Print version Recommend this page Press release
49/ 2010
Bonn, 20.12.2010
Continuing Education and Training Sector: Business mood still positive - Providers invest more in quality assurance
The mood of business in the continuing education and training sector is still positive, but with a definite downward trend. The wbmonitor climate index, which measures the mood of business in the sector, has fallen by ten points in comparison to 2009 to +23 on a scale from -100 to +100. Although continuing education and training providers attach a value of +32 to their present situation, their expectations for the coming year are much more modest at +14. The wbmonitor climate index has been calculated annually since 2007 by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the German Institute for Adult Education - Leibniz Center for Life-long Learning (DIE). More than 1,700 continuing education and training providers took part in this year's representative wbmonitor survey.
We see a trend in the other direction only in the case of continuing education and training providers who receive at least half their income from companies. These providers were able to increase their climate figures by 19 points to +48, and they expect business to pick up considerably in the twelve months to come. The background for this is apparently that the companies are once again investing more in continuing education and training owing to the positive trend in the economy as a whole.
The picture is much different for providers funded primarily by the public sector, such as the community colleges. Here the figure is only slightly on the positive side, at +5 points, and a further deterioration is expected for the future. Obviously the cash-strapped public coffers, especially in the municipalities, have had a negative effect. The climate has also deteriorated considerably among the providers who receive the bulk of their funding from the employment agencies. Their climate figure dropped by 30 points to +15, and here too it is expected to worsen in the coming year.
The wbmonitor survey results also show that continuing education and training providers are increasingly investing in quality assurance. Formal accreditation and certification is taking on ever greater importance, since 85 per cent of the providers now have formal accreditation from at least one official agency or private organisation.
Forty-three per cent are certified under the Accreditation and Certification in Further Training Ordinance (AZWV) of the Federal Employment Agency for measures corresponding to SGB (Social Code) III. Thus this form of accreditation has the greatest scope overall, followed by accreditation under the adult and continuing education and training acts of the Laender (39%) and the trades associations and business associations (35%). Seventy-one per cent of the continuing education and training providers even have two or more different formal accreditations. Proof that a quality management system is in place is often a precondition for accreditation. The most prevalent standard is clearly DIN EN ISO 9000 ff. More than a third of the continuing education and training providers are certified under that standard.
For further analyses and charts see the report on the results of the wbmonitor survey under www.wbmonitor.de/downloads/Ergebnisse_20101215.pdf or the BIBB website at www.bibb.de/de/11920.htm
The DIE has also issued a press release on this year's main theme of the survey, "formal accreditations and certifications". See
www.die-bonn.de/portrait/presse/index.aspx
BIBB contact:
Hans-Joachim Schade
Voucher copies requested.
