Description of the situation: Promoting education in the tertiary level of education is one of the foremost movements during recent years. As a matter of demography and this tendency, it has become obvious, that there will arise a shortage of skilled workers with vocational education in companies and especially in SMEs (Small and medium sized enterprises). High school students currently rather prefer achieving an academic degree then a career based on vocational training and education. This is largely due to the fact that on the one hand we see a massive promotion of the academic career path and university studies and on the other hand parents and schools – as major stakeholders – value an academic degree way higher than the vocational training and education. Additionally, careers based on an academic degree seem to be more promising on the material side in terms of salaries and reputation. The main thesis of this project is, that the preference of academic studies and lacking alternatives for university dropouts is caused largely by the hardly existing know-how about career opportunities based on vocational training and education which can lead to the same level of material wellbeing and social reputation. This project will therefore analyze these trends and their drivers in all partner countries in order to create offers in terms of comprehensive information material to the main target groups in this field (high school students, university dropouts, parents, schools, employers) in order to leverage the attractiveness of VET and increase job orientation. Since a collated work process orientation model doesn´t exist in Europe, the holistic reflection of decisions of transition concerning various target groups is the innovative approach of this project. Additionally, the illustration of possibilities affecting the permeability of learning systems is pursued by this approach as well. Our preliminary research clearly shows that the challenges of the coming years will be equally dramatic in all partner countries due to the high drop-out rates. All in all, the economy is losing an enormous amount of human resources. These circumstances underline the value of a purposeful decision concerning the career path especially since the drop-out rates arise from lack of learning motivation and weak previous preparation at general education institutions as it says in several studies. As we implement the project with several partners from five countries (DE, ES, IT, LT, PL) first of all there will be local and regional impacts. Furthermore, the project results of course are supposed to have an impact at the international European level. Project idea: Taking a closer look at why young people choose vocational education and training or university-based careers, it is planned to carry out a comparative study of decision factors, as well as an examination of main influence factors concerning this topic. Furthermore, we are going to create a catalogue of strengths and weaknesses to be tested, which relate to the identified main influencing factors of the previous study. Thereon it is planned to create a measuring tool regarding the potentials and interests of the young people in order to increase their work-orientation. The basic idea is that if you can measure the main influencing factors for a young person's career decisions, you can also provide him/her with tailored advice following a test. Afterwards it is planned to execute the refined potential analyses in five countries. Therefrom we are expecting further findings. Subsequently information material will be prepared in order to summarize all ascertained facts and combine these to varied information material in the form of a catalogue. All contents will be merged into a mobile app translated in all partner languages. From this we expect a short-term impact in all partner countries. Due to the fact that many of our partners come from the construction industry, we will take advantage of this focus. Since the findings determined will certainly not be exclusively sector-specific and we have partners in the consortium, who know how to keep in touch with several other sectors, the results will also have an impact beyond the construction sector. The long-term impact in all partner countries therefrom consists of improving the acceptance of vocational training, because sensitizing all of the target groups for the career opportunities in VET is one of the main aims of this project. As stated above, the focus here will be on the construction industry and provide general information beyond that. Summarizing it has to be figured out, that in this project, a guiding toolkit for all target groups will be developed in order to improve the work-orientation of young people, inform all actors about opportunities and thereby attract students for vocational education and training.
When dealing with issues of the education sector, high enrolment figures in the tertiary education sector are one of the most remarkable developments in recent years. Due to demographics and this trend, it had become increasingly obvious that there will be a shortage of skilled workers with vocational training in companies and especially in SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). High school students are currently more likely to prefer an academic degree to vocational training. This is mainly because, on the one hand, academic careers and studies are massively promoted and, on the other hand, parents and schools - as important stakeholders - value an academic degree much higher than vocational training. Moreover, careers based on an academic degree seem to be more promising on the material side in terms of salaries and prestige. The main thesis of the project "UniVET - University or Vocational Education and Training" was that the preference for an academic degree and the lack of alternatives for dropouts are largely due to the scarcity of knowledge about career opportunities based on vocational training that can lead to equal material wealth and social prestige. The project therefore had the task of analysing these trends in detail in all partner countries to create offers in the form of comprehensive information material for the main target groups in this area (students, dropouts, parents, schools, employers). The main objective was to increase career guidance and the attractiveness of vocational education and training. A holistic view of career decisions for different target groups across all partner countries was the innovative approach of this project. The presentation of possibilities of the individual learning systems was also considered. Preliminary studies in the run-up to the project clearly showed that the challenges of the next few years would be equally dramatic in all partner countries due to the high drop-out rates in both university and vocational training programmes. All in all, the economy could lose an enormous amount of human resources. Young people who initially take the less suitable career path for themselves drop out, start something new and are much later available on the labour market. In times of demographic change, this is a circumstance that must be counteracted. Even before the start of the project, this circumstance underlined the great importance of a targeted career choice. The project idea of UniVET consequently dealt with the question of why young people decide in favour of vocational training or a university career. The project started in September 2018 with a comparative study of the most important decision-making and influencing factors of career decisions. In order to gain further insights around the most important factors influencing young people's career orientation and to obtain different opinions, five (inter)national workshops in Germany, Italy, Spain, Lithuania and Poland were also organised. The results obtained through those activities formed the basis for the next workphase, in which a survey was conducted with high school students, drop-outs, parents, schools, employers as well as apprentices. The most important factors influencing the young people’s decisions were derived in direct connection. Following the project goals, the partners were then able to generate the most important factors for career decisions and, based on this, identify content for an analysis method of potentials among pupils and dropouts. Personal strengths and personality traits of high relevance as well as career interests were the focus. After the development and translation of all instruments used in the potential analysis, it was carried out in late 2019 in all partner countries with groups of 15 to about 30 pupils and students. The tests and the subsequent counselling sessions with the young people and their parents provided further insights into how appropriate career guidance should be conducted and what information is relevant for young people in that orientation phase. In this way, all partners learned how more orientation can be provided in the career decision phase and which information should be taken into account in the guidelines to be drawn up in the future. Consequently, at the beginning of 2020, a start was made on compiling all the findings of the project into meaningful guidelines for the target groups in all partner languages. From thereon the use of the guidelines was linked to a subsequent evaluation questionnaire from March 2020 to find out, if it´s a helpful guideline. During this phase, validation and necessary adjustments were made. In December 2020, the final versions of the "Guidelines for career orientation" were published and are now available at http://univet-project.eu and https://play.google.com/store/apps to sustainably improve the vocational orientation of young people, to inform all stakeholders about the career possibilities.