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35/ 2005
Bonn, 31.08.2005
Top positions at BIBB now filled: Professor Reinhold Weiß recruited as Deputy President and Head of Research
Professor Reinhold Weiß will join the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training ("BIBB") as Deputy President and Head of Research on 1 September 2005. His predecessor Walter Brosi has assumed the position of Head of the Vocational Training directorate at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Professor Weiß is the second recent appointment to the Institute's uppermost echelon, the first being Manfred Kremer who started work as BIBB's new president on 1 July 2005.
Prior to this time, Professor Weiß worked for the Cologne-based Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln business research institute where he began his professional career. He studied economics, economic and social history, economic and business education and vocational education at the University of Cologne where he passed the state examination qualifying him to teach at vocational schools. This was followed by a period as assistant to the Chair for Economics and Vocational Education at the University of Cologne. After earning his doctorate, he joined the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln in 1982 as a subject specialist for education policy issues and general education. Professor Weiß was subsequently appointed head of the Training Centre of the Chambers of Industry and Trade at the Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Hostein business academy in 1986. He returned to the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln in 1988 where he served first as head of the Education Economics and Continuing Training section and later as deputy head of the Education Policy and Labour Market Policy research department and member of the Managing Board.
Professor Weiß's research work has revolved around continuing in-company vocational training and classroom-based continuing vocational training to date. He has also focused on issues in the areas of general education, initial vocational training, universities and the labour market, personnel development and continuing training, and education economics in his research work in numerous publications, expertises, projects and pilot projects. He earned qualification as a professor for vocational education in 1996.
As a vocational training expert, Professor Weiß's knowledge is in frequent demand in numerous advisory boards and committees. For example, he has worked with the Board of Education Experts at the Hans Böckler Foundation, the Vocational Training Committee of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations and the Supervisory Committee for the Skill Development Learning Culture research and development programme conducted by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Professor Weiß has shared his knowledge as a lecturer with expertise in the vocational training field at the University of Trier, the University of Duisburg-Essen, the University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg and the University for Practical Business Studies Bergisch Gladbach. Professor Weiß was made an honorary professor of the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2004.
