Global Development

Vocational Pathways to Higher Education

One of the characteristics of a knowledge economy is greater demand and rewards for higher levels of education—among both students and employers. In the 1980s Danish technical and business colleges began to offer programs to better prepare students for higher education. The HTX (technical) and HHX (commercial) upper secondary programs are special “non-dual system” tracks within the colleges designed to simplify and enhance transfer. Although students’ choices between academic and vocational paths are made quite early, either track provides entry to higher education.

Vocational (VET) programs result in a certificate that gives students access to higher education, typically two-year “short cycle” programs also housed at technical or business colleges. HHX and HTX graduates may enroll in universities.

HTX and HHX program allows students more choices within their programs—two-thirds of all curricular content is compulsory and one third is elective. It is even possible for students to obtain full or partial double qualification through electives from the HHX and the HTX. Although these are special programs that include a relatively small number of students, policies are being designed to make all VET programs more flexible so that any student with the interest and competence is able to continue on towards higher degrees.

International emphasis

Another distinguishing feature of the Danish college is its international focus. Most students are proficient in English, and many in a second foreign language as well. There is also a long tradition in programs such as business and culinary for students to pursue an internship outside of Denmark. Various European Union (EU) Leonardo da Vinci programs provide support for upper secondary students to study abroad for a year and the EU’s Cedefop supports study tours and work-linked training abroad. Faculty, too, look for opportunities to travel to expand their perspectives. A number of Danish colleges and U.S. TA3 member colleges have hosted each others’ faculty members for short periods of time.

Adult Programs

The typical Danish vocational college student is significantly younger than his or her American counterpart at US community colleges because they enter at an earlier age and are less likely to be adults returning to school for degrees. Denmark has had a separate set of institutions for adult training until recently under the Ministry of Labor—AMU Centers. Some 24 have provided training programs to adult unskilled and semi-skilled workers and further skill development for skilled workers. Under a reform in 2001, this system of AMUs was moved under the Ministry of Education and incorporated into technical and commercial colleges in order to create a more coherent further education system that offered adults the same qualifications offered to youth and to meet Denmark’s vision for lifelong learning. The reform allows adults to receive credit for competencies they had already acquired through the formal education system, informally, through on-the-job training schemes, or through their work experience. The framework for adult vocational education is designed to match that of the general education system. Currently there are reforms in discussion concerning these training centers to make their courses more tailored toward particular company needs—what we in the US would call customized training. There is also discussion of offering more training for semi-skilled workers—as opposed to skilled—and serving a greater number of smaller companies.

Strengths and Successes

Denmark’s national system of VET balances national control over curricula and programs with colleges that manage their own budgets and personnel. Its defining strengths are its emphasis on innovation, standards, and quality; its adaptability; its attention to special needs; and its support for transitions.

Pedagogical Innovation and High Curricular Standards

One of the hallmarks of the Danish vocational system is its willingness to embrace new pedagogical techniques. There is a high degree of acceptance among faculty and administrators of the wisdom of putting into action results from educational research. Almost all learning that takes place at technical and business colleges is either hands-on or project-based. Students work in teams, are encouraged to be self-directed learners, and develop their own learning plans that assess what they already know and allow them to tailor their college-based coursework accordingly. In addition, significant resources are put into faculty development and team-teaching concepts. Unlike in the United States, where faculty members typically have control over how they teach (primarily “chalk and talk”) it is expected at Danish colleges that all faculty work together to develop students’ hard and soft skills using innovative educational approaches and “real world” projects. Indeed it is rare when visiting a Danish college to see an instructor addressing the class as a whole. Instead, they spend almost all their time circulating among student groups doing collaborative work. Importantly, faculty members at the colleges are paid salaries comparable to their industry counterparts.

Standards for completion at the colleges are also uniformly high. In fact, it is testimony to the Denmark’s commitment to a very well educated labor pool that standards have remained high, despite pressures stakeholders might have felt to “water down” programs in order to increase what have become troublesome completion rates, as described later. Instead of lowering standards, new efforts are underway to increase educational flexibility in order to increase success in education.
High Quality Programs, Resources and Facilities

In 1995, Denmark embarked on a “Systematic Plan for Quality Development and Effective Assessment in the Vocational Education Sector.” The strategy was based on decentralized programs aligned with local needs, a common approach rather than a standard definition of quality, and self evaluation at all levels of the system.⁵⁰

