BIBB's President Esser: "Initial and advanced vocational training offer an attractive alternative to university studies"

Vocational training is a promising alternative to university studies, particularly for high-achieving school leavers with university entrance qualification. Approximately one out of every five trainees who signed a new training contract in 2009 was qualified to study at a university in Germany.

Ten years ago, some 220,000 pupils in Germany completed their general secondary schooling with a certificate qualifying them to enrol in a university. This figure will exceed 300,000 a year for the years 2011 to 2013.

This increase will be due in part to the double school-leaver cohorts in states such as Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia. The suspension of compulsory military service will also boost this increase in the number of school leavers.

As a result, Germany's universities are facing an enormous challenge. And while the universities are reaching their limits, enterprises are desperately seeking high-achieving trainees to ensure a sufficient supply of skilled labour and young managers to meet their future needs.

"Vocational education and training particularly offers youths a wide range of perspectives and career options and is therefore an attractive alternative to universities studies for school leavers with qualification to study at university. High-quality initial and advanced vocational training programmes lead to equivalent certificates," underscored Professor Dr Friedrich Hubert Esser, president of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB).

President Esser pointed out that the peak numbers of applicants that are now being seen due to the double school-leaving cohorts must be put to use for recruiting future managers in enterprises. "At the same time however, it is vital to keep the number of training places being offered high in order to avoid cutthroat competition over training places at the expense of less qualified applicants," BIBB's president appealed to enterprises in Germany.

Projects conducted jointly by BIBB and the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) predict that by the year 2020 there will no longer be enough qualified skilled workers in Germany, from a statistical point of view, to meet demand because the short-term increase that will last until 2013 will be followed by an accelerated decline in the number of applicants for training places.

Vocational training is a promising alternative to university studies, particularly for high-achieving school leavers with university entrance qualification. This is especially the case when the respective vocational training programme can be upgraded with supplemental qualifications. The spectrum of supplemental qualifications ranges from intercultural skills such as proficiency in one or more foreign languages, to commercial, EDP or technical qualifications all the way to so-called 'soft' skills such as social and communication skills.

Another attractive option are programmes which, similarly to a dual study course at university, permit trainees to acquire two certificates during their training.

Supplementary qualifications go beyond the content taught in regular vocational training programmes and give trainees and the enterprises providing this training the opportunity to augment training content on a flexible basis. After passing a final examination, trainees usually receive a certificate which documents the additional learning content covered during their training. By acquiring supplementary qualifications, individuals can expand their career options and, not least of all, improve their chances of being hired upon completion of their vocational training by the company that provided it.

Commercial occupations are currently very popular among school leavers who are qualified to enter university. Such occupations include Industrial Clerk, Bank Clerk, Office Manager and Management Assistant in Wholesale and Retail Trade. The occupation Information Technology Specialist is also very popular among school leavers with university entrance qualification. Approximately one out of every five trainees who signed a new training contract in 2009 was qualified to study at a university in Germany.