Athens –  The International Organization for Migration and CITY College, University of York Europe Campus in Thessaloniki joined forces to create the platform, aiming at providing practical information towards the successful inclusion of recognized refugees and asylum seekers into the labor market and the Greek society.

The online platform which has been developed by students of the Computer Science Department of CITY College addresses potential employees and employers and contains information about working in Greece - including legal rights and obligations - and guidance on how to search for a job, write a CV, or prepare for an interview. A special section is dedicated to the educational component and learning opportunities, where refugees and asylum seekers can further enhance their skills.

“With this online and user – friendly tool we want to strengthen access to accurate information about the working environment in Greece,” said Gianluca Rocco, Chief of IOM Mission in Greece. “There are many skilled migrants in Greece that have the right and are willing to work in jobs that are in need of workforce; it is important to support these people for the benefit of migrant and hosting communities. This joint initiative between IOM and CITY College is also a concrete response to the needs of many employers in Greece,” he added.

The website is available in both the Greek and the English language, with the option to support other languages through a Google translation widget.

Dr Dimitris Dranidis, Head of the Computer Science Department of CITY College Europe Campus added: “We are very proud of the work done by our students to develop this important tool for IOM that will have a positive and direct impact on the individual, the work market and the society. It is in the philosophy of our Computer Science Department to take action and offer solutions to a wide range of human and social issues by providing, through our final year students Industrial Projects, software and IT solutions that will benefit the public good.  Our fruitful cooperation with IOM is the outcome of this philosophy and l would like to thank IOM, our students and professors for bringing it to life.”

The web application has been developed by CITY College Computer Science undergraduate and postgraduate students as part of the Industrial Project module in their curriculum. Under the supervision of their Computer Science professors, students have worked on the website development and created an End User Manual for IOM to be able to edit content, manage the website and resolve basic troubleshooting issues (more information about the Industrial Project can be found here.

The development of the website with content on employability and Greek language learning tools, was a joint collaboration between the IOM Community Engagement, the Non-Formal Education and Employability teams and the teachers and students of the Department of Computer Science of CITY College, University of York Europe Campus that it is based in Thessaloniki, Greece.

The IOM Community Engagement and Non – Formal Education teams which operate under the umbrella of the EU - SMS project and the Employability team of the EU – Funded HELIOS project respectively, partnered in designing the site’s layout and developing relevant content and educational tools to empower and equip the asylum seekers and recognized refugees with valuable information and increase their potential towards integrating in the local labor market.

The creation of the website has been implemented under the framework of the Cooperation Agreement signed between IOM Greece and CITY College Europe Campus (york.citycollege.eu), which also includes ICT courses for beneficiaries in open accommodation sites.

For more information, please contact: 

Email: cnikolaidou@iom.int tel +30 210 9919 040 (ext.248)