In its latest “Recommendations on Higher Education Further Education as Part of Lifelong Learning”, the German Council of Science and Humanities recommends expanding the range of further education programmes. Demographic change, along with technological and societal shifts, mean that initial training and a degree are often no longer sufficient to last a whole working life. Instead, new knowledge and additional skills must be acquired on an ongoing basis.

“Higher education institutions are not only responsible for initial education. They also have a duty to provide academic further education for skilled workers after they have obtained their first degree,” says Martina Brockmeier, Chair of the German Council of Science and Humanities. These students have different requirements when it comes to the management of their studies, as they are usually in employment. There should also be more undergraduate degree programmes available for working people that can be used for further education – whether on a part-time basis, alongside work or as distance-learning degree programmes. “Our recommendations are intended to enable universities to meet the demand for further education continuing professional development more quickly and effectively,” says Brockmeier.

Further education has long been a statutory responsibility of higher education institutions, but by international standards, Germany lags significantly behind in terms of such programmes at state universities. The German Council of Science and Humanities attributes this to a number of framework conditions. “To strengthen universities as centres of lifelong learning, we must adapt the legal framework, find effective organisational and support structures, and integrate the task of further education into the universities’ development planning,” said Brockmeier, summarising the thrust of the recommendations.

In most Federal States, universities are required to charge cost-covering fees for their further education degree programmes and to produce complex separate accounts. Students often opt for consecutive, fee-exempt degree programmes instead of fee-paying further education degree programmes. In some cases, employers contribute towards the fees; in others, this is not the norm. The German Council of Science and Humanities recommends that further education at universities be financed in the long term through a consistent model in which individuals, employers and the state all contribute. In professions of particular public interest, universities should in future be enabled to offer more fee-free or reduced-fee study programmes.

Furthermore, the German Council of Science and Humanities proposes an increase in university staff numbers to ensure the widespread expansion of study formats that are flexible in terms of both time and location. This should make university-level further education more compatible with employment or family responsibilities in future. Teaching in further education should be possible as either a main or a secondary occupation. To date, teaching staff have often been unable to take on full-time roles, even though, in addition to teaching, they must also undertake the time-consuming tasks of initiating and developing programmes. Universities should consolidate services for teaching staff and students, advisory support and study programmes in further education, thereby making them more accessible to people outside the academic community. Furthermore, employers should make greater use of the further education programmes offered by universities for their staff development.

Prof. Dr Anke Hanft, Professor of Further Education at the University of Oldenburg and Scientific Director of the Centre for Lifelong Learning (C3L), has been appointed by the German Council of Science and Humanities as an expert to the working group on ‘Qualification of Skilled Workers against the Background of Demographic Change’. Since 2017, the working group has been addressing the establishment, expansion and further development of higher education continuing education programmes for students with professional experience, both with and without prior academic qualifications. With its ‘Recommendations on Higher Education Further Education as Part of Lifelong Learning’, the German Council of Science and Humanities presents the fourth and final part of a series of recommendations dealing with the qualification of skilled workers against the backdrop of demographic change. The previous instalments of the recommendations focus on the relationship between vocational and academic education (2014), between higher education and the labour market (2015), and between higher education institutions and migration (2016).

The version of the recommendations on higher education further education as part of lifelong learning, as adopted by the German Council of Science and Humanities, is available for download at the following address:

https://www.german-council-of-science-and-humanities.de/download/2019/7515-19.pdf