TY - JOUR A1 - Di Maio, Gina A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Wilson, Anna T1 - Embedded flexibilization and polite employer domination: the case of short‑track apprenticeships in Switzerland JF - Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training N2 - Liberalization pressures challenge countries to adapt their training systems. This is particularly relevant for coordinated market economies with firm-driven but collectively governed apprenticeship systems. Recent literature has identified different liberalization trajectories for these countries. For instance, segmentalism describes the increasing influence of large employers in Germany. In Denmark, state agencies manage increased flexibility in training through embedded flexibilization. In this paper, we identify a new form of embedded flexibilization, characterized by polite employer domination. We find this trajectory of liberalization in Switzerland, which represents another training system heavily based on firm involvement. We illustrate our argument with the example of short-track apprenticeship training, which has been expanded in all three mentioned countries in response to ongoing liberalization and deindustrialization pressures. In Switzerland, the relevant reform was initiated by the state while business adopted a rather passive role initially. Yet, state actors eventually stepped back and delegated key competences to employers, which implies that the employers’ camp asserted their interests in the end while tolerating some concessions for the benefit of disadvantaged groups. Our process tracing reveals that policy makers used layering to implement short-tracks that enhance social inclusion, while simultaneously increasing the scope of employer cooperation. KW - Skill formation systems, VET, Liberalization, Institutional change, Shorttracks, Two-year apprenticeships, Process tracing Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40461-020-00088-7 SN - 18776337, 18776345 VL - 12 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 21 ER - 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 - 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 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 -