Prof. Richard Staring (Erasmus School of Law), together with Dr Ilse van Liempt (Utrecht University), has researched the integration of Syrian newcomers on behalf of the Social and Cultural Planning Office. The study "Netherlands paper country, Syrian status holders and their experiences with participation policy" shows that Syrian status holders are strongly motivated to participate in Dutch society but encounter several problems during this process.
Dutch "paper culture"
The study by Staring and Van Liempt has shown that Syrian status holders experience a so-called 'paper culture' in the Netherlands regarding participation policy, that they feel that they’re undervalued and experience a language barrier during the process. The aforementioned "paper culture" is evident from, among other things, the fact that diplomas must be submitted before pursuing a degree or job in the Netherlands. Because of their history of war times, Syrian citizens often no longer have access to their diplomas and when they do, they are often not recognised.
Stereotyping and language barrier
The feeling of underestimation is evident from the fact that Syrians feel stereotyped; they believe that the Dutch people have a picture of Syria as a disadvantaged and underdeveloped country. Partly as a result of this, they are dependent on low-skilled work. Learning the Dutch language is a priority within the current integration policy and the responsibility for this lies with the status holder himself. However, since the market of language schools is not transparent, the available schools do not have their available courses in order, and the quality of teachers leaves something to be desired, a language barrier is being created for Syrian status holders.
The survey found that Syrian status holders wish that their acquired knowledge and skills, stage of life and lifestyle are taken more into account in the allocation to a municipality. This helps them to better match themselves with the training opportunities and labour market opportunities available in that region.
- More information
The entire research is available in Dutch here.