Comparative report

Vocational education and training (VET) aims to equip young people and adults with the knowledge, skills and competences required in specific occupations or on the broader labour market. VET prepares learners for work, including in many occupations in which shortages persist, and which are key to Europe’s competitiveness and preparedness. For workers, up and reskilling through continuing VET plays a key role in updating their skills to new technologies and methods, or in entering a new profession. For learners, stronger links between VET and tertiary education could increase the attractiveness of VET programmes, by enhancing personal career prospects and personal development. This chapter looks at progress towards achieving three EU-level targets set for vocational education and training as well as permeability between VET and tertiary education.

5.1. Work-based learning, employment and mobility in VET

Nearly two thirds (65.2%) of recent medium-level VET graduates in the EU have experienced work-based learning as part of their curriculum (Figure 22), exceeding the 2025 EU-level target of at least 60%. Work-based learning offers many advantages to learners, who receive practical experience in their chosen field, direct contact with the world of work and opportunities for future employment. For employers, work-based learning can be an effective recruitment channel, to train and recruit staff according to their needs. However, work-based learning shows a high dispersion across EU countries. In the Netherlands, Germany and Spain, nearly all graduates take part in work-based learning, while in Romania and Czechia, very few experienced work-based learning as part of their VET curriculum.

Since data on work-based learning became available in 2021, no strong trends have emerged. The fact that the EU average was somewhat higher in 2023 and 2024 than in the previous two years mainly reflects methodological adjustments for several EU countries, most notably for Poland. In addition, the changes in the exposure of students to work-based learning and in the corresponding indicator are gradual as introducing or expanding work-based learning involves changes to curricula and qualification frameworks. This often involves supporting companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises, given the key role of employers and trainers in promoting work-based learning.

Work-based learning in VET is more widespread in certain fields of study (notably health and agriculture) than others. Around two thirds of the work-based learning experiences in the EU are paid and the majority (around six out of ten) lasted seven months or longer. Still, there are only a few countries where such longer-term and paid apprenticeships are the most common form (Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark). In most other EU countries, work-based learning experiences – whether mostly paid or mostly unpaid - typically last up to six months, with substantial variation within countries as well.

Good progress has been made – particularly since the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic – towards achieving the 2025 EU-level target of at least 82% of recent VET graduates being in employment. Yet, the latest data reveals a minor decline from 80.9% in 2023 to 80.0% in 2024 (Figure 23). A similar drop is recorded for recent graduates from other levels of education too, yet this is not reflected in the overall employment rates, which increased from 75.3% in 2023 to 75.8% in 2024 among the population aged 20-64. This pattern suggests that there have been specific challenges for young people, including VET graduates, in entering the labour market from education. Indeed, in a context of a broader slowdown in overall employment growth since the second half of 2024, labour market entrants would be expected to be particularly affected. However, recent VET graduates having experienced work-based learning are more likely to be employed (84.3% in 2024) than those who have not (69.7% in 2024). Employment is highest where the work-based learning experience lasted longer than seven months (with 90.5% of such graduates in employment in 2024).

On a more positive note, the employment rates between male and female VET graduates continue to converge. The gender employment gap decreased from 6.4 percentage points in 2018 (81.9% for men and 75.5% for women) to 1.7 percentage points in 2024, mostly due to progress for female graduates.

The EU aims to increase the number of learners in VET programmes who went abroad during their studies. Such mobility provides VET students with opportunities to learn innovative practices and technologies, foreign languages and to understand different cultures. For VET providers and other organisations active in vocational education and training, learner mobility supports internationalisation and institutional development. The 2030 EU-level VET mobility target considers flexible mobility opportunities funded under Erasmus+, such as short-term learning mobility, group mobility, blended mobility and mobility linked to participation in VET skills competitions. In 2023, around 140 000 VET learner mobility experiences in line with this definition took place. This is a slight increase from 2022, when there were 134 000 such mobility experiences. The most recent data continue an upward trajectory that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Figure 24).

The VET mobility target considers mobility experiences in relation to the number of medium-level VET graduates of the same year. The mobility rate stood at 5.3% in 2023, a slight increase from a year prior (5.0%), but far from the 12% target value for 2030. The rate increase in 2024 is not only due to increased mobility, but also reflects a declining number of VET graduates. This means that – in order to reach the 2030 EU-level target – any ambition to boost the number of VET graduates over the coming years will have to go hand in hand with a substantial increase in VET mobility. 

5.2. The links between VET and tertiary education

Traditionally, VET at the medium level of education, in other words, upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education, has been the focus of VET systems. Medium-level VET provides initial education and training to prepare young people for direct labour market entry into a specific occupation or sector. Yet in recent years, there has been growing attention to promoting flexible pathways between VET, general school education, tertiary education and adult up- and reskilling (often referred to as ’permeability’).

