Conference Agenda

Across Europe, vocational education and training (VET) systems have become essential tools for managing migration and integrating labor markets—especially in response to skills shortages and labor market segmentation. These systems are deeply rooted in specific national cultures, labor market structures, and welfare regimes, leading to varied training pathways for migrant workers. These pathways are influenced by distinct institutional logics that create unequal access to skills development, recognition of prior learning, and opportunities for occupational mobility (Busemeyer & Trampusch, 2012; Cedefop, 2025). While comparative research has thoroughly examined VET systems and governance at policy and institutional levels, less focus has been placed on how migrant workers personally experience and navigate these pathways in different countries.

Existing studies indicate that migrants' engagement with VET is significantly affected by their legal status, migration history, biographical resources, and daily life constraints. This often results in deskilling, market segmentation, and differential inclusion (Kogan, 2011; Bauder, 2006; SKILLS4JUSTICE, 2025). Recent research calls for perspectives that go beyond policy-focused and functionalist views of integration, emphasizing migrants' lived experiences, agency, and interpretation of training and work-related institutions (Anthias, 2012; Schinkel, 2018). These perspectives highlight how migrants actively utilize their prior knowledge, reinterpret training opportunities, and develop strategies to navigate uncertainty and institutional barriers. They also reveal the limitations of skills-based inclusion policies, particularly for individuals with precarious legal statuses in hierarchical labor markets.

Building on these perspectives, this symposium unites comparative contributions on migrants’ skills development through VET pathways in four European countries: Lithuania, Italy, Germany, and Norway. This work combines an analysis of national VET systems and governance structures with a focus on the lived experiences of migrants. By prioritizing migrants' own perspectives, the panel moves beyond institutional and policy-oriented analyses to critically assess how migrant workers engage with, interpret, and negotiate VET pathways in varied national contexts.

Taking a cross-country comparative approach, the symposium examines how specific national VET regimes, labor market structures, welfare systems, and socio-cultural contexts shape VET pathways for migrant workers. At the same time, it investigates how factors such as migrants’ personal histories, legal statuses, life circumstances, and everyday realities affect their access to and experiences within training opportunities. Particular emphasis is placed on how migrants make sense of training provisions, leverage their prior skills and knowledge, and create strategies to address uncertainty, deskilling, and disjointed career trajectories.

The panel will address critical issues, including access to VET, recognition of prior learning and qualifications, mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, and the underlying assumptions and expectations within training programs designed for migrant populations. By comparing institutional rationales with the meanings, aspirations, and actions of migrants, the symposium reveals the tensions between policy goals for labor market integration and migrants' lived experiences as they navigate often segmented and hierarchical employment systems.

Through a distinctly European lens, this symposium aims to contribute to broader discussions about skills development, migration, and social inequality. It challenges dominant narratives that portray migrant workers merely as adaptable labor resources and emphasizes their role as active social agents. Their experiences highlight both the opportunities and constraints of VET as a means for inclusion, recognition, and social mobility in contemporary Europe.

The findings of the quantitative and qualitative surveys of the migrant workers from the non-EU countries conducted in May - October 2025 in Lithuania disclose important challenges faced by the migrant workers in their skill formation and employment pathways. The migrant workers coming in Lithuania for the jobs which correspond to their acquired qualifications usually develop their skills on the job, and the work experience acquired in the Lithuanian enterprises contributes to their competence development. This is a typical case of skilled industrial workers, like welders, fitters, and construction workers. Similarly, high skilled professionals from the third countries working in the financial sector and ICT, also mostly develop their skills and competences at their work and enjoy broad opportunities of skills formation provided by employers. Low-skilled and unskilled employees from the third countries working in the food industry, cleaning services, seasonal jobs in the agriculture acquire the necessary skills on the job and do not include skill formation and professional development in the targeted goals of their emigration. Highly educated war refugees and forced migrants from the Ukraine treat skill formation and training as opportunity of smooth and fast employment. They openly and voluntarily accept the situation of over-qualification in the labour market of Lithuania, but struggle in finding training places in the market oriented and work-based training schemes for job seekers. These training pathways and accessibility regimes will be discussed by referring to the context of neoliberal reforms of the skill formation and employment systems and precautious immigration policy of the recently emerged net immigration country (Zwysen, 2019; Wickham, 2017; Lulle et al., 2021).

Lulle, A. Janta, H. Emilsson, H. (2021), ‘Introduction to the Special Issue: European youth migration: human capital outcomes, skills and competences’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 47(No.8), pp. 1725-1739. Wickham J (2017) International Skill Flows and Migration. In C Warhurst, K Mayhew, D Finegold & J Buchanan (eds) Oxford Handbook of Skills and Training. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 625-645. Zwysen, W. (2019), ‘Different Patterns of Labor Market Integration by Migration Motivation in Europe: The Role of Host Country Human Capital’, International Migration Review, Vol. 53 (No.1), pp. 59-89.

