JOBSTARTER plus

"JOBSTARTER plus" was part of the Federal Government's Skills Development Initiative to strengthen educational opportunities and increase the permeability of the education system. It also formed part of the "Education Links to Obtain a Training Qualification" initiative.

Goals of "JOBSTARTER plus" were:

• strengthening in-company vocational training
• unlocking new skilled labour potential

The programme sponsored innovative training strategies and services that helped SMEs as well as micro enterprises to recruit skilled labour and tap into new target groups. This also included the development of close-to-enterprise strategies to improve the transition from school to vocational training. The funded regional projects within the JOBSTARTER plus programme tested current VET policy topics in practice.

Building on the accompanying scientific work on the projects, the programme office, located at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), launched and coordinated nationwide specialised networks and relays the results back to the scientific community and interested members of the public through official publications and special events. In this respect, JOBSTARTER plus projects were both models for the particular region, and offered potential to transfer good practices across regions.