1. Home
  2. Studies
  3. Education Levels of Refugees: Training and Education in the Main Countries of Origin
Kristina Stoewe IW-Report 29. January 2018 Education Levels of Refugees: Training and Education in the Main Countries of Origin

By the end of 2016, Germany had registered around 1.6 million persons seeking protection (Federal Statistical Office, 2017a). In order to facilitate their integration into the vocational training and labour market, information on refugees' educational degrees, vocational qualifications and competencies is of central importance.

Training and Education in the Main Countries of Origin
Kristina Stoewe IW-Report 29. January 2018

Education Levels of Refugees: Training and Education in the Main Countries of Origin

Share this article:

or copy the following link:

The link was added to your clipboard!

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

By the end of 2016, Germany had registered around 1.6 million persons seeking protection (Federal Statistical Office, 2017a). In order to facilitate their integration into the vocational training and labour market, information on refugees' educational degrees, vocational qualifications and competencies is of central importance.

However, indicators of their education, such as the number of years of school completed, can only be understood with in-depth background knowledge of the education systems in their countries of origin. This report by the German Economic Institute (IW) presents the education and vocational systems of the six countries from which the largest number of refugees come (Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran and Somalia), with a focus on vocational training. It discusses important differences between the vocational training systems in these countries and the German system. An important source of information for this purpose is the BQ-Portal, the information portal for foreign professional qualifications, which has been implemented by the German Economic Institute on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie, BMWi).

There are important differences, for example, in the structure of (vocational) training and education systems in the countries where refugees come from. They usually attach quantitatively little importance to formal vocational training and have a lower number of formalised vocational training occupations. In addition, they do not offer dual vocational training in the regular vocational training systems. It should also be emphasized that formal vocational training has a low social standing in comparison to higher education in the main countries of origin.

Share this article:

or copy the following link:

The link was added to your clipboard!

More on the topic

Read the article
Initial successes and further potential for securing skilled labor
Wido Geis-Thöne IW-Report No. 14 3. March 2023

Immigration from North Africa: Initial successes and further potential for securing skilled labor

With the baby boomers retiring from the labour market, Germany will be increasingly dependent on skilled workers from abroad in the coming years in order to avoid massive bottlenecks in the labour market and to secure growth and prosperity.

IW

Read the article
Wido Geis-Thöne IW-Report No. 3 21. January 2023

Educational attainment of the population in a European comparison

With the increasing shortage of skilled labour against the backdrop of demographic change and the changing demands on employees in the context of digitalisation, decarbonisation and de-globalisation, it is becoming increasingly important for Germany and Europe ...

IW

Content element with id 8880 Content element with id 9713