British government to improve vocational training despite austerity policy

Employers complain about skilled staff shortage in technology and natural sciences

The UK Department of Education and Science and the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), responsible for adult and continuing education, intend to improve vocational training in the United Kingdom, yet are forced to implement massive cuts over the course of the next years due to the government's strict austerity policy. One of Business Secretary Vince Cable's most important goals is the creation of high-quality apprenticeship training positions. The industrial association "German Industry UK" demands a dual training system modelled on the German system.

In light of the frequently less than optimal training of skilled workforce in the United Kingdom, German enterprises see considerable potential for improvement. "German Industry UK" Managing Director Dr Bernd Atenstaedt says, that the British system for promoting workplace-related training was intensely fragmented and confusing: "If at all, only large-scale enterprises know how to navigate the thicket of different promotional programmes and measures."

One difference between the occupational training systems in Germany and in the United Kingdom is the fact, that in Germany either the state or, respectively, the federal state usually finances the theoretical part of the training at vocational training colleges or academies. In the United Kingdom, by contrast, only specific occupational education programmes, for instance, in the field of "basic skills" (English language, mathematics and IT), receive full funding from the state. Most programmes feature a system of co-funding provided by the employer and the state. Hence in the United Kingdom, the private sector has to bear the greater part of the cost of vocational training.