The starting signal for SWR's brand-new news and information station will be given on 9 January 2012. From then on you can pick up SWRinfo on Digital radio, on the internet and, in Stuttgart, on 91.5 FM. The new info station replaces the talk radio station SWR cont.ra and promises to inform you about everything that is important - in 15 minutes. [mehr zu: SWRinfo - we've got the news, now! ]

Dear users of our multi-language internet pages,

2012 brings with it a new radio station: SWR Cont.ra becomes SWRinfo - an information channel that aims to inform you about everything that is important in the space of 15 minutes. The topics at the heart of SWR International’s reporting will be covered twice daily on this new information station and at the weekend in two longer programmes.

In addition, further migration topics will find their place in SWR’s programmes and on SWRinfo reflecting current news needs.
On the Internet from 2012 onwards we will be concentrating on our German-language pages. SWRinfo’s internet pages will also provide current information.

However, the multi-language portals are to be discontinued. The low user-traffic no longer justified the costs that were involved.

We look forward to welcoming you further in 2012 on our online pages.
Regards
The team at SWR International

The Goethe-University in Frankfurt is to get a new research institute, the Frankfurt Institute for Migration and Integration Research. The new institute is to be supported not only by the university itself but also by the Federal Employment Agency and the Hertie Foundation. [mehr zu: New integration research institute ]

A trend has been reversed. After two years of net emigration Germany registered in 2010 an increase in the number of people moving here. This can be taken from the findings of the Migration Report 2010, presented by the Interior Minister Dr. Hans-Peter Friedrich in Berlin. Around half of the new arrivals were EU citizens. [mehr zu: Immigration again on the increase]

The NPD - or German National Party - has already claimed seats in two state parliaments in Germany, even though it's officially listed as "right-wing extremist." The party is seen as racist, relativist and xenophobic. Deutsche Welle reports: [mehr zu: The NPD: on Germany's extreme right ]

The federal government has agreed on a draft bill that will put into German law an EU directive from 2009 which eases the immigration of highly-skilled workers. The so-called “blue card” can then be issued from next year onwards, providing both houses of parliament, the Bundestag and Bundesrat, agree to the proposals. [mehr zu: Blue Card: future course has been set]

In the light of a world that is defined as one of increased mobility attention must be placed on letting one of the main actors come to word, that of the migrant. That is the main theme of the latest report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). However, the discussion should not include an "uncritical bias" and calls for an open discussion about migration. [mehr zu: Call to let migrants voices be heard]

What drives young Africans to search for a new life in Europe? How do they get there? And do their dreams come true? The 15-part "Destination Europe" series from Deutsche Welle goes inside the real lives of African migrants and follows them from the moment they decide to leave their home to their experiences in Europe. [mehr zu: Destination Europe]

There is to be no permanent dual citizenship in Germany for children of immigrants born in the country. A draft bill tabled by the SPD in the German Bundesrat has been voted down. Migration groups were disappointed by the decision. [mehr zu: No to dual citizenship in Germany]

The 33 year old Kenyan lawyer Fatuma Abdulkadir Adan, is an impressive woman, fighting resourcefully and with humour in a Islamic male-dominated society for the emancipation of girls, for help to self-help and peace in the region. On Thursday, 17 November 2011, Fatuma Abdulkadir Adan was awarded the peace prize of the Stuttgart-based AnStifter group. [mehr zu: Stuttgart peace prize: move off the sidelines with football]

Non-EU Workers born and trained abroad are to profit from an easing of the recognition process. The Bundesrat has adopted a new bill that foresees giving foreign-born the right to have their qualifications obtained abroad individually assessed. It was an "important day" said the Federal Commissioner for Integration, Maria Böhmer. [mehr zu: Bundesrat adopts Recognition Bill ]

50 years ago, on 30 October 1961, Germany signed a recruitment agreement with the Turkish Republic. At the time guarantees of a minimum wage and a place to stay were given in an attempt to motivate young Turks to take up temporary work in Germany because the Wirtschaftswunderland ("economic miracle country") was crying out for workers. [mehr zu: Recruitment Accord between Germany and Turkey]

93 per cent of the population in Germany believe that foreign nationals living in Germany have to be competent in the language according to a survey for the RTL private media group. 91 per cent of those questioned say that the ability to speak German was the key to success in the country. [mehr zu: Language competence essential in Germany]

The number of people living in Germany with foreign roots increased in 2010. This was brought about largely through an increase in the number of those with an immigartion background who were born in Germany. [mehr zu: Increase in number of people with foreign roots.]

What do people experience when they return to the country of their youth? To a country they left years before, trading it for a life in Germany? Join DW in tracing the paths of several people as they journey home. [mehr zu: A multimedia journey of discovery ]

SWR cont.ra, the information radio programme [mehr zu: Those who want to know]

Listen to our programme worldwide live on the internet (in German), 1605 and 1935 CEST. [mehr zu: SWR International live!]

SWR's immigration exhibition “Between coming and going… and then remaining – Immigrant workers in Germany 1955 – 1973” - is the most successful exhibition of its kind in southern Germany and makes its next stop in the Böblingen. It can be seen at the town hall in the city from September 16.. [mehr zu: `Between coming and going… and then remaining´]

Through a venture, unique in Germany, using an up-to-date virtual museum the state government in Rhineland-Palatinate aims to make the history and culture of immigration to the state visible and accessible, above all to young people. [mehr zu: Virtual migration museum]