-torn nations.

Medical anthropologist Lenore Manderson, from Victoria's Monash University, said she and her colleagues could not stay silent on the Andrews claims.

"He needs to understand that people who develop the evidence on the basis that public policy ought to be formed don't endorse what he says," she said.

A spokeswoman for Mr Andrews said the academics should get out of their universities and see what is going on in communities affected by the problem.

"There is evidence some of the African refugees are not settling well, that is why we are rebalancing the program, and the worst thing you can do is deny a problem," she said. "The best thing you can do is acknowledge it, put in place services to fix it and reduce the intake, and that is what we're doing."

Courtesy: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22553221-421,00.html