News about VET from Germany

The winners of the first IHK Education Prize have recently been selected. The final round for the award was decided in Berlin; the new prize is awarded by the organisation of German chambers of industry and commerce (IHKs) and the Otto Wolff Stiftung (Otto Wolff Foundation).

The latest innovations in life and health insurances or new financial products - management assistants for insurances and finances have to be up-to-date in this many-faceted field. Together with the social partners and business practice experts, the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) has therefore modernised the three-year vocational education and training programme.

Dual studies as a combination of academic studies and vocational training enjoy great popularity in Germany, where only the best candidates are being accepted. Universities co-operate with companies in order to provide theoretical and practical competences which are in line with the requirements of the industry.

The PPP (Parlamentarisches Patenschafts-Programm) is the only official exchange programme between America and Germany that is open to young people who are not university graduates, such as tradespeople, technicians and industrial clerks. Every year, 75 Germans are given the chance to experience for themselves what everyday life is really like in the "land of boundless opportunity".

Young people seeking training occupations and training places encounter numerous offers and stakeholders wishing to point them in the right direction. In light of such diversity, the question is how young people experience the phase of choice of occupation and the search for a training place and which types of provision are productive for them.

In December 2013 a business transfer agreement was signed between TÜV Rheinland India and NIFE India regarding the takeover of the NIFE training activities. NIFE is a major provider of vocational education, a strongly growing market in India. NIFE is currently already present in seven Indian states and 70 cities.

The Booaoo Award is a prize that is awarded by China Online Edu and which is presented at the China Enterprise eLearning Forum and Exhibition (CEEFE). In its decision, the jury in Beijing praised in particular the innovative concept of the English-language learning programme "HealthCare plus" created by the Know How! AG.

With his 20 years, Mustafa Sahin is one of many apprentices in the Swabian town of Schorndorf. Sahin, who has Turkish roots, is being trained for the occupation of construction mechanic and now enters into the second year of the three and a half year vocational education and training course. The business providing his vocational training is the company Almepro Metalltechnik.

When the executives and employees of the company Dietrich Wetzel in Plauen inaugurate their new building and commission the brand new embroidery machine Epoca-6 it houses, then 19-year-old Daniel Pilz from Plauen will be there, too.