At the 10th Hanseatic Conference 2015 in Hamburg, representatives from business organisations, academic institutions and policy makers from all countries around the Baltic Sea exchanged their experiences. This book contains the presented papers and a summary of the participants’ discussion. Vocational training has dramatically lost its appeal. More and more young people rather opt for study programmes at the university, and refuse to learn practical skills in vocational education. However, the qualifications of the high number of academics do not match the demand of SMEs for skilled workers and entrepreneurs, as their knowledge is mostly theoretical. At the same, due to demographic changes, the number of school leavers in the Baltic Sea Region is declining. Both developments have led to a dramatic shortage of skilled workers and entrepreneurs which is severely limiting growth and innovativeness of SMEs. In order to overcome this crisis, dual vocational training and dual degree study programmes have to be promoted substantially. In dual vocational training enterprises can actively influence and improve the quality of the education their apprentices receive; and in dual degree study programmes students can test and apply their theoretical knowledge, which they acquire at the university, simultaneously in the enterprises. The contributors of this book describe how this reform of education policy can be implemented in practice.

The lack of skilled workforce is one of the biggest problems for European companies – and due to the demographic development, this challenge is growing. At the same time, youth unemployment is on the rise and too many youth are left behind with no education or training at all. The implementation and the strengthening of the dual vocational education offer valuable contributions to the problem-solving described above. Thus a specific one-year professional qualification within the dual system for young people was successfully introduced in the city of Hamburg, Germany: the so called “Hamburg Model”. This is a proven method to integrate young people into the professional education, who would otherwise not get this chance and too often end up without any training. Moreover, the Hamburg Model makes the choice of the profession more certain, decreases drop-out rates and increases the chances on the labor market significantly. During a two-year implementation period, this Model was adapted, transferred and put into action in Hungary and Lithuania. This book provides a good basis for the transfer to other countries.