Print version Recommend this page Press release
37/ 2009
Bonn, 21.10.2009
Continuing education and training providers remain optimistic
The continuing education and training sector in Germany is weathering the economic crisis and in some cases even appears to be benefitting from it. The wbmonitor Climate Index, which measures the economic mood in the continuing education and training sector, has fallen to +33, nine points lower than last year's level. This is however still considerably higher than the levels seen in many other sectors. At +22, the expectation that the situation will improve next year is also lower than the level registered last year. However continuing education and training providers assess their current and future economic situation much more positively than the service sector as a whole does. At the same time, the ifo Business Climate Index reports a negative value (-5) for the service sector. The wbmonitor Climate Index has been calculated annually by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the German Institute for Adult Education (DIE) since 2007 (see Chart 1). Some 1,500 providers of continuing vocational training or general continuing education were interviewed for this year's wbmonitor survey.
The focus of the 2009 wbmonitor survey was on current strategies for holding one's own in the marketplace. The findings show that a large share of continuing education and training providers do not feel that they have been affected by the economic crisis. On the contrary: One out of every four providers stated that it was having a positive effect. Assessments of the economic situation varied greatly, depending on the respondent's source of funding. Providers that are primarily financed by government employment agencies are benefitting from the crisis while continuing education and training facilities that are financed mainly by private enterprises or the participants themselves tend to be adversely affected. According to one of the survey's conclusions, the increased business from Germany's employment agencies serves to stabilise the market, whereas in economically difficult times enterprises and direct payers invest less in continuing education and training.
Chart 2: Influence that overall economic conditions have on a provider's ability to hold its own in the marketplace
Source: 2009 BIBB/DIE wbmonitor Survey. Values extrapolated on the basis of N = 1,222 valid answers..
Customer-oriented marketing, collaboration, networking and concentrating on one's core areas of activity are the strategies that continuing education and training providers pursue most often in order to maintain their position in the marketplace. These strategies were cited by four out of every five providers surveyed. A particularly large number of respondents said that their plans also assigned considerable importance to designing training programmes that contain new content, professional market and demand analyses and the use of new teaching/learning methods. Continuing education and training providers depend on qualified, motivated personnel to implement their strategies and plans. Some 37% however note that the current level of remuneration is already having a negative impact on the quality of the training products they offer. But only 16% fear that the introduction of a minimum wage in the continuing education and training field would have a negative effect on their business.
Further information regarding the 2009 wbmonitor Survey conducted by BIBB and DIE is available at http://www.wbmonitor.de and www.bibb.de/de/52257.htm
Points of contact for further information:
- Dr Gisela Feller (BIBB), feller@bibb.de , Tel. +49 (0)228 107-1124
- Hans-Joachim Schade (BIBB), schade@bibb.de , Tel. +49 (0)228 107-1117
