Skills in Motion. On the Practice of Evaluating and Recognising Foreign Professional Qualifications from the 1960s to the Present Day

Since the middle of the 20th century, population movements in the western world have increasingly been dictated and controlled by the individual skills of (potential) migrants rather than their national origins. Skills have not only been considered a condition for entering the country, but also for being able to work in adequate employment positions on the labor market. In order to be able to compare professional résumés acquired in different educational systems or even cultures, western countries have tried since the 1960s to make the skills of migrants measurable. Using the examples of the Federal Republic of Germany, Canada and Great Britain, the study first examines the attempts made in the context of international economic cooperation, to evaluate and compare skills acquired abroad by migrants. Second, there is the question of whether and how knowledge of the skills of migrants has been utilised as a measure to esure that migration does not, or will not, overload the social system.

Project leader(s):
Olga Sparschuh

Project type:
Postdoc-Projekt / Post Doc Project