TY - JOUR A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Tröhler, Daniel T1 - Cross-border skill formation and institutional bricolage: the case of Luxembourg and its neighbors JF - Borders and Cross-Border Labor Markets: Opportunities and Challenges N2 - The core argument of this paper is that Luxembourg’s location between the larger European nations of France and Germany is constitutive of skill development in this small state. On the one hand, Luxembourg continuously borrows educational models and principles from its two large(r) neighbors – which both represent major European models of skill formation. Thus, in Luxembourg’s skill formation system, ele-ments from these two ‘big’ states get ‘mixed,’ although they are not necessarily complementary. On the other hand, Luxembourg compensates for its small size through impressive levels of cross-border activity with neighboring subnational regions in France, Germany, and Belgium – including in the cross-border provision of training. It does this through institutional bricolage and direct cooperation with neighboring countries – in this way significantly enlarging the scope and capacities of its national education system. KW - Education and training, Cross-border regions, Institutional bricolage, Luxembourg, Greater Region Y1 - 2020 UR - https://ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1390 U6 - https://doi.org/10.25353/ubtr-xxxx-d64d-92a8 VL - 3 SP - 23 EP - 33 PB - UniGR-CBS CY - Trier ET - Borders in perspective - thematic issue ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Graf, Lukas T1 - Skill formation in cross-border contexts: The case of the trinational Upper Rhine region T2 - Comparative Vocational Education Research. Enduring Challenges and New Ways Forward N2 - Cross-border regions display significant economic, political, and cultural cooperation and represent a central feature of Europe — not least as innovation labs for the European integration project. A key example is the trinational French-German-Swiss Upper Rhine region. Each of the respective bordering countries displays a specific mode of regulation in VET. How do actors govern vocational education and training (VET) in this dynamic industry cluster in which distinct national political-administrative units do not overlap with the functional needs of employers and (future) employees? Relying on expert interviews and document analysis, this chapter offers a novel comparison of the respective subnational units within each cross-border region. The institutional study finds a key pattern through which skill formation is institutionalised within the cross-border context: the leveraging of complementarities between distinct educational institutions. In combining the specific strengths of different national skills regimes, VET stakeholders in cross-border regions are in a position to enlarge the scope and capacities of their skill regime far beyond national borders. Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-3-658-29923-1 (Print); 978-3-658-29924-8 (Online) U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29924-8_8 SP - 131 EP - 147 PB - Springer VS CY - Wiesbaden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Strebel, Alexandra A1 - Emmenegger, Patrick A1 - Graf, Lukas T1 - New Interest Associations in a Neo-Corporatist System: Adapting the Swiss Training System to the Service Economy JF - British Journal of Industrial Relations N2 - Collective skill formation systems need to adapt to economic change, most notably the expansion of the service economy. However, deeply anchored in the craft and industrial sectors, these systems rely on neo‐corporatist institutions to undergird firms’ training provision, which are often missing in the service sector. We show that Switzerland's voluntaristic approach to interest intermediation provided the flexibility needed to extend vocational training to economic sectors without neo‐corporatist institutions. Yet, these adaptations resulted in the emergence of interest associations characterised by low levels of generalisability and governability. These new associations co‐exist with neo‐corporatist ones, rendering the overall training system surprisingly heterogeneous. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12581 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graf, Lukas T1 - Leveraging Regional Differences and Cross‐border Collective Institutions: The Case of Skill Formation and Employment in the Border Region of France, Germany, and Switzerland JF - Swiss Political Science Review N2 - European cross‐border regions often display substantial political and economic activity. A key example is the French‐German‐Swiss Upper Rhine region, where three distinct national governance models come together. In this dynamic cross‐border industry cluster, traditional political‐administrative units often do not meet the functional needs of employers and (future) employees. This comparative institutional analysis refers to Varieties of Capitalism and Local Production Systems perspectives to explore the operations of this cluster. It finds two main patterns through which education and training are embedded in the cross‐border context: on the one hand, the leveraging of distinct institutional advantages in the different parts of the region and, on the other, the creation of cross‐border collective competition goods in the form of jointly provided educational institutions. Through these two strategies, local actors within the cross‐border industry cluster can turn their peripheral location into an institutional advantage. KW - - KW - Local Production Systems KW - Varieties of Capitalism KW - Industry Clusters KW - Internationalization of Education and Training KW - Cross‐border Labor Markets Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-40302 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/spsr.12442 SN - 1662-6370 VL - 27 IS - 2 SP - 369 EP - 389 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Powell, Justin J.W. ED - Knight, Elizabeth ED - Bathmaker, Ann-Marie ED - Moodie, Gavin ED - Orr, Kevin ED - Webb, Susan ED - Wheelahan, Leesa T1 - The Origins and Contemporary Development of Work-based Higher Education in Germany: Lessons for Anglophone Countries? T2 - Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education N2 - Higher education is typically viewed as offering the most assured pathways to secure careers and