"Expert in STEM" programme helps refugee academics

Back in 2015 - when thousands of refugees arrived in Germany and hundreds in Bayreuth - the University of Bayreuth started to help an took action in helping refugee academics. It is now building on the infrastructure that resulted in counselling services and language and special courses as it expands its support for these people in terms of content and geography with the DAAD pilot project "PROFI in MINT" (Expert in STEM). Through the inclusion of the Campus Academy for Continuing Education as well as the "Career Service & Corporate Contacts" staff unit, further competent teams at the University of Bayreuth have come on board. They take care of qualified and certified further education, together with the targeted preparation for and transfer into the German labour market.

This cooperation has resulted in the modular, flexible, and individually tailored certificate course "Management & Technology". It was specifically designed for labour market needs in Upper Franconia, but is also generally seeking to address the shortage of skilled workers throughout Germany. The programme was designed in the interdisciplinary tradition of the University of Bayreuth, and is both attractive for the target group and embraced by the business community. The majority of already established professional language, propaedeutic, and study-related courses are accompanied by new labour market preparation measures specially set up for the target group. The project participants receive excellent support during all phases. The measures are supplemented by the involvement of international alumni and friends of the University of Bayreuth within the framework of a job mentoring programme, and the expansion of our networking and mentoring programme "Discovering new strengths - the potential of international and refugee students and graduates for SMEs in the Upper Franconia region".

In addition, TechnologieAllianzOberfranken (as the umbrella body for the cooperation between the Universities of Bayreuth and Bamberg and the Universities of Coburg and Hof) is supporting the project, thus comprehensively expanding its geographical reach and potentially expanding the range of its offerings. In this way, "PROFI in MINT" also intends to help counteract migration to conurbations and the associated demographic consequences.