Adult vocational education and training (VET) systems are increasingly recognized as vital components in the governance of migration and the labor market. By facilitating skill development and certification, adult VET aims to enhance employability, promote social inclusion, and foster the economic integration of migrants. However, mounting evidence suggests that training pathways do not consistently yield uniform outcomes and that their effects are significantly influenced by migrants’ legal, biographical, and socio-economic contexts. This paper examines how the governance of adult VET systems creates differential inclusion among migrant participants in Italy (Italian Government, 2018; 2023; Ambrosini, 2023). Drawing on qualitative data from 33 semi-structured interviews conducted as part of the Skills4Justice Horizon Europe project, the study explores the training trajectories and labor-market transitions of adult migrants enrolled in vocational and professional programs. Rather than evaluating the effectiveness of these programs, the paper investigates the interplay between VET and migration governance and how these factors interact with migrants’ positions and personal journeys to produce unequal outcomes. The findings reveal that adult VET serves as an effective mobility mechanism primarily for migrants with stable legal status, ample temporal availability, and minimal caregiving responsibilities. Conversely, for other groups—especially those with families and precarious or irregular legal status—training seldom leads to upward mobility. Instead, it often results in the stabilization of participants within segmented, low-skilled sectors of the labor market, despite formal skill acquisition. The paper contends that adult VET systems act as mechanisms of differential inclusion, distributing opportunities unevenly based on migrants’ trajectories and the constraints of governance. By shifting the focus from individual employability to the systemic impacts of VET governance, the study contributes to broader discussions on VET cultures, migration, and social justice, underscoring how training policies may perpetuate rather than mitigate structural inequalities.

Ambrosini, M. (2023). Il decreto Cutro e le tre politiche dell’immigrazione in Italia. Social Policies, 10(3), 507-510. Caritas (2025). XXXIV Rapporto Immigrazione 2025. Giovani, testimoni di speranza. Fondazione Caritas Italiana. Clarke, V., & Braun, V. (2014). Thematic analysis. In T. Teo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1947-1952). Springer. Creswell, J.W., & Creswell, J.D. (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Sage. Eurostat (2025). Migrant integration statistics - over-qualification. Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Migrant_integration_statistics_-_over-qualification#Over-qualification_rate_by_EU_countries_and_citizenship 08/01/2026. Italian Government (2018) Law No. 132/2018 (Decreto Sicurezza conversion). Disposizioni urgenti in materia di sicurezza pubblica e immigrazione. Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana, 01/10/2018. Italian Government (2023). Law No. 50/2023 (Decreto Cutro conversion). Disposizioni urgenti in materia di immigrazione e contrasto dell’immigrazione clandestina, sicurezza e gestione dei flussi migratori. Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana, 12/04/2023. Ministry of Labour and Social Policies (2025). XV Rapporto “Gli stranieri nel mercato del lavoro”. Roma: Dipartimento per le politiche sociali, del terzo settore e migratorie. Save the Children (2025). Traversing Danger: Cumulative Risks and Psychological Harm for Children in Migration. Save the Children. UNHCR (2019). Access to education for refugee and migrant children in Europe. Retrieved from: https://www.unhcr.org/media/access-education-refugee-and-migrant-children-europe 10/01/2026.

Germany has a high need for skilled labour from non-EU countries in many sectors. Therefore, a legal framework (Skilled Labour Migration Act) was established end of 2023 to create transparency on potential education and labour migration pathways. Research on these new structures often follows economic perspectives and refers, e.g., to estimated effects (Adunts et al., 2024) or increased efficiency (PD, 2024). Recent migrant monitoring reports a high number of skilled workers ready to remigrate from Germany due to poor labour and life sufficiency as well as a lack of feeling welcome (Kosyakova et al., 2025). At the same time, the net migration to Germany is decreasing below calculated needs (Federal Statistical Office, 2026). Nevertheless, there is research on factors for belonging or social inclusion in international discourses which, however, seems to lack in the national public discourse on labour migration. This research closes a gap between a technical and humanistic perspective following the research questions: How do migrants describe and experience their way to Germany? What patterns can be observed? To what extent does the system provide differentiated support? Data collection took place from July to November 2025, applying a data triangulation of mixed empirical methods and a literature review (Flick, 2011). The quantitative questionnaire covered among others the dimensions ‘skills and qualification profile’, ‘recent employment and perceived skills mismatch’, ‘social inclusion in everyday life and at workplace’ as well as ‘justice and discrimination’. The qualitative inquiry based on the same dimensions, enriched by detailed reports about decision making and migration pathways, reflected feelings, attitudes and personal insights. The quantitative research reached a total of 105 participants (after cleaning the data set) and the qualitative 24 interviewees. The research included both labour migrants and refugees. One core finding within the German case is a clear difference between the two groups of forced and labour migrants. Main distinguishing indicators are on motivational level. Refugees were mainly interested in security and showed a tendentially stronger relation to their country of origin. In contrast to that, they showed high motivation to engage in German labour market and society to "give something back". Labour migrants were rather interested in high-quality education and career. They appear to have a more critical view on life and work conditions in the target country. Both groups report difficulties to access the local society. Overall, social inclusion was reported as much more important than, e.g., the match between qualification and current job.

