Last year Germany increased the budget for integration courses to 765 million euros
As "Russkaya Germaniya" notes, in the previous year 40 percent of those enrolled in courses failed the exam. The quality of instruction drew many complaints, and the competent authorities made considerable efforts to ensure that only those language schools that benefit and educate students remain on the integration services market. Perhaps the increase in the failure rate is due to stricter requirements?
Since 2005, the task of teaching German to newcomers has been taken over by integration courses, designed for six months and consisting of two parts. 600 academic hours are devoted to language learning, and another 100 hours to the orientation course "Leben in Deutschland," which covers life in Germany—German history, culture, and legal system.
The language course is intended to help students reach level B1 (Goethe Institute certificate, which provides a unified assessment of German language skills). This is a fairly low bar; such knowledge is usually enough to get by in everyday life but insufficient for skilled work. Upon completion of the integration course, an exam is taken and a certificate is issued, which significantly aids in finding employment. Many of those who did not pass the B1 exam still received an A2 certificate—a lower level of knowledge that allows understanding sentences related to simple topics and communicating in familiar situations.
Data on the number of those who passed and failed the exam were requested from the federal government by deputies of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The response was provided by the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), responsible for integration courses. After loud complaints about the quality of education last year, BAMF actively conducted inspections—they affected almost 88 percent of language schools for newcomers.
In 2018, 1,704 organizations had the right to conduct courses—mainly folk high schools (Volkshochschule), private language schools, and charitable organizations Caritas and Arbeiterwohlfahrt, competing for students, each of whom brings income to the schools. In 2018, 1,495 out of 1,704 organizations offering integration courses were inspected: out of 14,500 courses, 29 percent were checked. The right to conduct classes was revoked from only six schools. In three cases, law enforcement received reports of document forgery, and one criminal case was opened.
The budget for integration courses increased from 610 million euros in 2017 to 765 million last year, even though the number of first-time participants decreased by about 90,000. However, another 109,000 people attended integration courses again—those who did not complete them the first time or failed the final exam. Two-thirds of the 765 million euros went to language training with a professional orientation, and one-third to the course "Life in Germany," which informs newcomers about the country.
Among course attendees in 2018, the majority were from Syria (39,000 people), Afghanistan (15,000), Iraq (13,000), Romania (12,000), Turkey (9,000), and Bulgaria (8,000). Nearly 45,000 first-time course participants required a special approach—they could not read or write, and a separate German course is offered for those not literate.