Increasing migration to Switzerland as well as Germany pressures local authorities to respond with measures for successful labour market integration. Distributing individuals into language courses, advising and supporting them in respect to the recognition of degrees and prior learning and channelling adults into preparatory courses for vocational education and training or into apprenticeships are the main tasks (Heckmann 2015). These development steps are ideally framed by career coaches or guidance counsellors. Successful integration depends largely on the governance of the integration process by participating institutions. These governance processes are introduced in the presentation.

At macro-level legal foundations regulating the introduction of refugees into the labour market, including their residential status, work permission and recognition of prior work experience as well as the support for further education will be addressed. There are currently five pathways available that lead to a recognized vocational degree. At the meso-level of governance institutions need to ensure an orderly and timely processing of the formal requirements for the integration process, which should ideally be governed by bottom-up processes in order to respond innovatively to changing requirements. In the framework of Urban Global Governance (Kunzmann 2004; Healey 2004) municipal self-regulating processes are based on new, more individualized governance processes in regional institutions. These require more autonomy which is provided within so called heterarchic (Hedlund 1986) and networking forms of coordination (Fürst 2003). Heterarchy is a form of equal side by side working relationship, where management and operating functions overlap and are manifested in the operating governance. It requires a balance of organizational power structures. The reduction of hierarchy supports the local adaptability of the actors (Hedlund und Rolander 1990). Granovetter (1973, 1985) specifies in this framework the relevance of social relations and interactions and the trust built, which is essential for the functioning of the organization. The relationship history of the individuals in the organization, their common experiences and interconnected engagements as well as values, norms and convictions that resulted from them, shape the character of these networks (Hirsch-Kreinsen 2002). These interrelationships have been studied among two Swiss organizations: Fachorganisation AOZ, Abteilung Berufliche und soziale Integration in Zurich and Fachstelle Integration (FI) of the canton Graubünden. The mico-level of governance of integration is managed by educational institutions that offer bridging courses for refugees who first need to be brought up to a particular level of education in order to than participate in regular vocational education programs.

The guiding questions of the inquiry to be presented are: How is the system of integrating refugees into the labour market governed at the macro, meso and micro level? How do actors operate at these levels? Which challenges do actors face and how do they address them?

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