The start of the year saw the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. Thousands of Ukrainians fled to seek safety, protection and assistance in Central Europe. Germany became, after Poland, one of the largest host countries, with more than a million registered refugees to this date.
Our partner ReDI School of Digital Integration in Munich faced a growing number of applications from Ukrainian refugees. As a response, they launched ReDI 4 Ukraine on May 16th, 2022. Its purpose was to help integrate Ukrainians into German society while enabling them to acquire digital skills or improve existing ones.
ReDI’s team saw the potential of Skillify, our digital skills testing platform, in/for guiding these refugee students in their learning pathways. Following their request, we translated Skillify to Ukrainian a week before the pilot course started. Thanks to REDI’s team reactivity, we were able to make this a reality!
Due to Skillify’s translation, refugees were able to test their skills level in their language according to the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens.
After the test, students were offered two different classes, depending on their level:
- Computer Skills for Everyday Life: this program taught digital skills to 10 women from different regions of Ukraine. It consisted of four two-hour lessons and four workshops around computer literacy basics, working and communicating online, Internet security, and filing in online forms to access services.
- Computer skills for a professional start: this course was designed for beginner to intermediate-level students, and offered in a hybrid scheme. Topics covered during the lessons included: the use of video conference, net etiquette, e-mail and e-calendar, an introduction to Cloud and regular office applications, the search for information and its critical evaluation, online services and forms, and filing digital applications.
With Skillify, we aim to support many more refugees and asylum seekers in their learning endeavours. Feel free to contact us at lea@digico.global if you would like to have our platform translated into other languages and learn more about our partnership schemes.
Students testimonies:
“Thank you very much ReDI School for the opportunity. I completed the course Computer skills for a professional start. Many thanks to the teachers, the whole course was very informative, there was always support and feedback. Personally, I expanded my knowledge of working with spreadsheets and began to master presentations.”
– Testimony of a student from ReDI 4 Ukraine Summer School
“ReDI School opened the world of IT for me. The course itself provided an opportunity to acquire new knowledge. Thanks to the course, I clearly know and understand in which direction I should study and develop. In the future I want to pass the course I have chosen for the fall semester, get IT education, conclude a good work contract and open my own business.”
– Testimony of a student from ReDI 4 Ukraine Summer School