Hubert Ertl is the new Head of Research at the BIBB

Prof. Dr. Hubert Ertl is the new Deputy President and Head of Research at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB). Prof. Ertl, born in 1968, returns to Germany to commence his new role following thirteen years of research and teaching at Oxford University, and from 1 September 2017 will take over from Prof. Dr. Reinhold Weiß, who is retiring.

The recruitment of Prof. Ertl to the position of Head of Research was possible as part of a joint appointment by the BIBB and the University of Paderborn. BIBB President Prof. Dr. Friedrich Hubert Esser commented: “We are delighted that in making this joint appointment we have succeeded in implementing the recommendation of the Science Council and that, in Prof. Ertl, we have recruited an internationally experienced researcher in vocational education and training matters.”

In an interview with the BIBB journal “Vocational Education and Training in Research and Practice - BWP”, Prof. Ertl acknowledged the particular opportunities the BIBB has in helping to shape the research landscape in Germany. He regards the stronger strategic focus of research in the BIBB and its international networking as a particular challenge. He explains that, in order to inject new momentum into the dual system in Germany, it is also necessary to use the opportunities provided by the digitalisation of work processes and to explore new avenues in the transition from vocational to university-level education and training.

From 2004 to 2017, Prof. Ertl was Associate Professor of Higher Education at the Department of Education at Oxford University in England. His research focuses on areas including transitions between vocational and university-level education, international comparative research on higher education, European education and training policy, and the introduction and implementation of education and training reforms. He was also editor of the journal “Research in Comparative and International Education” and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Before his time in England, Prof. Ertl conducted research and taught for three years in the Department for Business Education at the University of Paderborn. He will also resume a teaching position there in future as part of this joint appointment.

The married father of two began his professional career by training as a management assistant in wholesale and foreign trade. This was followed by the completion of the upper secondary school leaving certificate at a specialised upper secondary school and a degree in business education from the University of Munich which he completed as a Teacher of Commercial Studies. In 2001 he also achieved a doctorate.

Further information is available at www.bibb.de/forschungsdirektor

A portrait photo of Prof. Ertl can be downloaded at www.bibb.de/pressefotos.

Specimen copy requested if printed.