Costs, benefits and financing of continuing vocational training
Continuing vocational training in Germany is jointly financed by companies, individuals and the public purse. This mixed funding recognises that all stakeholders mentioned may derive an advantage from continuing training. Which proportion of the costs is borne by which individual party on an individual cases basis is also determined by the respective expected benefit.
It is admittedly the case that many measures are solely funded by a single stakeholder. Companies, for example, often assume the complete financing of training activities that are purely specific to the firm, and individuals sometimes bear the whole cost of measures which could be of benefit in more than one company. In some areas, the state also deems it appropriate to take full responsibility for financing. This is in part due to cost-benefit considerations and may also be partially for reasons of fairness. In many cases, however, more than one or even all of the stakeholders stated are involved in the financing of training activities.
Knowledge of the costs and benefits of continuing training and the way in which these are distributed among the stakeholders is required in order to describe the pattern of participation and the sharing of the burden. The purpose of many of the research projects carried out by BIBB in this thematic area is, therefore, to identify and evaluate the costs and benefits of continuing vocational training for companies and individuals.
Other topics addressed, however, include possible under-financing of continuing vocational training and the role played by the public purse as a funder and financer of institutionalised continuing training provision. The spectrum of BIBB’s activities in this field also extend to encompass the investigation and assessment of financing concepts, such as continuing training funds organised along inter-company lines or training vouchers.