Norway's social inclusion policy, under which it is compulsory for all newly-arrived adult refugees and immigrants to participate in Norwegian language training and civic education, in order to enable them to rapidly contribute to, and participate in the labour market and in society in general, has delivered positive results.

Host Country : Norway

Place and date : Oslo, 18. - 19.11.2010

Peer countries : Austria - Finland - Greece - Italy - Latvia - Malta

Stakeholders : EAPN, EWL

65% of people who participated in the country's introductory programme in 2006 were either employed or enrolled in further education in November 2007. The programme has also proved successful in increasing overall labour market participation and in raising the share of immigrant women in the labour market.

With a number of European countries having already introduced similar citizenship tests or considering doing so, the Peer Review will enable a debate on how these types of tests can contribute to a more inclusive society by improving individuals' skills and opportunities. It will also raise a number of important questions relating to the methods used, the content and quality of the training courses provided, the level of difficulty of the tests imposed, and the monitoring and evaluation of policy results.  

Peer Review manager

Ms Katja Korolkova (ÖSB Consulting GmbH)