As of late, the pupils at the Willy Brandt Vocational College in Duisburg-Rheinhausen are taught life skills and how to plan their lives. The reason for this is that pupils also face the problem of resignation after many setbacks, for instance, when looking for a vocational training placement.

The vocational training opportunities for young people have once again improved over the past year. During a meeting in Berlin in march, Martin Wansleben, Chief Executive Director of the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), expressed his satisfaction with what was achieved by the Vocational Training Pact.

The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) and the Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks (ZDH, German Confederation of Skilled Crafts) regard inter-company vocational training in the crafts (ÜLU) to be an important element in safeguarding the skilled labour supply in Germany.

Experten aus Politik, Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft trafen sich zu der Deutsch-Russischen Berufsbildungskonferenz "Moderne Berufsbildung: Herausforderungen und Perspektiven für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft" vom 29. bis 30. März 2012 in Kaluga.

Dual study courses experience a boom. According to numbers published by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), the number of dual study courses offered by enterprises in 2011 increased by 46 per cent to over 40,000.

With their project for the "Energy system optimisation of plastics injection moulding machines", seven apprentices from the firm of plastic concept gmbh in Neusalza-Spremberg won over the jury in the 13th federal state competition for the implementation of the Agenda 21 in the field of vocational education.

Friedrich Hubert Esser, President of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), has described the agreement between the Federal Government, the federal states and the social partners on the introduction of the German Qualifications Framework (DQR) as an "important milestone" for vocational education and training in Germany.

The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) has taken on the project sponsorship of the next phase of the ANKOM Initiative "Transitions from vocational to higher education".