A further reflection of Denmark’s commitment to education is the high quality of educational resources and the physical environment. Technical and business colleges have Open Learning Centers, instead of libraries, where students can work on joint projects, use computers, and access printed materials. College buildings and laboratories are cutting edge and pleasant, with significant attention paid to creating inviting places to learn and also giving students access to the same equipment they encounter in workplaces.
Adaptability to new challenges

Those involved in vocational education in Denmark often complain of “reform fatigue” because of the near constant pace of changes in the system since the early 1990s. However, a recent report from the Ministry of Education states that there is no sign of a slow down in the number of changes with a new slate of changes expected to take place in 2006.⁵¹ Denmark views the VET system as a key to achieving major political goals with respect to responding to pressures from globalization, and as a bridge between economic development and “social cohesion.” This small country realizes that pressures to maintain its high standard of living require adapting its educational system to meet current realities. Maintaining the status quo will not be effective and the country has shown a willingness to adopt new strategies and structures in order to respond to challenges.

Meeting special needs

The Danish educational system has an ambitious goal of 95 percent completion of upper secondary education and has adopted a “New Goals” strategy for 2005. This focuses on special needs and at-risk students.⁵² A two to three year initial foundation program is aimed at youth not in upper secondary programs or employed who would have difficulty completing VET programs. Students in this program still take combine school and work-based learning. “Production schools” are an option for students under 25 without disabilities who have dropped out and lack some of the competences to complete upper secondary. Although these schools do not provide qualifications, they help youth develop skills they need to succeed in the upper secondary system.

Clear pathways and ease of transition

One of the ways Denmark expects to meet its completion rate goal is by helping students make a better transition into upper secondary programs. Many of the colleges have collaborative programs with the lower level schools termed “bridge building.” Colleges pair their students with younger students and generally introduce them to the colleges and programs. Other programs run by employers focus on those in the production schools to boost students’ self-confidence and increase their ability to succeed.

Other services help those enrolled in colleges continue along their education. The personal education contracts drawn up by teacher (tutor) and student and records of competences serves as a pathway for students leading towards the individual’s goal, and the person’s interests. The portability of partial qualifications also can be used as a foundation to move up the qualifications ladder, better bridging further education and continuing training.


New Developments and Challenges

There are a number of recent developments in the Danish vocational educational system worth noting. Some are overarching policy strategies in response to pressures such as globalization and immigration, while others are new pedagogical approaches designed to recognize non-formal learning, increase the quality and flexibility of the system, making the dual system more attractive and accessible to young people and employers. Others, still in development, aim to improve the inclusiveness of the vocational system and improve completion rates.

Legitimating non-formal learning

Denmark is currently working on a new national system to document prior learning to improve career paths and options for students by assessing and recognizing an individual’s competencies. This may take place by awarding credits for competencies acquired in the educational and training system or through assessment of developed competences that were acquired in other forms of learning. The initiative is part of Denmark’s goal of supporting lifelong learning, as well as inducing flexibility and efficiency into the system. In addition, with youth increasingly gravitating toward academic pathways, this helps make the VET system more attractive and flexible for youth and adults through partial qualifications and recognition of prior learning through job experience.

Preparing for a global and knowledge economy

Like other highly developed countries, production is increasingly moving outside of Denmark. Denmark responded early. In 1994, Demark co-hosted a conference with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on “Employment and Growth in the Knowledge-Based Economy”⁵³ that touched on most of the areas that would become priorities for technical and commercial education: information technologies, intelligent products, mass customization, and global competitiveness. The vocational system has reacted by moving toward new occupations within sectors such as IT, services, and the entertainment and leisure industry, and creating more flexible educational programs in these areas. Meeting the educational need of jobs in knowledge-based industries, such as IT, is a continuing challenge because the skills requirements are so fast changing and the companies are younger and more entrepreneurial, making them less inclined to participate in the vocational education system by taking apprentices.

Denmark created a national Learning Lab to study how people learn and adapt to new situations. The education system has placed great emphasis on information technologies, and is now focusing on ways to better respond to globalization.
Disappearing apprenticeships

The practical training vocational students obtain in companies based on an apprenticeship contract is a core element of the Danish system, and the balancing of supply and demand of training opportunities is a constant challenge. In recent years fewer companies are offering apprenticeships because highly specialized processes limit the usefulness of apprentices in the workplace. Another culprit is changes in the industrial structure of the Danish economy—there are fewer jobs in manufacturing and more in new service areas with limited traditions for apprenticeships.

In response, during the late 1990s colleges set up “simulated workplace” apprenticeships at the colleges—“School Practice Programs” in order to combat drop out from vocational education by students who could not get training contracts with a companies. Some students complete the entire program in a simulated environment, others attend the school practice program for a while and then manage to get a contract and complete the practical training in a company. At the completion of this alternative program, students undergo the usual examination to qualify for graduation, generally some form of project or practical test.

