Germany – and Bavaria – are world famous for engineering and efficiency. A big contributing factor to these strengths is the dual training system. In Germany, it is not only engineers and other academics who enjoy a standardized education of high quality. German apprenticeships, too, guarantee that workers who completed them hold up to highest standards and are equipped with both practical and theoretical knowledge to fulfill their tasks.
This vocational training model has been studied around the world due to the excellent results it produces. American journalists summarized their impression in articles such as “Why Germany Is So Much Better at Training Its Workers”. Numerous programs in the United States have attempted to copy the German model and implement it here. In fact, the German embassy and the German American Chamber of Commerce support these initiatives.
Akin to other sectors of education, Bavaria is at the forefront of this unique German strength, too. In 2015, a whopping 240,051 apprentices received training here, accounting for 18% of the German total and an annual rate of 1.9 apprentices per 100 inhabitants. As the backbone of the economy, these highly skilled workers have allowed Bavaria to retain an industry GDP share above 30%. This is a one-of-a-kind exception in the developed world.
In order to preserve it, the Bavarian government is stepping up.
As Ilse Aigner (the Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology) and Dr. Ludwig Spaenle (the Bavarian Minister for Education) jointly announced today, they will provide the first 16 vocational schools with the means to train their students for Industrie 4.0, the German catchphrase for the Industrial Internet of Things. To this end, each school will receive 250,000 euro. In addition to the financial resources, the chosen schools’ teachers will receive dedicated advanced training.
To realize the economic potential in digitization, businesses need a workforce capable of handling new technologies. Due to the announced measures, Bavarian businesses are more likely to find it than their global competitors.
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