"Vocational Education and Training Week 2015"

"Today's apprentices are tomorrow's skilled professionals": this was the motto of this year's Vocational Education and Training Week organised by the German Federal Employment Agency (BA).

From the 16th to the 20th of March, regional administrations, employment agencies and job centres advertised the dual system of vocational education and training at a regional level and provided information regarding its opportunities and career paths.

The core message is as simple as it is convincing: vocational education and training pays off – equally for businesses and for young people. By providing in-house vocational training, businesses groom their future skilled professionals at an early stage, because they depend more than ever on qualified personnel.

The young people gain a diversified range of opportunities for their future career. They benefit from their training also in the long term: those who know their profession well and remain up to date by way of advanced training also after their apprenticeship can go far in one of the 330 dual system vocational education and training occupations.

The partners in the new Allianz für Aus- und Weiterbildung (Alliance for Vocational Education and Advanced Training) agree: vocational education and training has a future. It is the joint goal of the German federal government, the industry, unions, federal states and the Employment Agency to strengthen it and to make it even more desirable.

"We want to convince even more businesses and young people of the advantages of vocational education and training", say the alliance stakeholders, "which is why we support this year's Vocational Education and Training Week of the BA."