Cost-Benefit Quality of Vocational Education and Training

At the latest with the report of the “Edding Commission,” the recording of the connection between costs, benefits, and quality of vocational education and training became a subject of VET research. Already with the research assignment to the Edding Commission, it is assumed that VET causes net costs and therefore its financing must be placed on a new basis. In the context of national accounts, VET is considered a resource of human capital formation and thus an investment project. This investment model is based on the idea that only after a period of investment in human capital—the training period—are the returns available in the form of qualified skilled workers. The established method of cost-benefit analysis in the area of vocational training follows a production-oriented approach. According to this approach, the idea that vocational education and training is an investment in human capital that only pays off in employment after the training is completed cannot be justified. Representative studies in Switzerland showed that the productive output of trainees exceeds the gross costs of training. Numerous case studies conducted by the ITB (University of Bremen) on the profitability of in-company vocational training in German companies show that the Swiss results can easily be achieved in German companies.