The Swiss labour market is highly structured and relies on standardised VET qualifications. Asylum migrants, particularly refugees and temporarily admitted persons without a recognised VET diploma or certificate, have thus struggled to find sustainable employment (Aerne & Bonoli, 2021). To support them in their endeavour to access vocational education and training, the Swiss federal government and the cantons have launched the pre-apprenticeship for integration PAI (Bundesrat, 2015; Scharnhorst & Kammermann, 2019). The PAI is a one-year pre-vocational programme that targets refugees, temporarily admitted persons, and late migrants from EU, EFTA and third countries aged 16 to 35. PAI programmes have been established in the service sector, industry, manufacturing, and agriculture (Kammermann et al., 2022). The introduction of the PAI programme is accompanied by a research project, which assesses and evaluates the implementation and impact of the PAI programme. In this contribution, we discuss the programme's outcome by investigating key factors contributing to participants' successful transition to regular apprenticeships. Drawing from findings from resource theory (e.g., Hobfoll et al., 2018) and training quality and career success in VET (Stalder & Carigiet Reinhard, 2014; Stalder & Schmid, 2016), we assume that the success of PAI participants depends on the quality of the learning environment (e.g., learning opportunities in the workplace and school, support from trainers and teachers) and on their individual and social resources (e.g., language skills, self-efficacy, support by significant others). We use data from the fourth PAI cohort, including a written survey with N = 432 PAI participants and 6 case studies that were run in 2022. Results show that participants highly appreciated the learning in the workplace and at school and felt well-supported by teachers and trainers. Two-thirds had secured an apprenticeship two months before the PAI's end. The others still searched for an apprenticeship place or said they didn't know what to do after the PAI. The pathways of the latter ones were thus very uncertain. Those who had secured an apprenticeship found their work more interesting, engaged more in learning and had better learning outcomes than those with an uncertain pathway. We conclude that the PAI programme is an essential and valid means to foster refugees' integration in vocational education and training, discuss particular challenges of the programme, and outline possibilities for further improvements.

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