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The purpose of this paper is to compare stakeholders’ roles in Germany and Switzerland when it comes to promoting innovation in the dual apprenticeship model. In both countries, the relevant stakeholders who represent the various occupations and, in a more narrow sense, the social partners, actively shape vocational education and training (VET) reforms. They represent the area of public educational policy, besides governments, political parties and the public, who, in both countries, appreciate the decisive role of apprenticeships for youth education, employment and social stability. Thus, the broad consensus of the relevant stakeholders is crucial in order to keep apprenticeship systems alive. Both countries face challenges related to academisation, which means, that the Gymnasium (high school) and higher education now are even more the first option for parents than in former times. On several levels German and Swiss policy makers try to strengthen VET paying tribute to and trying to cope with these developments.

The paper is situated in the field of comparative VET research. Based on policy documents and findings from research the paper analyses the discourse and perspectives related to VET reforms. The authors deliberately focus on two countries, Germany and Switzerland, which share a great deal of common features in relation to VET, nevertheless developed different measures in order to cope with the pressure of increasing the ratio of students in higher education. The comparative paper looks at the topical reform discourse and taken measures and the specific culture of apprenticeships in the two countries by focusing on those stakeholders, which, besides governments, are crucially involved in the system. The paper draws its insights from the VET policy debate and from both national policy documents and national and international expert publications in the field of VET. A strong focus is given to the emerging new environment of the VET system. Methodologically, the paper draws from an institutional view on VET, which is being discussed broadly in comparative research, since VET systems with a “dual system”, such as the two discussed here, may be categorized as “state-steered market models”, “occupation-based qualifications styles”, “collective skill formation systems” or specific realizations of “transition systems”. All these categories refer to the observation that in these societies it is not the state alone, who defines the structure of the respective VET system, but non-state stakeholders are capable of influencing VET policy and VET reform in a substantial and visible way.

In both countries, Germany and Switzerland, the importance and value of VET is based on an overall consensus, shared by all relevant actors. The basis of this consensus is that the dual system so far successfully opened and should continue to open career paths in industry. Apprenticeships undoubtedly are cornerstones of economic welfare in these countries and can be associated with low youth unemployment rates. A supplementary aspect in the last years however is the political will that VET should also have some kind of link with higher education. Despite some interesting reform measures ambivalences cannot be ignored: against what could be called “academic fallacy” the importance of a highly qualified workforce, trained in non-academic fields, and the future of this kind of skill formation have become major topics and concerns in both societies.

This paper is comparing two similar cases, Switzerland and Germany, in VET in order to profile reform alternatives. Furthermore the actors beyond state are highlighted as important element for reform in VET education.

This chapter deals with aspects of the overall criticism in regard to higher education and its growing discrepancy between theory and practice, and the meaning of problem-based and authentic learning. The chapter is based on two specific cases that illustrate how higher education is organized in Sweden, and how education could be organized to correspond to the demands of authentic learning and a new form of knowledge production. Work-based learning started as an alternative to the ordinary three-year nursing program at a university college in the western part of Sweden. One main finding was that the students experienced the relation between the different types of teaching in the program as weak, and the different learning contexts in the program as being separate from each other. Higher Vocational Education (HVE) is a market-oriented vocational higher education program with close cooperation between an educational provider and working life. Work-based learning is a cornerstone of HVE, and authentic learning in a real-life setting constitutes a single course governed by its own syllabus. One main finding, was that students experienced a lack of progression in the work tasks and the subject content of the school-based education was not advanced enough. Workplace learning can serve as a structuring resource in education, but it can also be problematic because knowledge is inherent in routines and technologies.

This study aims to add a gender perspective to the current ecosystem of entrepreneurship education whereby an innovative model of the female entrepreneurship education ecosystem (FEEE) consisting of five stakeholders (university, government, society, enterprise and the international community) is examined.

The study conducted an online questionnaire among 505 respondents from two universities and one higher vocational college in China. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the correlation between factors and structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to test the five hypotheses proposed in the study.

The results indicated that the five stakeholders (the university, government, society, enterprise and international community) positively affect FEEE. The study emphasizes the urgent demand to consider gender perspectives in the ecosystem of entrepreneurship education and provides plausible ways to conduct female-targeted education with the joint efforts of different stakeholders.

The study aims to increase the number of future female entrepreneurs, enhance the future skills of female students in the digital era and ultimately advance humankind. The study emphasizes the urgent demand to consider gender-perspective in the entrepreneurship education ecosystem and provides plausible ways to conduct female-targeted education with the joint efforts of different stakeholders.

This paper sheds light on evaluating FEEE through five stakeholders' dimensions, which explores the solutions to the current female entrepreneurship education (FEE) issues.

The purpose of this paper is to examine spillover effects across differently educated workers. For the first time, the authors consider “reverse” spillover effects, i.e. spillover effects from secondary-educated workers with dual vocational education and training (VET) to tertiary-educated workers with academic education. The authors argue that, due to structural differences in training methodology and content, secondary-educated workers with VET degrees have knowledge that tertiary academically educated workers do not have.

The authors use data from a large employer-employee data set: the Swiss Earnings Structure Survey. The authors estimate ordinary least squares and fixed effects panel-data models to identify such “reverse” spillover effects. Moreover, the authors consider the endogenous workforce composition.

The authors find that tertiary-educated workers have higher productivity when working together with secondary-educated workers with VET degrees. The instrumental variable estimations support this finding. The functional form of the reverse spillover effect is inverted-U-shaped. This means that at first the reverse spillover effect from an additional secondary-educated worker is positive but diminishing.

The results imply that firms need to combine different types of workers because their different kinds of knowledge produce spillover effects and thereby lead to overall higher productivity.