For learners, stronger links between VET and tertiary education could increase the attractiveness of VET programmes. Such links provide students and workers with opportunities to deepen their expertise, and gain new skills when their aspirations change or new labour market opportunities arise. For employers, VET at higher levels can be an opportunity to recruit specialised and highly qualified staff, also via work-based learning. More broadly, the agenda on ‘vocational excellence’ emphasises the importance of local skills ecosystems, that connects the scientific community, education and training providers, businesses, and other stakeholders, to address regional and local challenges, seize opportunities, and ensure that innovative VET drives growth and competitiveness. This approach emphasises the interplay between fundamental and applied science, with  practitioners playing a key role in fostering innovation. 

Learners who want to access the first stages of tertiary education are typically subject to certain qualification requirements typically apply, such as having completed upper secondary education. In many EU countries, a distinction is made between such programmes that have a general orientation and those that have a vocational orientation. Across the EU, nearly all (99.1%) graduates from general programmes have direct access to tertiary education when they have completed their upper secondary programme (Figure 25), i.e. they fulfil the qualification requirements to access (a least some) tertiary programmes. For graduates from vocational programmes, such access to tertiary education is considerably lower, at 70.2%. There are major differences across the EU in this regard, ranging from all VET graduates having direct access in some EU countries, to fewer than half in others. Some professional bachelor programmes are intended as a direct complement to upper secondary education. The Finnish National Qualifications Framework aligns VET qualifications with the rest of the education system, ensuring that they are formally recognised and valued. In other systems (such as Germany), VET graduates typically gain work experience for several years in their chosen profession, before entering tertiary programmes to upskill or pass a professional examination.

In recent years, several countries have developed access pathways to higher education by adapting curricula for upper secondary vocational education. They have done so by providing modules or additional years of study to offer VET students the opportunity to meet the entrance requirements of higher education institutions. Other countries have introduced additional VET programmes to bridge the gap between upper secondary and tertiary education or have extended apprenticeship-like programmes to higher levels. In Czechia, for example, there has been an increase in applications for programmes leading to a school-leaving examination that entitles VET students to apply for tertiary studies. In Romania, the extension of work-based learning creates new opportunities for accessing higher VET.

However, direct access to tertiary education does not necessarily cover all levels of tertiary education. Spain and the Netherlands, for instance, have dedicated programmes at short-cycle tertiary level designed to help learners progress to bachelor’s and master’s levels as well. Moreover, access to tertiary education might be impeded by additional factors, including formal qualification requirements for medium-level VET learners or limited information of study options. VET students may also need to strengthen their academic skills and adjust to different teaching methods. Moreover, some VET students may have a preference or financial need to enter the labour market earlier instead of continuing their education and training. This typically results in far fewer VET graduates entering tertiary education than those who could do so on the basis of qualification requirements alone. For example, in Italy, more than 70% of graduates from general secondary school enrol in tertiary education, whereas only 15% from vocational tracks do.

At tertiary level, an international definition of vocational education currently only exists for ‘short-cycle tertiary education’. Indeed, this level of education is predominantly vocational (98.4% of all students enrolled across the EU). Across the EU, enrolment in short-cycle tertiary programmes has expanded from 1 125 042 students in 2015 to 1 414 654 in 2023. Still, it remains a relatively small section of vocational education overall (11.9%) as well as of tertiary education (7.7%). In specific countries, such as Spain, Latvia, France, Austria, Denmark, and Slovenia, short-cycle tertiary programmes now make up more than 10% of both the VET sector and of the tertiary education sector.

No international definition of programme orientation currently exists at higher levels of tertiary education (bachelor, master, and doctoral).  Rather than ‘vocational’ or ‘general’, the common approach is to distinguish between ‘professional’ and ‘academic’ programmes. Due to a lack of internationally agreed definitions, many countries do not provide any data that disaggregate tertiary education. Nevertheless, several EU countries do provide information based on their own definitions (Figure 26). At bachelor’s degree level, professionally oriented programmes make up most enrolments in the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Latvia. Professional master’s programmes are less widespread across EU countries, although a significant number of these programmes are offered in Latvia, France and Luxembourg. 

Finally, VET at higher qualification levels may not always be part of the formal education systems or recorded as such in international education classifications. In some cases, emerging labour market needs may be addressed through shorter modules or qualifications. There have been major recent developments in this regard in Latvia and in the Netherlands. The micro-credential VET pilot under the Npuls programme (2024-2031) co-financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility makes the  Dutch system more flexible by certifying short, recognisable, and accredited learning modules.