VerA is an initiative by the Senior Experten Service (SES) that goes by the full name of 'Verhinderung von Ausbildungsabbrüchen' (prevention of apprenticeship dropouts): volunteering senior experts - all experienced, retired professionals - support apprentices.
In the context of the German Education Prize 2014, the TÜV SÜD Akademie and EuPD Research Sustainable Management have awarded the initiative's quality seal to 15 businesses of excellence. The German Education Prize thus honours those participants who have in place an excellent education and talent management system.
Almost a quarter of all apprenticeship contracts are terminated before completion of the full training - a rate that alarms all affected parties. This is exactly what the innovative service provision by the Vocational Training Centre South Hessen addresses: in future, the new academy for vocational training will support businesses throughout all stages of the vocational education and training programme.
A concert harp requires about 1,500 hand polished individual parts as well as a good ear for music and a certain degree of ability to play the instrument. Makers of plucked musical instruments have to be able not only to build an instrument, but also to assess its sound.
School and vocational education in Europe is as diverse as the number of EU Member States. In the field of school education, the degree of success of the individual systems can be determined by the PISA study. In the field of vocational education, there are the so-called WorldSkills.
The TÜV Rheinland Akademie receives the Comenius EduMedia Seal for its e-learning continuing education course for quality assurance representatives. The seal is awarded by the GPI - Society for Paedagogics and Information and is regarded as an award for special multimedia innovations in the field of vocational education and training.
The compatibility of family and career is an important social topic that is increasingly also on the minds of employers. In the previous 12 months, 322 companies, institutions and universities successfully completed the berufundfamilie audit (for businesses) or, respectively, the familiengerechte hochschule audit (for universities).
The Brandenburg Agriculture Ministry regularly focuses on a sponsorship project that is funded from out of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The project from the month of July demonstrates the EAFRD's scope of opportunities for supporting vocational education and training in rural areas.
"I hope that one time they will say about us and our age: they treated our planet's resources responsibly; they sought and found new ways", said Prof. Waltraud 'Wara' Wende, Education Minister of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein, on occasion of the ten-year anniversary of the co-operation between the federal state and Siemens AG in providing continuing education for teachers at vocational colleges.
