THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
According to a suggestion of a think tank, people who want to migrate to Germany should take an online intelligence test. The smartest should get a work and residence permit in a non-bureaucratic way and then..
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (Institut für Weltwirtschaft or IfW)) has called for a non-bureaucratic immigration process in Germany. The think tank made the suggestion in view of the shortage of skilled labour in Schleswig-Holstein, one of Germany’s 16 federal states, according to a report of the press agency dpa.
“We need to find completely new ways of recruiting skilled labour for Schleswig-Holstein,” Moritz Schularick, president of the IfW, is quoted as having said in Kiel, capital of Schleswig-Holstein, on Wednesday. “To do this, we need to quickly and non-bureaucratically bring young, motivated and intelligent people from all over the world to Germany, who can then begin vocational training or studies here.”
According to Schularick’s proposal, applicants worldwide should take a standardised ability test online, which would be an intelligence test expanded to include practical problem-solving skills. Regardless of their nationality, the smartest applicants would then receive a work and residence permit for an initial period of five years and complete an apprenticeship or degree programme in Schleswig-Holstein. If the participants in this programme are integrated into the labour market after five years, they would receive a settlement permit.
“The proposed programme removes high bureaucratic hurdles for applicants, such as the recognition of foreign professional qualifications,” explained Schularick. Thanks to the online test, virtually everyone in the world would have the chance to take part.
The proposal is a reaction to a report by the IfW and Kiel University of Applied Sciences on the shortage of skilled labour in Schleswig-Holstein, which has a population of just under 3 million people. According to the report, the state faces a tenfold increase in the labour shortage from around 35,000 people today to around 330,000 people by 2035, primarily affecting the healthcare sector, as well as the construction industry and the retail sector.
Austin Ohaegbu
