EU Skills Profile Tool for Migrants and Refugees
Published:
Following the European Commission Action Plan on the integration of third-country nationals adopted in June 2016, DG EMPL in cooperation with DG HOME have now launched the “EU Skills profile tool for third-country nationals”.
This is a concrete tool that will make it possible for non-EU nationals to present their skills, qualifications, and experiences in a way that is well understood by employers, education and training providers and organisations working with migrants across the whole EU.
The “EU Skills profile tool for migrants” is made up of a number of questions in 4 sections: 1.-Personal information of the migrant/refugee concerned; 2.-Expectations such as language learning, integration courses, finding a job or self-employment; 3.-Skills identification: language skills, professional skills, digital skills, soft skills, etc; and 4-Overall appraisal and recommended next steps (advised and completed by the education institution or employment agency concerned).
Matthias Ruete, Director General from DG HOME commented: “This tool will document or evidence migrants skills as a pre-condition to get into the labour market and the educational systems in Member States. The fact that it will be possible to see two languages at the same time on one screen is particularly useful for employment agencies and education institutions”.
ETUCE considers that this tool can help national/regional employment services, educational institutions and other relevant actors to identify and assess skills and competences of migrants so as to build bridges among the educational and employment public services concerned. However, ETUCE notes that this self-assessment online CV tool aims to identify skills relying only on the information provided by the migrant/refugee concerned without evidence or documents to support the evaluation and recognition of these skills and qualifications, for example, via relevant certificates. Especially as regards facilitating the integration of migrants in education and the labour market, it is not clear how employers and education institutions will use and evaluate the information provided.
Recognising the potential of this initiative, ETUCE emphasises that this tool can only support migrants it is effectively applied in practice.
The ‘EU Skills Profile Tool for Migrants and Refugees’ can be tested here.