2nd Meeting of the Expert Group on Skills and Migration (EGSM): online meeting, 19 November 2020

The second meeting of the Expert Group on Skills and Migration was held online on 19 November 2020, under the lead of CEEP, and in cooperation with the International and European Forum on Migration Research (FIERI).

In the first part of the meeting, the experts from FIERI presented the two final reports based on their research. Gaia Testore presented the final results of the report “Testing the EU skills profile tool for TCNs” based on the research missions from Austria and Greece, while Leila Giannetto presented the report “Mapping ICT tools for Third Country Nationals integration” which mapped more than 40 ICT tools across Europe. The two reports will be disseminated in the first part of 2021.

After the presentations, the participants discussed the EU’s policies and tools for skills assessment and labour market integration. Dennis Van Gessel, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s DG Employment, presented an overview of the state of play for the EU skills profile tool for TCNs and the other EU related policies and tools, such as the new Skills Agenda and the new Europass.

In the second part of the meeting, the participants discussed in a roundtable format the matter of the second final report, focusing on the ICT tools and digital solutions for TCNs integration. The three speakers, Eleonora Lamio (Diesis), Adam Gajek (Eurochambers) and Chris Richmond ‘Nzi (MyGrants) presented their experience and best practices.

LABOUR INT 2:  Expert Group on Skills and Migration

1st Meeting of the Expert Group on Skills and Migration (EGSM): Brussels, 14 February 2020
The first meeting of the Expert Group on Skills and Migration was held in Brussels on 14 February 2020, under the lead of CEEP, and in cooperation with the International and European Forum on Migration Research (FIERI), an Italian independent research institute on migration, mobility and integration.

The EGSM is an ad hoc working group that gathered for the first time after one year of implementation of the LABOUR INT 2 project, to identify challenges, policy drivers and working tools to enhance the capacity of project partners to implement concrete actions for skills assessment, informal validation of skills and skills matching for a faster and more effective transition of TCNs to the Labour market. The group capitalised on work already available at European level, and the work carried out by the first EGSM in LABOUR INT 1, and focused, during this first meeting, on concrete working tools to perform recognition of skills and skills matching adapted to the specific needs of local labour markets.

In particular, on its first meeting on February 14, 2020, the project partners welcomed Dennis Van Gessel, the Policy Officer at the European Commission’s DG Employment in charge of the EU Skills Profile Tool for Third Country Nationals, which is an online questionnaire in the format of a CV to assist national authorities and relevant services to identify and document skills of Third Country Nationals. The tool aims to facilitate the integration of TCNs in the labour market by supporting the identification and documentation of their skills and work experience. Such a tool was tested in 2019 in the framework of the LABOUR INT 2 project’s Greek and Austrian pilot actions. The next meeting of the EGSM is planned for the end of the year 2020.

For the EGSM Evaluation strategy:

The evaluation focused on the implementation of the EU Skills Profile Tool in the two pilot actions, located in Tyrol and Athens. The research analysed how pilot actions’ partners have been testing the EU Tool; existing local tool for skills assessment and compared the existing one with the EU tool in order to find synergies and margins for amelioration. The analysis has focused mainly on operators’ opinions and experience, without forgetting third country nationals’ perceptions. After the presentation of the strategy to CEEP Project Manager (3 July 2019) and EC Policy Officer (17 July 2019), the collection of the data started. The data collection was carried out in three phases:

• Phase I: two skype interviews with both pilot actions’ partners, TSD and EKA, were realised to collect information and validate the evaluation strategy (July and beginning of September 2019);
• Phase II: two questionnaires intended for counsellors has been drafted to collect information concerning usability and user-friendliness of EU tool;
• Phase III: two evaluation missions were carried out in Athens and in Tyrol (28-30 January and 3-5 February 2020). The missions were organised to coincide with the testing phase of the EU Skills Profile Tool in order to discuss and have a first-hand observations. During both missions, interviews with national pilot partners’ managers and advisors were realised. Moreover, during the mission in Athens, a focus group was conducted with asylum seekers who had already tested the EU Tool; a participant observation was realised during an advising meeting in which the Tool was tested. Instead, during the Tyrol mission, a full afternoon was devoted to deepen skills assessment procedures developed and currently used in Tyrol.

• Evaluation grid
• Skype Interview to validate the evaluation strategy
• Questionnaire focus group – Greece
• The EU skills profile tool testing – Operators’ questionnaire – Greece
• Client questionnaire

Should you wish to receive any information regarding the EGSM or the project, do not hesitate to contact SGI Europe Project Officer, Stefan Enica.