Vocational and social integration of immigrants with the aid of a multigenerational mentoring programme

BEGIN aims to support and evaluate the vocational training and career start of immigrants in the field of basic nursing by means of a mentoring programme that was specifically developed based on professional didactics.

The BEGIN study is being conducted in cooperation with the Institute on Ageing at Bern University of Applied Sciences (project management) and the Psychological Institute at ZHAW, the Institute for Multimedia Production at the University for Applied Sciences HTW Chur, and the Swiss Red Cross. The study is supported by the Gebert Rüf Stiftung under the BREF funding programme.

What is special about this study?
In close collaboration with the basic training as a healthcare aide offered by the Swiss Red Cross, referred to as 'Lehrgang Pflegehelferin/Pflegehelfer SRK', we are developing a mentoring programme where older volunteers utilize their social and cultural competencies to support younger immigrants as they complete basic training and enter the career. This not only serves to promote career integration of immigrants in a vocational field that has a shortage of trained workers but also at the same time fosters solidarity between the generations.

Duration
1 April 2017 to 31 March 2019

Project management: Institute on Ageing at Bern University of Applied Sciences

• Jonathan Bennett
• Michèle Métrailler

Institute for Multimedia Production at the University for Applied Sciences HTW Chur

• Matthias Künzler
• Peter Indergand

Swiss Red Cross

• Marianne Riedwyl
• Christine Joray