News about VET from Germany

"Recognition in Germany" is the new information portal regarding the German government's Recognition Act. This portal provides up-to-date information on the legal basis and procedure for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications.

Kapilrajah Sathivel, former wire drawer apprentice at the Neuenrad-based company Elisental, was honoured in Berlin as one of the best 227 apprentices of Germany 2011. The award ceremony included some 1,000 guests.

Retail apprentices earn above average. This is the result of the up-to-date evaluation of apprenticeship salaries prepared by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB).

"The vocational training opportunities for young people in Germany have been further improved this year. It was possible to give an increasing number of young people an occupational perspective."

Compared to qualified workers, unskilled labour are significantly more often found working in menial and thus usually also more precarious jobs. Moreover, their gainful employment is concentrated on a few occupational fields only.

Binational teams of pupils from two technical grammar schools in the Czech Republic and Germany have developed vehicles and transport units by using CAD and CNC programmes and changed their everyday school life with their project work.

Receiving one's vocational training or continuing education abroad in a European country and having one's achievements acknowledged at home – this is what the so-called ECVET intends to facilitate and promote.

"We never would have dreamed of these figures", admits Professor Dr Heribert Weber, President of the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg. At present, 171 men and women study at his university without having a formal university entrance qualification.

The dual vocational training system is a major asset for Germany's innovation power, an aspect systematically underestimated in international studies. The highly innovative medium-sized businesses without proprietary research departments in particular greatly appreciate the well qualified skilled labour in this country.