The traditional view of spillover effects assumes that tertiary-educated workers create spillover effects toward secondary-educated workers. However, the authors show that workers who differ in their type of education (academic vs vocational) may also create reverse spillover effects.

In the era of the digital economy, higher demands are placed on versatile talents, and the cultivation of students with innovative and entrepreneurial abilities has become an important issue for the further development of higher education, thus leading to extensive and in-depth research by many scholars. The study summarizes the characteristics and patterns of dual-innovation education at different stages of development, hoping to provide a systematic model for the development of dual-innovation education in China and make up for the shortcomings.

This paper uses Citespace software to visualize and analyze the relevant literature in CNKI and Web of Science databases from a bibliometric perspective, focusing on quantitative analysis in terms of article trends, topic clustering, keyword co-linear networks and topic time evolution, etc., to summarize and sort out the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education research at home and abroad.

The study found that the external characteristics of the literature published in the field of bi-innovation education in China and abroad are slightly different, mainly in that foreign publishers are more closely connected and have formed a more stable ecosystem. In terms of research hotspots, China is still in a critical period of reforming its curriculum and teaching model, and research on the integration of specialization and creative education is in full swing, while foreign countries focus more on the cultivation of students' entrepreneurial awareness and the enhancement of individual effectiveness. In terms of cutting-edge analysis, the main research directions in China are “creative education”, “new engineering”, “integration of industry and education” and “rural revitalization”.

Innovation and entrepreneurship education in China is still in its infancy, and most of the studies lack an overall overview and comparison of foreign studies. Based on the econometric analysis of domestic and foreign literature, this paper proposes a path for domestic innovation and entrepreneurship education reform that can make China's future education reform more effective.

The polytechnic experiment, which started in the beginning of the 1990s, is the largest educational reform in the history of the Finnish system of higher education. The polytechnics were built on former colleges and institutes of higher vocational education. Hardly any of the polytechnics had sufficient library and information services. This reform has meant many changes in the libraries of the polytechnics and it has brought to attention the need to upgrade the skills of the library staff. What competence or abilities did they feel they were lacking? What educational needs did they identify? These were some of the issues that were studied in a nationwide questionnaire in Finland. In this paper the results of the study are reported. The educational needs identified by the library staff concerning four main topics (library work, leadership and management, inform‐ation technology, and learning and learning environment) as well as the main topics for continuing professional education, preferred methods of instruction and suggestions arising from this study are discussed.

The UK government is actively promoting higher apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships and this agenda has been gaining momentum amongst the various providers of apprenticeships. The purpose of this paper is to draw on an exploratory study on English further education (FE) colleges and highlight some of the key drivers of delivery, and possible challenges that can be faced by the providers in any expansion of this provision. Staff perceptions on the new apprenticeship standards are also presented in the paper.

This paper draws on a qualitative exploratory study with ten FE colleges in England. As part of the study, 19 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with college staff and managers.

Higher apprenticeships have the potential to offer work-focussed alternatives to the conventional full-time degree models of higher education, however, the paper sheds light on a number of factors can limit the uptake of higher and degree apprenticeships.

The paper presents some practical challenges in developing higher apprenticeships and outlines some successful instances of higher apprenticeships which will be useful for those involved in the design and delivery of apprenticeships at FE colleges as well as at other providers.

This paper draws on research with FE colleges and will be of particular significance to FE colleges and universities that may consider delivering higher apprenticeships. The paper presents insights into institutional experiences and decision-making associated with higher and degree apprenticeships and, in doing so, the paper offers valuable contributions to the body of knowledge in this under-researched area.

How does self-efficacy affect employee well-being? The purpose of this paper is to increase insight in the underlying process between employee self-efficacy and well-being at work (i.e. emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction) by investigating the mediating role of employees’ engagement in reflection and rumination.

A representative sample of the Dutch working population (n=506) filled out an online questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to test the measurement model and research model.

As predicted, self-efficacy was significantly related to emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Rumination mediated the self-efficacy-exhaustion relationship. Reflection did not serve as a mediator; although reflection was predicted by self-efficacy, it was unrelated to exhaustion and job satisfaction.

This cross-sectional study was restricted to self-report measures. Longitudinal research is needed to validate the findings and to further investigate the relationship between reflection and rumination.

Organizations might try to support their employees’ well-being through interventions that strengthen employees’ self-efficacy, and prevent or decrease rumination.

This study increases the understanding of the role of reflection and rumination at work. The findings indicate that self-reflection can have positive as well as negative outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceived challenges that Chinese vocational college educators face in developing and delivering constructivist active and experiential entrepreneurship education.

Qualitative data were collected from 24 focus groups of educators who had been tasked with embedding constructivist entrepreneurship education into their teaching and curriculum, at four different vocational colleges situated in four different provinces in China. The data were coded and analysed for emerging themes using a process of bottom-up thematic analysis.

A range of concerns were identified from the focus groups and these could be divided into five main challenges, which were the role of the educator in the constructivist learning process and their ability to control the process; the educators perceived student reaction to the process and their engagement with it; the time and technology required to deliver the process; the link between the learning and industry; and the educators’ perception of the requirements to meet internal expectations.

This research explores the educators’ perceptions of the challenges they face in developing and delivering active and experiential constructivist entrepreneurship education. Whilst these concerns may impact how the educators’ approach the task, these concerns are only perceived, as the educators’ have not yet implemented the introduction of constructivist entrepreneurship education when other challenges may become evident.

Encouragement by the Chinese Government to develop and deliver constructivist active and experiential entrepreneurship education has resulted in a number of tensions and challenges. Entrepreneurship education in China is still relatively young and under researched and this research contributes to the literature by exploring the challenges that educators face in developing and delivering constructivist entrepreneurship education in Chinese vocational colleges.