However, in early 2005 the Ministry of Education restricted use of these school-based apprenticeships in some programs in part because too many students using this option were not finding jobs after graduation. Employers did not hold as favorable an opinion of these graduates as they did students with training contracts with actual businesses. Currently ten VET programs have “limited access,” meaning they are not open to those students who cannot secure a training contract with an enterprise. These include programs in administration, information technologies, furniture craftsman, carpenter, data technician, IT supporter, electrician, electro technician, technical design.

One response is new shorter duration VET programs, although their success has been limited so far. Efforts are underway to loosen previous restrictions on how long apprenticeships must last, in order to both increase employer participation in the dual system (particularly in the commercial and IT sectors) and improve the attractiveness of the VET programs to students. Shortening their duration should also increase the overall number of apprenticeship “slots” available for students, reducing some “bottlenecks” in the current system where graduates of programs are in demand but yet cannot find training contracts. ⁵⁴
Reducing drop out rates

Drop out rates are a significant problem for the vocational education system in Denmark, particularly for technical programs. Published completion rates for the “basic” introductory course in technical programs were only 56 percent in 2002. For business programs, the rate was 79 percent. However, these statistics are misleading because data collection systems do not track those students who completely drop out of the VET system versus those who change to another VET program, or change colleges. The government is working to improve statistics collection on this important issue. Meanwhile, although the statistics above undoubtedly over emphasize the magnitude of the drop out problem, it is accepted within Denmark that this is an important issue.

It was hoped that reforms in the 1990s to require students to develop their own learning plans would improve completion rates because students would have greater control over, and be more vested in, their education. However, promising reductions in the late 90s turned out to be temporary. A recent Ministry of Education report suggests that decreasing basic skills among Danish youth is a major factor in the low completion rates, particularly among children of immigrants and refugees. Approximately 60 percent of youth from ethnic backgrounds do not complete a VET program, partly because of basic skill deficiencies. Almost 10 percent of Denmark’s population is foreign born.
Improving Equity and Completion Rates

The Danish educational system is targeting new efforts toward what it calls “practically-oriented young people.” These are youth who have learning disabilities, have experienced social and/or cultural exclusion, or have unrealistic expectations about what and how fast they can learn. Often they have bad experiences during primary and lower secondary schooling. One strategy is the creation of 23 shorter (less than two years) VET programs for highly specialized jobs with relatively good employment prospects (such as retail).

Another is partial (or modular) qualifications for students who lack the skills or patience for a full vocational qualification. Students may return to school at a future date to continue their studies and work toward the full qualification. Partial qualifications will be “portable” so that they can be used as a foundation to move up the qualifications ladder, better bridging further education and continuing training. Plans also are underway for students to “try out” concrete occupational experiences in their field of study earlier in educational programs so that they have a better sense of whether the choice is a good fit.

A third new program called “EUD+” combines college-based and company-based learning in a less formal or structured manner compared to typical dual system programs, allowing for more exploration and flexibility on the part of the student.

A reform expected in 2006 would allow “pre-training” where students and employers can “size each other up” for three months before signing a training contract.

In addition to school and company, a third entry path to vocational training likely to be introduced soon is an entire basic course that takes place in an enterprise through a “practical pathway” (mesterlære). Colleges advise students and assess competencies gained in the workplace. After meeting certain criteria, students can matriculate into a college’s “main” VET course and the dual system.

Finally, to specifically address issues facing children of immigrants, technical and business colleges are offering more “Danish as a Second Language” courses, establishing ethnic mentorships, and better disseminating information about companies that offer training contracts.
Denmark / US Vocational Education Cooperation

Denmark and the U.S. have a long history of cooperation among colleges and college systems and have frequently looked to each other for innovative ideas and programmatic improvement. In 1995, two Danish Colleges attended a meeting of an on-going alliance of southern community colleges called the Consortium for Manufacturing Competitiveness, which, with their assistance, evolved into the Trans-Atlantic Technology and Training Alliance (TA3), now jointly managed by Regional Technology Strategies (RTS) in North Carolina and CIRIUS in Denmark.

