Project

Advisory mandate from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) to Enable Consolidation of the Pre-Apprenticeship Integration Programme (INVOL)

The Pre-Apprenticeship Integration Programme (INVOL) prepares young refugees and temporary admitted persons with a one-year course to prepare asylum seekers for vocational education and training. A pilot programme of the project was launched by the federal government in 18 cantons in August 2018. In 2021, the programme was expanded to include migrants from EU/EFTA countries who have not completed upper-secondary education.

Group of ethnically diverse people having language lesson for immigrants sitting at table doing task with use of digital tablets
Adobe Stock/pressmaster

The INVOL programme aims to foster the potential of refugees and migrants and ensure their long-term integration into the labour market by preparing them for enrolment in a two-year, three-year or four-year VET programme. The INVOL programme also serves the purpose of ensuring an adequate supply of skilled workers, especially in occupational fields where there are not enough young people to replace an ageing workforce.

Cantonal education offices are responsible for the implementation of the programme. The INVOL training plan was designed in collaboration with professional organisations. The INVOL programme is based on the dual vocational education and training system, where training content is split between workplace training at a host company (practice) and classroom instruction at a vocational school (theory). For some VET programmes, this dual model is further enhanced by a third learning location, branch courses at a branch training centre, where learners acquire knowledge and skills not covered at the two main learning locations. Further prominent features of the preparatory training provided under INVOL include language courses related to the given occupational field, familiarity with cultural norms and values, acquisition of basic practical skills in the given occupational field as well as individual guidance and support for both participants and companies.

In the 2021/22 winter session, the Swiss Parliament adopted Motion 21.3964 'Filling Gaps in the Integration Agenda. Equal opportunities for all young people in Switzerland', which had been submitted by the Science, Education and Culture Committee of the Council of States (SECC-S). This motion calls for INVOL to be established as a long-term programme and adapted as needed. In a corresponding mandate, the Integration Division of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) was instructed to prepare the basis for the long-term continuation and adaptation of INVOL as well as for the consolidation of annual federal subsidies from 2024 onwards.

The SEM project team responsible for implementation of this mandate has asked SFUVET to provide corresponding advisory support.

Method

This advisory support will include the following:

Providing specialised advisory services to the SEM project team; scheduling and taking part in meetings with external partners; developing tools for migration authorities/communal offices, vocational, educational and career guidance offices; developing a syllabus designed to enable refugees and migrants to acquire basic skills; (co-)editing communication and information concepts.

Publications