low unemployment rates. Yet, increasingly some groups, not least higher education graduates and their families paying ever-higher tuition fees, question the taken-for-granted contributions higher education makes to individuals and society. While participation rates have climbed worldwide, higher education systems continue to produce winners and losers. In the face of such challenges globally, which alternatives exist? A prominent possibility, pioneered in Germany, is ‘dual study’ programmes. These programmes fully integrate phases of higher education study and paid work in firms, illustrating how employer interests and investments are (re)shaping advanced skill formation. Co-developed and co-financed by employers, they could ameliorate the global trend towards saddling students with ever-higher education costs and student debt. Grounded in neo-institutional analysis, expert interviews, and document analysis, we analyse the genesis and rapid expansion of dual study programmes, emphasizing the role of employer interests and highlighting distributional conflicts in the new politics of advanced skill formation. Furthermore, we discuss lessons other countries might glean from a new form of work-based higher education in Germany. Reference: Graf, L./Powell, J.J.W. (2022) The Origins and Contemporary Development of Work-based Higher Education in Germany: Lessons for Anglophone Countries? In: Knight, E./Bathmaker, A-M./Moodie, G./Orr, K./Webb, S./Wheelahan, L. (Eds.) Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education. London, Palgrave, 125-144. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84502-5_7 SP - 125 EP - 144 PB - Palgrave CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Emmenegger, Patrick A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Strebel, Alexandra T1 - Social versus liberal collective skill formation systems? A comparative-historical analysis of the role of trade unions in German and Swiss VET JF - European Journal of Industrial Relations N2 - We distinguish between social and liberal collective skill formation systems and demonstrate that the German VET system is a social system with a strong (parity) role for trade unions in its governance. In contrast, unions play a considerably weaker role in the more liberal Swiss system, which privileges employers’ interests. We show that the different position of unions in VET systems has the expected consequences on a range of indicators. We further examine why unions are less important in Switzerland and show how, after the First World War, differences in the institutional environment and power resources of the union movements set Germany and Switzerland on different paths, which are still visible today. KW - - KW - Employers KW - Germany KW - skill formation systems KW - Switzerland KW - trade unions KW - VET Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-35805 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0959680119844426 SN - 0959-6801 SN - 1461-7129 N1 - Provided by the DeepGreen Project. VL - 26 IS - 3 SP - 263 EP - 278 PB - SAGE Publications CY - Sage UK: London, England ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Graf, Lukas T1 - Country Size and Educational Change: Comparing Reforms of Skill Formation in Germany and Switzerland T2 - Pathways in Vocational Education and Training and Lifelong Learning. Proceedings of the 4th Crossing Boundaries Conference in Vocational Education and Training, Muttenz and Bern online, 8. - 9. April 2021 N2 - This conference paper argues that country size can play a crucial role in shaping the type of gradual change observed in collective skill formation systems. Collectively governed dual-apprenticeship training has its base in the industrial and crafts sectors of the economy and builds on the decentralized cooperation of multiple public and private stakeholders. As a result, it tends to be strongly path dependent, which favours gradual over radical forms of change. However, in recent years, dual-apprenticeship training has been increasingly challenged by the rise of the knowledge and service economy and the growing popularity of academic forms of education. In this context, I compare policy responses in Switzerland and Germany, which represent one small and one large collective skill formation system respectively. The historical-institutionalist analysis finds that the dominant trajectory of change is conversion in Switzerland but layering in Germany, with different implications for the future viability of collective skill formation. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4608711 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Lohse, Anna Prisca A1 - Epping, Elisabeth A1 - Garcia Miramon, Fiorentina T1 - Conferences and international collaboration revisited in times of the coronavirus: Experiences from a digital transition and lessons for the future N2 - "Everything was booked and ready to go for a two-day scientific workshop on education policies in Europe, scheduled for April 23-24, 2020 at the Hertie School in Berlin. The workshop intended to take stock of developments at the European, national and sub-national levels given the European Union’s wrap up of its decade-long Education & Training 2020 strategy (ET 2020), a framework for cooperation in education and training. However, on March 12, we had to cancel the physical meeting on short notice due to the coronavirus crisis. In the following, we share our experiences with the subsequent transition to an alternative online workshop format that took place on April 23, involving 25 participants from 10 countries, and 16 paper presentations. After sketching the workshop’s virtual setup, we discuss strengths, weaknesses, and challenges related to this digital transition. Furthermore, we explore the prospects of such online for-mats for future academic conferences and networking." Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-38968 UR - https://www.cher-highered.org/news-announcements/sars-cov-2-repository/conferences-and-international-collaboration-revisited-in-times-of-the-coronavirus-experiences-from-a-digital-transition-and-lessons-for-the-future/ ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graf, Lukas T1 - Conflictual and consensual class relations in collective governance: Comparing the expansion of short apprenticeships in Germany and Switzerland JF - Social Policy & Administration N2 - Collective skill formation builds on a long tradition of cooperation between state actors, unions, and employer associations. As such, it can be considered strongly path-dependent, which also refers to deeply institutionalized arrangements reconciling economic and social objectives across public and private actors. Yet, given structural changes in the economy and crises on the training market, dual apprenticeship training has been increasingly challenged to maintain its balance between economic and social objectives. In this context, I analyse the expansion of short-track dual apprenticeship training, which represents a lower-cost, lower-qualification variant of traditional dual apprenticeships in Germany and Switzerland. In these countries—both of which are core examples of collective skill formation systems—such short-tracks were expanded starting in the early 2000s. However, German unions have heavily opposed this expansion, while Swiss unions have actively supported it. I carry out a comparative historical-institutional analysis to address this puzzle and unpack the respective change processes. Focussing on the dominant governance modes, I find that in Switzerland, the expansion of short-tracks is linked to path reinforcement in terms of a liberal corporatist system characterized by polite employer domination. In contrast, in Germany I observe that the developments around short-tracks are associated with a path switch from a social to a more liberal collective skill formation arrangement but one that is linked to rather ‘hostile’ employer domination. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12875 SN - 1467-9515 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Emmenegger, Patrick A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Strebel, Alexandra T1 - Die Rolle der Gewerkschaften in der Berufsbildung: Ein Vergleich Deutschlands und der Schweiz T2 - Transformationen von Arbeit, Beruf und Bildung in internationaler Betrachtung N2 - In unserem Beitrag untersuchen wir die Rolle der Gewerkschaften in der Berufsbildung. Dabei zeigen wir, dass in Deutschland den Gewerkschaften eine starke (paritätische) Rolle zukommt. Deutlich schwächer ist die Stellung der Gewerkschaften hingegen im schweizerischen System, in welchem Arbeitgeberinteressen Vorrang gegeben wird. Unsere historisch-vergleichende Analyse geht den Gründen für die jeweilige Rolle der Gewerkschaften in Deutschland und der Schweiz nach. Unterschiede im nationalen institutionellen Rahmen sowie in den Machtressourcen der entsprechenden Gewerkschaftsbewegungen sind massgeblich dafür verantwortlich, dass in Deutschland und in der Schweiz nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg unterschiedliche Entwicklungspfade eingeschlagen wurden. Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-3-658-32682-1 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32682-1_4 SP - 61 EP - 78 PB - Springer VS CY - Wiesbaden ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Bernhard, Nadine A1 - Banscherus, Ulf T1 - Conditions for flexible transitions between vocational and academic education N2 - The lack of permeability between the vocational and the higher education systems has become a central concern of education policy in recent years. To meet the demands of a modern work environment as well as the needs of individual workers, the transition between the different education sectors must be facilitated. This policy brief identifies conditions necessary to successfully establish permeable structures between the vocational and the higher education systems in Germany and derives specific policy recommendations from this. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-41094 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Strebel, Alexandra A1 - Emmenegger, Patrick T1 - State-led bricolage and the extension of collective governance: Hybridity in the Swiss skill formation system JF - Regulation & Governance N2 - This paper explores the extension of collective governance to sectors without collective governance tradition. We introduce the concept of state-led bricolage to analyze the expansion of the Swiss apprenticeship training system – in which employer associations fulfill core collective governance tasks – to economic sectors in which training had previously followed a school-based and state-oriented logic. In deindustrializing societies, these sectors are key for the survival of collectively governed training systems. Through a mixed-methods analysis, we examine the reform process that led to the creation of new intermediary organizations that enable collective governance in these sectors. In addition, we compare the organizational features of these organizations with the respective organizations in the traditional crafts and industry sectors. We find that the new organizations result from state-led bricolage. They are hybrid organizations that reflect some of the bricoleur's core policy goals and critically build on the combination of associational and state-oriented institutional logics. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12436 SN - 1748-5991 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graf, Lukas T1 - How country size matters for institutional change: comparing skill formation policies in Germany and Switzerland JF - Comparative Education N2 - This paper argues that country size can play a crucial role in shaping the type of gradual change observed in collective skill formation systems. Collectively governed dual-apprenticeship training has its base in the industrial and crafts sectors of the economy and builds on the decentralised cooperation of multiple public and private stakeholders. As a result, it tends to be strongly path dependent, which favours gradual over radical forms of change. However, in recent years, dual-apprenticeship training has been increasingly challenged by the rise of the knowledge and service economy and the growing popularity of academic forms of education. In this context, I compare policy responses in Switzerland and Germany, which represent one small and one large collective skill formation system, respectively. The historical-institutionalist analysis finds that the dominant trajectory of change is conversion in Switzerland but layering in Germany, with different implications for the future viability of collective skill formation. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2021.1961354 ER -