Area of activity: integration into the workplace
In the area of integrating into the workplace, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is particularly tackling the issue of how to make use of foreign qualifications, and above all, the resources offered by immigrants.
The main topics in the area of integrating into the workplace are recognising foreign qualifications and processes for assessing skills.
Recognising foreign qualifications
One of the main goals of integration policy is to integrate immigrants into the labour market. Recognition of the foreign qualifications obtained by skilled immigrant workers and graduates is key to their access to the labour market. With regard to making use of foreign qualifications in Germany, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has identified a series of obstacles in the context of the nationwide integration programme. These include
- the fragmentation of responsibility for recognising qualifications and problematic access to information about the recognition process
- the lack of transparency in the process (e.g. about the criteria that govern recognition or non-recognition)
- the lack of easy access to recognition processes (e.g. the fact that currently as a rule nationals from third countries still do not have a right to their qualifications being checked)
- the fact that programmes related to further integration in the workplace are inadequately interlinked, e.g. programmes designed to provide further qualifications.
Skills assessments
The skills assessment processes are designed to record formal qualifications but are also important in the area of assessing soft skills such as work experience, the ability to work in a team and intercultural skills. The concept of ‘skills assessment’ and the relevant tools and methods are characterised by a complex and diverse range of different instruments. These range from a one-hour individual ‘textbook’ interview to a process that lasts several weeks or months as part of a project or qualification. It is true that there are now standards and quality criteria in place, but these are not taken into account consistently and are not universally known.
As part of various activities, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is taking on this situation by looking at
- the service units in Saarland and Munich for adopting foreign qualifications
- the promotion of expert reports on recognising qualifications and assessing skills
producing information materials.
