Qualifications for refugees lead to boom in continuing education and training

The prevailing economic mood in the continuing education and training sector peaked at its highest point to date in 2016. Most noteably, organisations working to provide language and technical qualifications for refugees saw significant improvements in their “economic mood”. This is shown by the results of the 2016 Continuing Education and Training Monitor, “wbmonitor”, survey from the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the German Institute for Adult Education [Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung (DIE)] – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning. “The work of continuing education and training providers makes a significant contribution to the integration of refugees in the labour market and in society,” emphasized BIBB President Friedrich Hubert Esser.

On a scale from -100 to +100, the “wbmonitor climate value” for 2016 was +45. This beats the previous highest value from 2008 by three points and has risen by seven points compared to the previous year.

Organisations funded predominantly by employment agencies and job centres reported a particularly marked improvement in the prevailing economic mood. In comparison with the previous year, their climate value rose by 36 points to +54. On the one hand, these providers were clearly able to benefit from introductory courses delivering basic knowledge of the German language which have been funded by the Federal Employment Agency [Bundesagentur für Arbeit - BA] from the end of 2015. On the other, BA statistics show a clear rate of growth in the participation of individuals seeking asylum from non-European countries of origin in activation and integration measures seeking to familiarize participants with the German labour market. Providers funded largely by employment agencies and job centres are also able to look to the future with particular optimism. This is because, following the acquisition of language skills, additional technical initial and continuing education and training for refugees - funded under Book III/II of the Social Security Code - are helping to respond to the emerging shortage of skilled workers.

Organisations financed predominantly through public funding from municipalities, federal states, the Federal Government and the EU have seen a nine point increase in the climate value to + 36. This is also likely to have been influenced by the expansion in qualification measures for refugees. This group includes a large number of adult education centres running integration courses on behalf of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). Here there was a sharp increase in the number of admissions in the first six months of 2016 compared to the same period for the previous year.

The economic mood among providers working for companies continues to be extremely strong with a climate value of +62. They clearly benefit from the fact that a large number of companies are making use of the good economic conditions to provide training and qualifications for their employees. Organisations financed predominantly by participants or by self-payers also achieved a clear positive value of +42, however this represented a slight fall of -4 points compared to 2015.

In the 2016 wbmonitor survey on the theme of “Cultural diversity”, BIBB and DIE compiled detailed information on education and training courses as well as on other learning services specifically for people from a migration background. The dissemination of continuing education and training offers in the subject areas of interculturality, migration and immigration - which are targeted at officials in the relevant areas of activity as well as citizens - was also explored.

Background information
wbmonitor is a cooperation project from the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) which uses an annual survey of providers of general and vocational continuing education and training to contribute to greater transparency in the continuing education and training landscape and to highlight current changes. 1,878 continuing education and training providers took part in the 2016 wbmonitor survey. The wbmonitor climate value represents the assessment of the economic situation by continuing education and training providers. It is calculated based on the ifo Business Climate Index from the mean of the differences between positive and negative assessments of the current economic situation and the expectations in one year.

Further information is available on the BIBB website at www.bibb.de/wbmonitor

Contact partner at BIBB:
Stefan Koscheck

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