At the national level, a delegation representing the U.S. Department of Education in 1999 was so impressed by Danish education that it put into motion a plan to establish a formal bilateral cooperation agreement between the two governments. Purely on the basis of scale, it appears to be an unbalanced relationship; the Danish system, one of the worlds most innovative and successful, offered lessons for U.S. education policy, and vice versa. In December 2000, in a ceremony in Washington, DC, the official document was signed. In 2001, under the auspices of the steering committee, the U.S. Department of Education awarded a grant to RTS and DTI to compare the way the two countries prepare their workforce for information technologies.

Various states have also looked to Denmark for advice. North Carolina sent a high level delegation to Denmark in 2003 that, on its return, produced the monograph “Learning from Denmark.”⁵⁵ In January 2006, researchers from the Danish Technological Institute visited western North Carolina community colleges to learn about their industry and community services and programs and their external programs.

Case Studies

The following are three brief profiles of vocational colleges in Denmark. The first is a large comprehensive college in southern Denmark. The second is a small specialized technical college in northern Denmark, and the third is a large urban commercial (business) college in Copenhagen.

1. EUC Syd in Sønderborg

Located in the southern rural portion of the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, next to the country’s border with Germany, EUC-Syd began as a college in Åbenrå in about 1920 and opened its doors at its Sønderborg campus in 1939. The college, like all vocational colleges in Denmark, is governed by Board of Directors and an executive committee composed of representatives of unions, companies, the county, and the municipality. The 12 member board is structured so that five represent employers, five represent employees and two represent local communities. Strategy groups form as needed around particular pressing problems, e.g., ways to attract young people to the college. Local education committees of employers, employees, and school staff address curriculum issues.

Today EUC Syd is among the largest of Danish technical colleges and encompasses both technical and commercial (business) educational programs. In it its current form EUC Syd has existed since 1994 as a merger between 4 educational colleges in Southern Denmark. It is a self-governing institution with an annual turnover of approximately 300 M DKK (or US $43 M). On a yearly basis EUC Syd provides a range of studies, courses and learning opportunities for over 3,000 full-time students and 6,000 part-time students. It also runs an adult learning program (AMU) that offers management and specialized technical training for incumbent workers in industry.

All faculty members are required to have industry experience. They are able to remain knowledgeable about the latest methods and technologies through their industry courses and frequent interaction with industry managers. Faculty constantly works directly with industry representatives to develop new courses to meet changing work requirements, and generally produce four or five new courses each year. Examples of special programs to meet regional industry needs are targeted to:

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  mobile phones/telecommunications,
  
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  medical equipment, and
  
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  electronic security.
  

Despite this specialization according to local industry clusters, the college is very comprehensive in its breadth of geography and scope of programs, similar to many US community colleges. EUC-Syd offers everything from culinary and cosmetology to electronics programs and has on-going exchange programs through the TA3 with Guilford Technical Community College in North Carolina and Bellingham Technical College in Washington. Among relatively recent developments at the college is the creation of distance learning options for learners and recruitment of more foreign students into technical programs taught in English.

2. Technical College of Jutland in Hadsten

Near the opposite—northern—end of the Jutland peninsula lies the Technical College of Jutland in Hadsten, Denmark. It is a highly specialized technical college, offering only four vocational programs: carpentry, electronics engineering and automation, plastics processing, and industrial refrigeration and air conditioning. The latter two programs are unique in Denmark to this college, and as such it is the “national college” for those areas and attracts students from across the country.

The college was founded in 1928 by an Association of Employers as a boarding school for vocational education and training. Today the college is a self-governing institution with very close relations to the trade committees. Approximately three quarters of the students live at the college while studying, and the college is following the US-campus philosophy with a 24 hour ”open door” policy.

Today, the institution has a total of 3,300 apprentices, students and in-service (incumbent worker) trainees on a yearly basis. About 120 employees work at the college and the annual turnover is approximately US$15 million. As mentioned, the college offers only four education and training programs but covers them comprehensively—vertically from beginners level through further and higher technical education to highly specialized advanced levels. Post completion employment statistics for graduates exceed Denmark’s overall 80 percent employment rate for VET completers. In 2004 the post graduation employment rate was 100 percent.

The college’s traditional VET programs take four years to complete. Within the two national programs—refrigeration and plastics—there is an option to take an additional higher technical education program that takes two years full time.

Technical College of Jutland has developed and offers e-learning programs within plastics processing technology and refrigeration. It has an e-learning network with colleges in Sweden, United Kingdom and France. Furthermore, all students are offered official computer license (E-learning - EU-certificate) while attending college.

The college is also very active in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship at higher technical education level (diploma), aimed at students who wish to start up their own company or take over/be a partner in a company (often the young generation coming into a family business). College members have been deeply involved in the recent revision of the Danish vocational education act.