Adunts, D., Ivanov, B., & Vallizadeh, E. (2024). Migrationswirkungen des 2020 in Kraft getretenen Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetzes [Effects of the Skilled Immigration Act 2020]. IAB-Forschungsbericht, 25|2024. Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung. https://doku.iab.de/forschungsbericht/2024/fb2524.pdf Flick, U. (2011). Triangulation: Eine Einführung [Triangulation. An introduction]. (3rd updated ed.). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-92864-7 Kosyakova, Y., Olbrich, L., Gallegos Torres, K., Hammer, L., Koch, T., & Wagner, S. (2025). Deutschland als Zwischenstation? Rückkehr- und Weiterwanderungsabsichten von Eingewanderten im Lichte neuer Daten des International Mobility Panel of Migrants in Germany (IMPa) [Germany as a transit station? Return and onward migration intentions of immigrants in light of new data from the International Mobility Panel of Migrants in Germany (IMPa)] (IAB-Forschungsbericht 15|2025). Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung. https://doku.iab.de/forschungsbericht/2025/fb1525.pdf PD – Berater der öffentlichen Hand GmbH. (2024). Zentralisierung der Erwerbsmigrationsverfahren: Machbarkeitsstudie [Feasibility study on centralizing employment migration procedures] (Study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Homeland, in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs). https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/resource/blob/2701890/73cacf96176766ccf3f4399bff5e7036/machbarkeitsstudie-langform-data.pdf Statistisches Bundesamt (2026). Wanderungen im Oktober 2025: Rückgang der Nettozuwanderung gegenüber dem Vorjahreszeitraum [Migration in October 2025: Decline in net migration compared with the same period last year]. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Wanderungen/Wanderungsueberschuss.html

Research consistently shows that migrants are far more likely than natives to report being under skilled—defined as needing additional skills to perform their jobs (Pellizzari & Fichen, 2013). Moreover, individuals who experience workplace discrimination are also more likely to report being under or over skilled, indicating that discriminatory environments distort job placement and restrict access to skill development (Rafferty, 2020). Under skilling is therefore not merely a skills deficit but also a marker of injustice: for migrants, self reported under skilling often reflects structural barriers and experienced discrimination rather than personal shortcomings. In Norway, labour immigration plays a crucial role, with immigrants composing over 20% of the active workforce. Yet, the Norwegian labour market demands high skill levels: more than half of all jobs require at least short term tertiary education (OECD, 2022). While most native born workers hold high skilled positions, immigrants remain concentrated in low and medium skilled jobs (OECD, 2022). Norway is therefore not exempt from global patterns described by labour market segmentation, discrimination, and social justice theories: migrants continue to experience documented discrimination that affects employment access and outcomes (Ims, 2024). Although the Nordic model offers a distinctive institutional framework, research suggests that it mitigates but does not eliminate inequalities. Studies report that while training access is broader in the Nordic context, it cannot fully counter structural disadvantages, high skill thresholds, and ongoing discriminatory practices (Birgier, Guðmundsdóttir & Brynteson, 2025). As a result, interpersonal and institutional discrimination persist and continue to shape migrants’ perceptions of justice at work. Against this backdrop, the present study examines how under skilled migrant workers perceive their skills development opportunities, justice at work, and discrimination, and compares these findings with those of migrants who do not report being under skilled. The analysis draws on data from the Norwegian sample of the Horizon Europe project Skills4Justice. Our survey (n = 251) includes labour migrants from 72 non EU27 countries across six continents, primarily Asia and Europe, collected online in autumn 2025. Under skilling, skills development opportunities, justice at work, and discrimination are all based on migrants’ self reports. Preliminary findings indicate that although under skilled workers generally report good access to skills development opportunities at work, they rate these opportunities lower than non under skilled workers. While a majority in both groups experienced justice at work and non discrimination, under skilled migrants reported significantly higher levels of injustice and discrimination than their non under skilled counterparts

Birgier, D. P., Guðmundsdóttir, H., & Brynteson, M. (2025). Labour market integration of migrants' descendants in the Nordic Countries. A Scoping Literature Review. Working paper. NordRegio. Cedefop (2011). Employment-related mobility and migration, and vocational education and training. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Ims, R. (2024). The association between work and integration in the Norwegian welfare context, and its implications for immigrants and social work practice: An integrative review. Nordic Social Work Research, 14:2, 253-268, DOI: 10.1080/2156857X.2023.2165534 OECD (2022), Skills and Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and their Children in Norway, Working Together for Integration, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/6109d927-en. Pellizzari, M., & A. Fichen (2013). A new measure of skills mismatch: Theory and evidence from the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 153, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5k3tpt04lcnt-en. Rafferty, A. (2020). Skill underutilization and under-skilling in Europe. Work, Employment & Society, 34(2), pp. 317-335. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017019865