National meeting of the European Migration Network
Debating current topics of the European Migration Network: The participants of the Network Meeting at the Federal Office
On 19 and 20 October the German EMN Contact Point in the Federal Office held its annual national meeting combining it with a workshop on the migration of university students. The Network Conference is a forum for exchange on the current developments in the field of the EMN and European migration policy in general. Also the results of the EMN evaluation and the 2012 Work Programme were discussed. The latest findings and data for Germany collected for the study "Practices to contain irregular migration" were presented. A representative of the Italian Contact Point added the major findings from the Italian country report. Further guests from abroad were the representatives of the EMN Service Provider and the Irish Contact Point.
Workshop of experts on the situation of third-country university students
The Network Meeting was accompanied by a workshop on „University Students from Third Countries“ to prepare for the German country report on the EMN study on the same subject scheduled for 2012. The study will examine the legal framework, quantitative aspects and tendencies as well as the development of Germany’s education, migration and labour market policies as they relate to foreign university students.
The workshop was not only attended by the network partners, but also by representatives of numerous other organisations such as the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Conference of University Presidents (HRK), the University Information System GmbH (HIS), uni-assist e.V., the integration team of the RWTH Aachen University, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
The discussions in the workshop centred on the unsatisfactory data coverage, the relatively high drop-out rates of foreign vs. German university students and the options policy-makers and universities have to attract more students from third countries to Germany. The many insights and opinions that were presented during the workshop will be considered in the EMN study to be prepared in 2012.
