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Apprenticeship has rarely received so much attention as it is getting now. Faced with persistently high levels of youth unemployment and great demand for economic development, the governments of many countries have (re)discovered the benefits that apprenticeship can bring and attempt to revive and expand apprenticeship of their own. The Chinese government is now trying to address the skill shortage and the market mismatch of supply and demand in manufacturing and high technology sectors by policy transfer and grope for the right road to a Modern Apprenticeship with Chinese characteristics. This paper will give an overview of the current development of apprenticeship in China. Section 1 denotes the definition and benefits of apprenticeship; section 2 introduces the development status of Chinese apprenticeship and related governmental actions briefly; section 3 presents a case study on a pilot project between Guangzhou Railway Vocational and Technical College and Internet of Things Association of Guangdong Province; section 4 tries to provide suggestions for the future development of apprenticeship. Evidence is drawn primarily from published secondary sources and reports the pilot schools submitted.

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Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Poland has a long tradition and distinctive features set in the Polish geographic, economic and social context. Even though there is no unique and specific TVET law in Poland like for example the Vocational Training Act in Germany, numerous educational reforms conducted in Poland have been instrumental to shaping the contemporary form of this type of education. The last educational reform from 2017 introduced changes that profoundly influenced the structure of TVET in Poland. Amidst these momentous changes the research team from TU Dortmund and the education provider VESBE e.V. started an 'Explanatory study on the TVET in Poland' as a research project with a multi-method approach. Embedded in the context of international Technical Vocational Education and Research, the main objective is to have a closer look at both TVET systems in Poland and Germany. In more detail, and by using a comparative approach, the project aims to identify central elements of dual learning approaches with regard to transfer options on different levels of the TVET systems (focusing on companies located in Poland as well as in Germany).

This article presents the theoretical frame, the applied methodology, preliminary findings as well as crucial challenges of the project. It is a contribution to the academic discussion on Polish TVET at the secondary level that not rarely has been overshadowed in the Polish scholarly tradition by voices focused primarily on technical education at the university level.

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The vision of digitalization and Industry 4.0 has been widely discussed. Furthermore, the topic encompasses (a) a reorganization process of all industrial activities through new options for communication, triggered by the Internet of Things, and (b) a massive change of private living conditions influenced by the extensive use of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). These developments have an impact in all countries, regardless of the individual state of development of industrial production. The central question arises whether the dual system of vocational education and training as practiced in Germany and some other European countries for the training of skilled workers in industry, handicraft and service tasks, is also an adequate system to provide answers to these challenges. Apart from an analytical approach to the core elements of the dual system and a critical assessment whether it can react swiftly to industrial and other developments, empirical studies will be evaluated that outline the requirements of digitalization and Industry 4.0. The results of these analyses will then be used to work out whether the dual system can provide satisfactory answers to contemporary paradigms.

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Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) plays a significant role in equipping learners with relevant skill sets for specific trades, crafts and careers. The vocational education and training of youth is a challenge in terms of employability and skills acquisition of learners at all levels. With the emerging trends in the employment sector, the skill requirements have varied with geographic location, type of industrial development, economic growth and training facilities available in the region. The present study attempts to review the policy issues and best practice models for an enabling system of synchronising a systemic approach for skills training and vocational and technical education relevant for a nation like India. The research attempts to examine the key intervention characteristics to explain in the present trend of skill development, the variability in the intervention strategies.

The present study will identify the institutional structure in the context of the technical vocational education and skills training systems in India. The review enumerates the best practices adopted with relevant cases for expansion, to make the vocational training accessible and such efforts taken in the direction. The policy relevant to technical education, skills training and the apprenticeship training has varied with time, scope and demand of the sector. The challenge remains in how systems have to respond to meet the overall demands by taking into account the local demands and regional requirements in a global context.

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The topic of dual vocational education and training (VET) in Russia has become especially popular since 2013, when the project of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), which was called 'Training of personnel, which is meeting the requirements of high-tech industries based on dual education' was launched. Methodical support of the project was carried out by the Federal Institute for Development of Education (FIRO). At the same time, a project on Dual VET by the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce (AHK) VETnet was launched, which is still ongoing.

The essence and specifics of the dual VET system is largely formed due to the active cooperation of Russia and Germany in the field of vocational education. The activities of the Russian-German working group on vocational education, the cooperation between FIRO and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education of Germany (BIBB) plus AHK have undoubtedly made a contribution to the development of dual vocational education and training in Russia. The system of personnel training in Russian territories was characterized as insufficiently reacting to the transformation of the economy. The solution is the engagement of employers from industry, the creation of legal conditions for public-private partnership of state authorities, employers, vocational education organizations (VET colleges) and the development of a practice-oriented training system from career guidance, over vocational didactics to the assessment of qualifications/competences. The article is based on the ASI project, and the best-practices examples of dual VET, which have emerged in Russia after 2016. Finally, conclusions will be drawn and recommendations offered for the further development of VET system in Russia and German-Russian cooperation in VET.

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This article provides an overview of the sustainable development of a dual vocational education and training (VET) model in Peru as an emerging country in the last three decades. Servicio Nacional de Adiestramiento y Trabajo Industrial (SENATI) is a private non-profit VET training institution in Peru, founded by the Peruvian National Society of Industries (Sociedad Nacional de Industrias - SNI) in 1961. The SENATI dual learning programme is industry-led and was established in 1985 to provide dual professional training (two learning venues: training company and SENATI - acting as vocational school and inter-company training centre at the same time). German dual VET and competency based training (CBT), coined by the recent Anglo-American technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sphere, have strongly influenced the design and implementation of dual learning programmes. Other topics included are vocational education, differences to CBT, company-based training and an introduction to a new research project of the Technical University of Dortmund called 'PeruDual'. It will examine the factors that have led to sustainable, successful cooperation between SENATI and training companies since its inception in 1985. Research bodies are largely unaware of these factors.

Using document analysis, we find that dual VET in Peru is not based on the relationship of the training companies to the vocational schools, but on the relationship of the training institution SENATI to the companies. We thus conclude that some characteristics of employer engagement (National Society of Industries and training companies) in dual VET are: dual learning (especially in-company learning), definition of qualification standards and of the new training occupations to be offered and definition when to update curriculums. The basic concepts of the dual VET model are: applied didactic, action learning and project method.

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