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The 2019 Report on Vocational Education and Training describes the training place market situation in the 2017/2018 training year and documents the current challenges confronting vocational education and training in the German Federal Republic. Vocational education and training outcomes were primarily positive over the reporting year. There were 722,700 new entries into the training sector in the 2017/2018 training year, an increase of 10,300 or 1.4 per cent over the previous year.

This report covers: Vocational education and training policy priorities; The training market situation in 2018; The Federal Government's current vocational training policy measures and programmes; Overview of Federal Government training and labour market policy activities and programmes; and Opinions on this report from the Board of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, the group of employee representatives, the group of employer representatives, and the group of Lander representatives.

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For a number of years, key stakeholders in the fields of education, employment, training, guidance and support, including Scottish Government, have discussed and debated the potential of introducing a recognition centre (or service) able to formally recognise the skills, learning and qualifications of migrant workers and refugees in Scotland, in order to facilitate access to education, employment or training at a level commensurate with existing skills and/or qualifications. One of a range of measures led by the Scottish Government's Fresh Talent Initiative, with a focus upon meeting the population growth target set out in the Government's Economic Strategy, was a study which explored the need, and preferred delivery mechanisms, for a dedicated recognition service for Scotland. The current report presents, in greater detail, the rationale, objectives and agreed methodology alongside the findings and conclusions resulting from research, data analysis and stakeholder consultation activity in Scotland and beyond.

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Despite the fact that the Swiss [vocational education and training] VET system has been regulated by federal laws since 1930, the 26 cantons that make up the Swiss Confederation enjoy a certain room for maneuver when implementing federal provisions at the regional level. This is reflected in sometimes significant differences between the cantons, particularly with regard to participation in dual VET. Based on a historical reconstruction of the institutionalization process of the Swiss VET system, our contribution first explains the institutional conditions under which cantonal differences are possible; secondly describes their evolution; and finally identifies the main factors which influence their appearance.

In more detail, our contribution begins with a reconstruction of the development of VET in Switzerland and in three cantons (ZH, GE, TI) during the decisive period for the Swiss VET system from 1950 to 1970. This reconstruction is based firstly on a historical analysis of sources (laws, messages, statistical data, reports, brochures, press articles, etc.) published from 1880 to the present day, with particular attention to the period 1950-1970. This analysis allows us to reconstruct the process of institutionalization of the field, with emphasis on the constant tension between federal regulation and cantonal autonomy, as well as the statistical evolution of cantonal differences. In a second step, we subject the same set of sources to a discourse analysis allowing us to identify the main arguments accompanying the decision-making process in our three cantons. This latter analysis enables us to show the sometimes-subtle differences between cantonal policies and their respective conceptions of VET.

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In the period since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 there have been growing differences between higher education in Scotland and other parts of the UK, in terms of the policy framework, structures, initiatives, aspects of practice, and patterns of participation. However it is necessary to ask to what extent have these differences built on policies, structures and trends which were already there, to what extent did devolution give fresh impetus to differences, and create new opportunities for differences to emerge, and to what extent has this produced differences in practice and outputs? This paper will seek to explore these issues.

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Due to the unknown future economic situation of students, private banks are unwilling to provide student loans in the absence of collateral. This market failure requires government intervention to prevent socially sub-optimal and regressive outcomes. Income contingent loans, whose repayment depends on the borrowers’ future capacity to pay, can offer a possible solution to this problem. In this paper, we compare alternative income contingent loans for financing tuition fees at German universities. Several German states have introduced tuition fees at their universities since summer 2007 and publicly owned banks have started to offer student loans to cover these fees. Our empirical findings highlight the benefits of income contingent loans and demonstrate that tuition fees at German universities could increase considerably if an income contingent loan system would be implemented to provide students with the financial resources they need to pay these fees.

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Four years ago the Secretary of State for Education commissioned Professor Alison Wolf of King's College London to carry out an independent review of vocational education. Professor Wolf was asked to consider how vocational education for 14 to 19-year-olds could be improved to enable successful progression into the labour market, higher level education and training routes. She was also asked to provide practical recommendations to help inform future policy direction, taking into account current financial constraints. This is the final of three progress reports detailing the action taken by the Government on each of Professor Wolf's 27 recommendations. Overall, of the 27 recommendations set out in the report 20 have been implemented in full, 6 are still in the process of being implemented. One recommendation was implemented in part.

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This article analyses the governance of VET for adults and its development from a historical-institutionalist perspective. It takes a look at the collective skill formation system of Switzerland, in which the federal government and private companies (or the associations representing them) play integral roles. The article argues that the establishment of VET for adults is a form of policy expansion, in which certain actors - especially from the canton administrations - exert considerable influence in the initial phase, but then get side-lined as the governance structure and institutional framework of formal VET shape the process of expansion, due to numerous feedback mechanisms. These findings are relevant not only for understanding the development of VET for adults, but also for a more general understanding of educational reforms that affect other policy fields.

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