Abstract
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have traditionally provided a large proportion of their workforces with qualifications obtained in the dual vocational training system. However, due to the growing demand for abstract and codified knowledge, all three countries aim at increasing the permeability and individual mobility between the dual training sector and the higher education system. In this chapter we analyse the ways in which Germany, Austria and Switzerland have tried to establish institutional linkages between dual vocational training and higher education. We begin by discussing options for creating such linkages: (1.) upgrading of vocational education and training courses, (2.) introducing dual courses of study, (3.) facilitating attendance of general upper secondary schools for people with vocational qualifications, (4.) enabling the parallel acquisition of a dual vocational training qualification and a higher education entrance qualification, (5.) allowing admission to higher education on the basis of prior dual vocational training qualifications and a certain amount of work experience, and (6.) recognising prior learning as an element in higher education programmes. Our analysis shows that, recently, Germany has relied strongly on the admission to higher education based on vocational training certificates in combination with work experience. Switzerland and Austria are rather pushing the comprehensive introduction of programmes that enable the parallel acquisition of a dual vocational training qualification and a higher education entrance qualification. Finally, we raise questions about the risk of institutional ambiguity and institutional task overload.
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Notes
- 1.
Similarly, Maurice et al. (1986) distinguish between “organisational spaces” and “qualificational spaces”.
- 2.
Furthermore, Germany, Austria and Switzerland also provide vocational training in full-time vocational schools and general schooling to varying degrees (Ebner and Nikolai 2010).
- 3.
On the one hand, this refers to the role of an influential German educated middle class (“Bildungsbürgertum”) in excluding other social classes from access to higher education (Baethge 2006) and, on the other, to the important status of the dual training system and, hence, vocationally skilled workers within ‘Rhenish capitalism’ (see Streeck 1991 on diversified quality production).
- 4.
Please note that in this chapter we are not concerned with individuals who acquired a higher education entrance certificate prior to entering dual vocational training.
- 5.
In the case of Austria, three out of the four necessary exams can be completed parallel to apprenticeship training. The last exam follows after the VET certificate has been awarded (and on the condition that the individual is at least 19 years old) (BMUKK 2011, p. 8).
- 6.
Available from: http://www.berufsbildung.schulministerium.nrw.de/cms/ (accessed 1st December 2011).
- 7.
The KMK (“Kultusministerkonferenz”) is the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- 8.
Please note that the ANKOM initiative is strongly focused on accreditation of prior certified learning (APCL).
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Ebner, C., Graf, L., Nikolai, R. (2013). New Institutional Linkages Between Dual Vocational Training and Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In: Windzio, M. (eds) Integration and Inequality in Educational Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6119-3_14
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