Dual study dynamic growth continues

The dynamic of dual study courses remains unbroken: with 11.4 per cent in 2013, the "AusbildungPlus" (Vocational Education Plus) database of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) registered a two-digit growth rate in the number of dual study courses for initial training. The database thus currently records 1,014 dual study courses with simultaneous training within a business and at a university (of applied sciences) or university of co-operative education. By now, this figure is boosted by 447 more study courses for continuing education. The number of students registered with "AusbildungPlus" increased from about 41,000 in 2004 to about 64,400 in 2013.

The universities in particular expanded their range of dual study courses from 30 to 57 in the past year - a significant increase, since hardly any changes were recorded in this field in the previous years.

"Traditionally", dual study courses are mostly found in the academic field of economics and engineering as well as in computer sciences. This education provision saw further differentiation through the addition of new faculties. However, the greatest development took place in the field of social sciences: here, the range of study courses on offer grew by almost a third to currently 41 courses registered in the database.

This exceeds the growth rate of 24 per cent in the previous year. One reason for this is the demographically caused demand for skilled professionals in the health care and nursing industry. Moreover, these fields include also dual study courses such as social work and social pedagogy, which meet with growing interest. Increasing offers for this form of study emerge also in the creative area, including, for instance, the study course design management, which was offered for the first time in the academic year 2012/2013.

With the model of co-operation between at least two sites of learning, dual study courses adopt a core principle of vocational education and training. In its new position paper on dual study courses published in October 2013, the Wissenschaftsrat (German Council of Science and Humanities), which advises the federal government and the federal state governments in issues pertaining to the development of universities, science and research in terms of content and structure, highlights the significance of this combination of theory and practice. It defines the linkage between the in-company and academic learning sites by way of corresponding curricula and organisation as a central quality criterion in the categorisation of dual study courses.

BIBB President Friedrich Hubert Esser welcomes this proposal: "The future challenge will be to establish standards regarding the linkage between in-company and academic learning sites in dual study courses that will ensure quality." The Science Council's recommendation will be adopted to give direction to the systematic registration of dual study courses within the central "AusbildungPlus" project database.

"AusbildungPlus" is a BIBB project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The centrepiece is a database providing nationwide information regarding dual study courses and additional qualifications within the dual vocational education system. Interested young people can search the database for suitable propositions free of charge. Education providers, for example, businesses, universities (of applied sciences) or universities of co-operative education can likewise publish their training and study propositions free of charge.