News about VET from Germany

This year, the "First European Elephant Management School" celebrates its tenth anniversary. What sounds like a strange continuing education course for thick-skinned managers and corporate grey eminences, is a programme for elephant keepers from all over the world.

In an international survey, 80 per cent of respondent human resources (HR) executives stated that today, their employees have to undergo continuing education more often and faster than only five years ago.

The 5th "Röpke Symposium", which took place in December 2012 in Düsseldorf, criticised the belief in academic education which persists in policy and institutions and called for greater appreciation of vocational training in Germany.

Be it a rhetoric seminar, Business English course or extra-occupational study course: Without regular continuing education, the job market offers only dim perspectives. Many employees therefore use the opportunities provided by adult education centres and private institutes to update their knowledge and competencies.

Without craftsmen and -women, we would be out in the cold without walls and a ceiling to shelter us. By employing this picture, Klaus Lamprecht, Mayor of the City of Suhl, raised awareness for the high significance of the crafts during his welcoming speech on occasion of this year's master craftsman graduation ceremony at the Chamber of Crafts South Thuringia.

During the event "Integration through Vocational Education and Training" in Berlin, the Parliamentary State Secretary and Federal Government Commissioner for SMEs and Tourism, Ernst Burgbacher, and the Turkish Ambassador to Germany, Hüseyin Avni Karslioglu, have launched the German-Turkish joint campaign for the improved apprenticeship placement of Turkish young people.

What is necessary in order to develop eLearning solutions for the automotive trades? In 2011, the Dr.-Ing. Paul Christiani GmbH & Co. KG, a company providing technical training content, installed a platform: It contains twelve modules, which on the one part convey basic knowledge as regards motor control systems or vehicle lighting, yet also include other topics, such as hybrid technology.

The youth unemployment rate is close to 23 per cent across the European Union – yet at the same time there are more than 2 million vacancies that cannot be filled. Europe needs a radical rethink on how education and training systems can deliver the skills needed by the labour market.

In 2012, more than 2,500 graduates have passed their skilled tradesman examinations at the Schwerin Chamber of Industry and Commerce, covering 128 vocational education and training occupations. Many of them performed well or very well. They are eligible for a three-year scholarship.