Dual vocational education and training contributes significantly to the integration of refugees arriving in Germany. In the 2017/18 placement year, more than one-third of registered trainee position applicants with a migration background succeeded in entering company-based vocational education and training under the Vocational Training Act or the Crafts and Trades Regulation Code.
A further 29 per cent were placed on integration courses or training courses leading to partial qualifications such as entry qualifications or placements.
These are the findings of the BA/BIBB refugee migration study which was conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Federal Employment Agency (BA) in 2018 for the first time to supplement the regular BA/BIBB applicant survey.
Around 5,300 individuals registered with the Federal Employment Agency as seeking work and who had arrived in Germany since 2013 took part in the representative survey. Participants were asked whether they had entered training or had been elsewhere, what strategies they had used when looking for a training position, and were also asked about their personal situation, for example with regard to language skills or their living situation.
The individuals surveyed with the migration background were mainly young men (86 per cent) coming from the eight main countries of asylum origin. These countries are Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria. The majority of respondents had Syrian (38 per cent) or Afghan (23 per cent) nationality. The average age was around 24.
According to the information provided by respondents, it appears that many of them have now been successful in improving their personal situation. Many stated for example that they had already completed one or more German courses and had a level of language competency at B1 or B2. At the time of the survey at the end of 2018/start of 2019, the majority of respondents no longer lived, according to their own statements, in refugee accommodation, but, for example, in shared accommodation with their family or alone.