According to the 2014 report on vocational training presented last week, the vocational training system is still eroding. In 2013, 33,500 places remained vacant and 83,000 youngsters looking for an apprenticeship were unable to sign a contract. Besides, the number of training businesses hasn’t been this low since 1999. Whereas demographic ageing was given as one of the primary reasons for this decline for a long time, this time, growing competition from general university studies is being brought into question. Indeed, for the first time, the number of college student is the same as the number of applicants for corporate apprenticeships.
Apprenticeship keeps declining, as well as the number of training firms. Between 2006 and 2012, the number of apprentices was reduced by 5 percent while the number of college students increased by 25 percent. This is one of the first observations of the 2014 vocational training report presented last week by the Ministry of Education and Research. And the apprenticeship drop continued in 2013.
Do you have information to share with us?