2023-06-01 22:23:34
VMany companies are desperately looking for applicants for their apprenticeship positions – and would be particularly happy to see more high school graduates. But only a few high school students get a clear picture in school that promising careers are also open to them through vocational training and further education, i.e. without studying. The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) makes this critical diagnosis and is based on a large new survey of 20,000 graduates of higher vocational education. These are people who, at some point after completing their usual vocational training, have completed advanced training and are now working, for example, as certified master craftsmen, technicians or accountants.
“Even during careers orientation, schoolchildren must be informed that they can experience a career that is just as successful as academics through dual training and appropriate further training,” summarizes Achim Dercks, Deputy DIHK General Manager, the analysis. So far, there has been a lack of comprehensive careers orientation for high school students – and certainly one that doesn’t just focus on studying. According to the survey, 58 percent of graduates of higher vocational training have noticeably improved their salary and/or their professional position within five years. A good fifth made jumps of more than 750 euros per month.
Training brings benefits
This survey does not provide more detailed comparative data on the income of university graduates on the one hand and graduates of higher vocational training on the other. However, a study by the Tübingen Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) from 2019 provides information. According to this, academics achieved an average total income of 1.45 million euros up to the age of 60 – and thus a good 40,000 euros more over this long distance than qualified master craftsmen or technician. However, the academics did not develop the income advantage until later in their professional life: by the age of 35, further education graduates had already earned 355,000 euros, academics only 260,000 euros – about as much as trainees who had completed their training without further education had achieved by this age.
“In the phase of starting a family, further training graduates are better off,” concludes Dercks. In fact, according to the DIHK survey, most participants start their advanced training between their mid-20s and mid-30s. But this qualification path also has many advantages for companies, he judges: “You can develop top-level specialists and managers from your own workforce who can and want to take on more responsibility.” Higher vocational training is “a kind of insider tip” for career-conscious employees as well as for entrepreneurial strategies against a shortage of skilled workers.
A total of around 2.5 million employees in Germany have a higher professional qualification. According to the DIHK, 60,000 exams are conducted annually by the chambers of industry and commerce alone. But it could “like to be more”. The job market for these graduates has been swept empty: their unemployment rate is 1.2 percent, which is even lower than that of academics, which fluctuates around 2 percent.
More graduates for climate protection
Dercks also justifies the fact that more highly qualified graduates are needed with the climate protection goal: It is not enough to train more people to install heat pumps, wind turbines or solar systems as long as it does not work well in advance: “Along the value chain – for example from development , procurement and construction through to the erection of a wind turbine – the full range of training and further education qualifications in vocational training is in demand.”
However, the path to a higher professional qualification is demanding in everyday life: candidates usually prepare for the exam in evening courses alongside their main job. In addition to the orientation for beginners, the chambers believe that state funding should also be improved: course and examination costs, which can also amount to 15,000 euros, are paid for with the “Aufstiegs-Bafög” with half as a grant from public funds, and half Half but only as a loan. If the exam goes wrong, not only time but also a lot of money is lost for those affected.
“This is an imbalance at the expense of vocational training – at least as long as there is a free university course,” complains Dercks. In the survey, more than half of the graduates had taken advantage of the ascent loan for their further training. In the coalition agreement, the traffic light parties have agreed to close existing “funding gaps” compared to student loans. Now it’s time for it, Dercks thinks.
The old government already decided on a sign of the equivalence of academic and vocational training: in addition to the usual designations, such as master, “Bachelor professional” or “Master professional” are now also official titles. In January, however, the Bertelsmann Foundation had already established that there was no shortage of high school graduates in the system: the proportion of high school graduates who were just doing an apprenticeship had risen from 37 to 48 percent over the past decade. Instead of complaining about “academization”, companies should train more young people without a good school education.
#Masters #wanted #masters