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A number of European initiatives aim to create a European educational space, including vocational training and higher education. Following the logic of difference, we ask whether, despite their different institutionalization, these two sectors in France and Germany react similarly to the Europe-wide Copenhagen and Bologna processes. We compare the relationship between vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE), contrasting a number of influential typologies. Analyzing the current situation, we ask whether these differences in postsecondary education and training systems continue to exist.
In Europe, the Bologna and Copenhagen Processes in higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET) are on the agenda, aiming to create a European educational area. Acknowledging important differences between countries, we compare the evolving relationship between HE and VET. We ask whether and how these two distinct organisational fields in France and Germany have changed in recent decades. Comparing institutional shifts, the article analyses whether long-standing differences in postsecondary education and training systems and the education/economy nexus in these two countries have remained stable. We argue that these countries’ skill formation systems have begun to converge, departing from their original institutionalisation paths. Thus, while the traditional typologies that contrast France and Germany have served as useful heuristic devices, they require revision to adequately represent incremental institutional change in these skill formation systems resulting from endogenous reforms and exogenous pressures due to Europeanisation.