The Urban Academy on Integration is an initiative of the Partnership on the Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees that acts as a strategic learning and experience-sharing environment for practitioners and policy-makers working on integration on the local, regional and national level. It also provides the opportunity to create networks of peers focusing on similar integration issues across Europe. 

The first edition of the Academy that took place on 16-18 April 2018 in Brussels proved to be a great success. The two-day programme,organised by the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) and facilitated by the consultancy MigrationWork, featured a field visit to integration projects in Mechelen, Belgium, and provided plenty of room for dilemma-based exchange between the participants in their respective fields of work. Participants got together with members of the European Integration Network and with several experts, includingfrom the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC); Migration Policy Group; and the Migration Policy Institute Europe. 

An evaluation asked the participants to give feedback on the event. While the session format was much appreciated, some suggestions were to have smaller working groups and a more focused preparation of the formulation of dilemmas.

Based on the overall positive feedback (97% of the participants stating that the event should take place annually), the Partnership decided to organise the second edition of the Urban Academy in spring 2019. The partners are now working on the themes for the next edition which will be announced after summer.

Read the main findings and recommendations here: 

Read the full report here: 

To stay up to date on upcoming editions of the Urban Academy on Integration, please check the website of the Partnership on the Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees regularly: https://futurium.ec.europa.eu/urban-agenda/inclusion-migrants-and-refugees and follow us on Twitter @EUUrbanAgenda.