The Senate of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) has emphatically opposed the planned new names for vocational training qualifications ahead of the hearing in the Bundestag's Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment. As a representative of 268 universities across the entire country, the Senate warns of damage to higher and vocational education.
According to the draft Vocational Training Act (BBiG) tabled by the Federal Cabinet, the designations “Bachelor Professional” or “Master Professional” are to be introduced. The HRK Senate fears that this will lead to constant misunderstandings in the European context. The degrees “Bachelor” and “Master" are awarded exclusively by higher education institutions across Europe and are thus quite clearly seen as higher education qualifications abroad.
The HRK Senate is calling for the development of a proprietary and unmistakable nomenclature for vocational training. HRK President Prof Dr Peter-André Alt: "It is a manageable task and we have put forward constructive proposals. In any case, it is not acceptable to have erroneous re-classification emerge as a result of any other discussion surrounding the BBiG amendment. This would create a problem that we would need to address for decades to come."
The HRK resolution states the following: "The names of qualifications must be transparent and unambiguous. In the proposed amendment, however, completely different educational pathways are given almost identical names. This creates obfuscation, because the unambiguous assignment of a qualification title to the academic or vocational education sector is essential for both sectors." The draft law thus creates confusion in vocational orientation for young people, and in job advertisements and staff recruitment by businesses.
There are also strong legal reservations about the introduction of the higher education degrees "Bachelor" and "Master" as set out in the BBiG. A legal opinion obtained by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany also concludes that the distribution of powers in the federal system of the Federal Republic would be infringed.
View the resolution of the HRK Senate
