Vocational and higher education move on to the same level

Today, employees wishing to complete continuing education and training struggle to find their way through the many different course formats and qualifications.

If they are seeking to climb the next rung of the career ladder, then above all it is important for them to know whether the employer will be persuaded by a particular qualification. Those who have completed the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) training as technical business economist and business economist now understand precisely what their qualification is worth.

For the first time, the German qualifications framework has placed both qualifications at the same level as the master's qualification from universities and universities of applied science.

Graduates and participants are just as pleased about this as employees at the IHK Academy for Munich and Upper Bavaria. "This decision clarifies the equivalence of vocational and higher education," commented Jana Lamanna, Course Manager at the IHK Academy. "It shows clearly that education training formats which provide qualifications for different areas of activity can nevertheless have comparable levels of requirements. We have fought for this for years." She added that the high quality of advanced vocational education in Germany has been very clearly emphasized across Europe as a result of the upgrading.