Print version Recommend this page Press release
/ 2007
Bonn, 12.09.2007
Storm: "New momentum on the vocational training market" - Conference on the future of vocational training opens in Düsseldorf
Joint press release from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training
"The vocational training market is picking up speed. Now that unemployment among young people has fallen markedly, the upswing is spreading completely to the vocational training market. For the first time since 2001, we expect there to be more than 600,000 new training contracts this year." This assessment was provided by Andreas Storm, parliamentary state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in Düsseldorf Wednesday at the opening of the 5th BIBB Congress that is being held under the banner Vocational Education and Training as the Path of the Future: Mobilise potential, shape change.
"My thanks go to all those enterprises that are involved in training young people. We need models like this, firms that give young people an opportunity to receive sound vocational training," said State Secretary Storm. In his remarks, he referred to the Innovationskreis berufliche Bildung, a panel of experts on innovation in vocational education and training that was set up by Education Minister Annette Schavan. This panel submitted guidelines for modernizing vocational education and training in July. "It is our aim to establish permeability in the education system, ensure new opportunities for integration and vocational training for young people and make the vocational training system more competitive at international level. Our method of vocational education and training is a winning model for the future," Storm explained.
In his speech, the president of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Manfred Kremer, emphasized permeability between different levels of the education system, educational pathways and between education systems at international level: "Permeability - for example, the recognition of vocational competences for entrance to university studies or granting university credit for vocational competences - means that we must finally recognize the equivalence of competences - irrespective of how or where they were acquired." The permeability issue plays a key role in the discussions on the development of a European Qualifications Framework and a European Credit Transfer System. "In light of this," Kremer stated, "I am expecting substantial progress to be made in this area."
Current figures issued by Germany's two leading trade associations - the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts - show that some 410,000 training contracts had already been signed by the end of August. That is 35,400 more than a year ago. In its supply and demand forecast, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training also is also expecting more than 600,000 new training contracts to be signed this year - for the first time since 2001. This trend is also reflected by the training placement statistics recently issued by the Federal Employment Agency.
Further information is available at
- http://www.bmbf.de/de/6190.php (German)
- http://www.bibb.de/en/25537.htm (English)
