Cantons to offer ‘pre-apprenticeship’ training to refugees
Switzerland is launching a pilot scheme to help refugees and asylum seekers allowed to stay to integrate into the workforce.
Keystone
Switzerland is rolling out a one-year pilot scheme to help refugees and asylum seekers allowed to stay in the country prepare for an apprenticeship, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) announced on Thursday.
Eighteen out of 26 cantons will offer the so-called pre-apprenticeship course for one year to selected refugees and asylum seekers to help with their integration. The aim is to prepare those with labour market potential for a full apprenticeship.
Under the scheme, participants will work three days per week in a company and acquire the practical, academic and language skills necessary for an apprenticeship.
The programme, which has been agreed for a four-year period, should cost CHF46.8 million (S46.8 million). SEM will provide co-financing for a maximum of 3,600 places. Cantonal authorities, which are responsible for providing vocational training, will receive a fixed annual fee of CHF13,000 per training placement.
The scheme will be implemented together with companies, business associations and vocational schools. The cantons are currently recruiting participants and talking to interested companies.
Eighteen cantons have signed a contract with the federal government, including the six French-speaking cantons and the canton of Bern. In the canton of Zurich, a tech hub, pre-apprenticeships are already available in the logistics sector.
The integration pilot scheme is part of the government’s efforts to boost the potential of the national workforce. In 2019, the federal authorities will decide whether to renew the programme or not.
It also belongs to the national integration agenda – an accord between the federal and cantonal governments – which the government presented in April, detailing how the authorities plan to speed up the integration of refugees into the labour market.
More
More
Switzerland to test algorithmic asylum placement
This content was published on
Switzerland is to start using a new algorithm to distribute asylum seekers among cantons in such a way that they can find work more easily.
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
Swiss federal prosecutor bemoans shortage of investigators
This content was published on
The Swiss Office of the Attorney General complains of unresolved shortage of investigators that hinder its efforts to prosecute serious criminals.
ECHR condemns Swiss failure to protect woman from violence
This content was published on
Switzerland did not provide a woman with sufficient protection against her partner who had been violent in the past, rules the ECHR.
This content was published on
In Switzerland, 2.2 million people are affected by non-communicable diseases, partly because people are not eating a balanced diet.
More than 800 crimes committed in Swiss asylum centres
This content was published on
The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has reported that 813 criminal offences were committed in Swiss asylum centres in 2017.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.