News about VET from Germany

When someone pays for a service, they want to know whether the quality is acceptable, preferably before agreeing on the purchase. It is easy to determine in the shopping process whether a lettuce is fresh or a television screen provides good image quality. Yet how is one to go about it with respect to services in the field of education?

In the past year, more than 166,000 participants of continuing education courses received benefits on the basis of the Advanced Further Training Assistance Act (AFBG Aufstiegsfortbildungsförderungsgesetz), better known under the name of "master craftsman BAföG" student loan.

Fewer and fewer school graduates and increasing numbers of young people not completing their apprenticeship: this is too much in the eyes of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training.

Dr Bernd Althusmann, Minister of Culture and Education for the Federal State of Lower Saxony, has considered the establishment of 35 innovation and future centres at the Lower Saxon vocational schools a positive move.

For many years now, the industry and the unions have been advocating the opening of universities for master craftsmen and qualified professionals without A-levels. This effort seems to yield first results, for the number of first-time students without a university entrance qualification has skyrocketed. However, the situation is very different in the respective federal states.

"Pupils build bridges worldwide": The German School Alexandria, the German International School Seoul and the German Embassy School Teheran were honoured in Berlin as the winners of this year's Chambers of Industry and Commerce German Schools Abroad Competition.

Enhancing permeability between vocational training and higher education requires target-group-specific transition management.

The importance of quality and quality assurance in vocational education and training will continue to grow.

Recently the OECD criticised the quality of initial vocational education and training (IVET) in America and recommended that Americans should take a look at dual systems of IVET, as practised in Germany and Switzerland for example.