Introduction

Migration plays an important and growing role in contributing to the population growth in most OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries (see editors' introduction and chapter 1 in this volume). This chapter looks at an under-examined and crucial factor for immigrants' successful integration into the labour market and society: their education.

The first aim of this chapter is to analyze how immigrants differ from natives regarding educational outcomes and its determinants. Ten countries with a share of the foreign-born in the total population similar or greater than 10 percent (SOPEMI 2004) are examined: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Literature investigating educational disadvantages of immigrants focus generally on educational attainment data that capture progression up national educational systems (e.g. van Ours and Veenman 2003; Riphahn 2003; and Crul, chapter 9 in this volume). This chapter examines educational achievement data that refer to educational outcomes like ability or ‘functional literacy’ (the ability to function in modern society). Educational achievement can be compared more easily across countries than educational attainment. First, educational attainment partly reflects countries’ institutional differences in how education is organized. Second, the educational attainment data of immigrants collected by different countries are not directly comparable, since the definition of what an immigrant is often differs between countries. It is also notable that a specific degree used as a measure of educational attainment might mirror different ability for immigrants and natives even in the same country.