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3.2 In Germany
In Germany, the significance of cooperative education has increased in the few last years. Cooperative education programs now have an important profile in the education system.

In 2013, the importance was underlined in a paper by the economic council, including an official definition of the dual study program.

The council defined to main characteristics: The goal is to enable dual qualification of academic and skilled worker knowledge with a focus on high academic standards.
 * Duality: Two learning facilities must be provided: an academic study and a vocational training area. There should be a duality between these facilities with agreements and cooperation in adjusting educational content and educational goals.
 * The study has to meet the criteria defined by the education minister conference in order to be approved as an academic study.

3.2.1 Delimitation to vocational training
A cooperative study program is a combination of an academic study at a university or vocational college and a vocational education. The programs typically lead to a Bachelor's degree. There are also a few Master's programs. Vocational training focuses on a practical education. and the degree is below a university degree. Trade schools focus on educating skilled workers.

3.2.2. Development
The first kinds of cooperative education programs, in terms of studies with integrated practical phases, started in 1970. The next step was the foundation of a new tertiary education institution, a vocational university. That enabled the establishment of a cooperative study program, originally founded in Baden-Württemberg. More people have been graduating from high school with the highest degree: „Abitur“. This has lead to an increase in the number of students attending university and decrease of trainees in vocational trainings. On one hand, companies were afraid of a lack of skilled workers. On the other hand, there was a need for higher qualified workers which are not provided by vocational training while universities couldn’t provide skilled worker qualifications.

In 1995, the education minister conference declared vocational university as equivalent to University of Applied sciences.

1996, the science council recommended to focus more on cooperative education. There were 45 cooperative programs in 1995. This number increased to 100 by 2000.

In 2004, the education minister conference approved a vocational university degree as equivalent to a university’s bachelor degree.

Baden Württemberg’s vocational universities were merged as DHBW, cooperative state university Baden-Württemberg in 2009. Other vocational universities were also being approved as state universities. From 2004 to 2014 the number of students has increased from 40.982 to 100.739. There were 47,458 companies providing cooperative study programs in 2016 compared to 18,168 in 2004. Small companies as well as large companies have established programs in different apartments. For example, large companies who annually employ many students include Aldi, Bayer, Daimler, Deutsche Bank, Henkel, Hochtief, Lufthansa, Peek & Cloppenburg, SAP, Siemens and Volkswagen.

There are different dual curriculum programs. The number of courses has grown from 512 in 2014 to 1,592 in 2016. They can be summarized in the following areas of study: 38% Engineering, 34% economic sciences, 12% computer sciences, 10% social services, education, healthcare, nursing, 6% Other.

3.2.3. Perspectives
There is a contract between the three participating parties: employee, employer and student over the time of the study. Mostly, the employer provides payment which is slightly above the payment for a vocational training. Some companies also pay student fees. Since most universities are public there are no student fees just dues which are around $400 a semester. There are usually agreements including a guaranteed employment after the program. Therefore, some contracts include terms where students commit to stay with the company for two years after the program. Even without guaranteed employment, chances of getting a job are high anyways. Around 72% of students stay with the sponsoring company after studies for at least two to five years. A common issue is that many students want to do their masters afterwards. Not all companies are willing to support a master program since they argue that the result is not worth the investment.