What competences, which migrants? Tacit and explicit knowledge acquired via migration

This paper analyses the links between the competences acquired via international migration, and the tacit versus explicit knowledge which are encapsulated in these. Whereas most research in this area utilises qualitative methods, this paper utilises a mixed methods approach. It draws on an online quantitative survey of the skills and competences acquired by young Slovak migrants (N = 366), complemented by more traditional in-depth interviews, with a sample of 52 Slovak migrants. The Slovak informants mostly valued those competences which included a distinctive component of tacit knowledge: higher self-confidence and an improved ability to deal with challenges. Migrants simultaneously drew on several types of tacit knowledge (embrained, embedded, encultured and embodied), and a major finding is that in practice these different categories of knowledge are blurred. There are also socio-demographic differences in migrants' experiences. Both the quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that women benefited far more than men from the acquisition of the tacit components of embodied, encultured and embedded knowledge. Migrants with tertiary education reported significantly higher acquisition of all types of competences than those who only had secondary education.