Background information

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many Ukrainians have left their home country for other European countries. A priority in Sweden has been to assist those arriving in the country in finding jobs and learning Swedish. This particular measure is an addition to an already existing project, Svenska från dag ett, for language education at Swedish folk high schools [folkhögskola]. The government of Sweden saw that the project was running low on funding to facilitate the new wave of immigration.

Content of measure

The government of Sweden has proposed an addition of SEK 50 million (€4.6 million) to the educational program "Svenska från dag ett". The program provides funding for folk high schools [folkhögskola] that in turn offer migrants and refugees education in the Swedish language. The expected increase in the number of persons that will be able to take courses with the additional funding is not yet known, but according to the government there have been cases where schools have not been able to arrange enough places relatively to demand. The program had already received SEK 90 million (€8.4 million) in funding for this year.

Use of measure

The programme is for migrants and refugees that have applied for asylum or have gotten a residence permit but still live in refugee housing. With the additional funding folk high schools can arrange more courses, but it is not yet known how many will be able to participate due to the measure. There is no public figure for yearly participation rate in the programme, but during the last four months of 2015 more than 75,000 took the course “Svenska från dag ett”.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Unemployed	Does not apply to businesses	Migrants or refugees

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Other social actors (e.g. NGOs)	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

The measure is outside social partner domain.

Views and reactions

The measure is outside social partner domain.

Sources

• 02 June 2022: 50 miljoner kronor extra till folkbildningsinsatsen Svenska från dag ett (www.regeringen.se)