Immigrants to fill STEM gap

Young people in Germany prefer to rather train as management assistant for retail services than as information technology electronics technician, as beautician than as plant mechanic, as event manager than as mechatronics fitter. The STEM professions, however, that is the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, are struggling with a lack of young talent. This is about to change.

Already, Germany is no longer able to satisfy its demand for skilled professionals by its own efforts, says Axel Plünnecke from the Cologne Institute for Economic Research: "We have investigated employment rates in the STEM professions and have found that, over the course of the past two and a half to three years, the employment of foreigners in particular has seen a sharp increase; we have here a strong influx from India and Central and Eastern Europe and this has also very strongly contributed to safeguarding the skilled labour supply, this immigration influx."

Thomas Sattelberger, Spokesman of the Nationales MINT Forum (German National STEM Forum), is of the opinion that also in the near future Germany will not be able to cope without immigrants from other countries. Here, he targets refugees in particular, whose competences often are not used in this respect:

"We already know that, with respect to Syrian refugees in particular, of course, that there are decidedly good technical as well as computer sciences competences available, such as incidentally also with regards to those who come to us from within the EU from Romania and Bulgaria. And we have to firstly provide young people who come to us from abroad with vocational education and training and, secondly, also recognise those qualifications they bring with them."

These were some of the issues discussed at the 3rd Nationaler MINT Gipfel (German National STEM Summit) in Berlin. The members of the Nationales MINT Forum include more than 30 institutions and associations, such as the German Rectors' Conference, employers' associations and the chambers of industry and commerce. Already, numerous STEM initiatives exist in Germany.

Thomas Sattelberger thinks that all have to pool their efforts if Germany is to have sufficient young talent available in the technical professions also in the future. With regards to vocational education and training, he says, it is worthwhile to possibly also change one's way of thinking: "Vocational education and training simply has to become more attractive. Perhaps this product has gotten a bit long in the tooth in some respects."

At any rate, the image urgently needs improving, says Federal Education Minister Johanna Wanka. She says that the notion of STEM professions always being connected with dirt, grime and a high degree of physical labour is still firmly lodged in many heads, especially those of the parent generation. Yet a visit to Europe's largest saw mill in Brandenburg shows a different picture, she points out:

"Who of you, in all honesty, would tell your child to train at a saw mill? Very few. Yet when you enter that saw mill there, it is all computer work, this is fully automated, to strip the bark off those huge trunks and processing them etcetera. And with regards to their decision for an occupation, most people let themselves be strongly influenced by their parents and their grandparents."

According to education researchers, the same is true for people with a migration background, for whose parents a degree course often implies increased social recognition, and for women, who continue to frequently choose their profession on the basis of traditional role models.

The Dr.-Reinhold-Hagen-Stiftung, an independent and non-profit foundation, wants to encourage renewed enthusiasm for technology amongst young women and men by way of targeted occupational preparation, says Thomas Reiter:

"Frequently, young people no longer feel that technology is tangible, for example, repairing one's own bicycle. As far as we can see, a lot has gone missing amongst young people and this results in a lack of skills. Even when young people say, I can use a computer, then they can mostly do computer games, but that is a far cry from saying they can use a computer. So it becomes increasingly important to reintroduce them to these skills. Because they can do it; they only don't know it yet."

The MINT summit in Berlin looked also at strategies of how to make career paths for qualified professionals more attractive, how to lower the high number of drop-outs, both in the fields of vocational education and training and STEM university courses, and how to better link vocational and academic education.