The article titled "Beyond Economic and Educated: Reconceptualising Skill in EU Migration Policy Through Contextual Adaptability" by Anton Neronov and Tuba Bircan was published in "International Migration". It reconsiders how “skill” is defined in EU migration policy. Moving beyond narrow criteria of formal education, we introduce the concept of contextual adaptability - the ability of migrants to transfer and apply competencies across social, cultural, and institutional settings. Our paper argues that this multidimensional perspective offers a more inclusive and empirically grounded understanding of skill, with significant implications for migration governance.
The full text of the article is available here, while below you can read the abstract.
Academic research and policy discussions commonly define ‘skill’ in migration through the lens of formal qualifications, focusing almost exclusively on economic migrants with tertiary educations. Our systematic review of scholarly literature on skilled migration to, from, and within the EU+ confirms this empirical pattern, revealing a persistent narrowing of the concept. This narrow framing has been widely critiqued within migration studies, particularly for its exclusion of refugees, family migrants, and those whose skills lie outside conventional educational metrics. In response to both these findings and the critical debate, we propose a novel reconceptualisation of ‘skill’ that incorporates the notion of contextual adaptability, a migrant's ability to translate and apply their competencies within specific socio-cultural and economic environments. This multidimensional framework more accurately reflects the diversity of migrant experiences and offers a more inclusive basis for EU migration policy.
Citation: Neronov, A., & Bircan, T. (2025). Beyond Economic and Educated: Reconceptualising Skill in EU Migration Policy Through Contextual Adaptability. International Migration, 63(4), e70077.
