According to the official announcement from the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) on October 17, at the Didacta Asia 2024 education equipment exhibition in Thailand, the vocational education research institutions of the three German-speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland, and Austria) jointly launched an international consulting service for vocational education under the name of the "Dual Vocational Education Alliance – Swiss-Austrian-German Consulting Service". The aim is to support other countries in drawing on the advanced experiences of these three countries in vocational education and to establish vocational education that is close to practice and oriented towards labor market demands.

At the exhibition, the BIBB, the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Eidgenössische Hochschule für Berufsbildung, EHB), and the Austrian Institute for Economic Education and Research (Institut für Bildungsforschung der Wirtschaft, ibw) jointly introduced their consulting services for the first time. They presented special topics in five areas: vocational education management, work-based learning (WBL), competence-oriented vocational education standards and curricula, training for vocational education staff, and institutionalized vocational education research. They also addressed questions such as how to establish incentive mechanisms to enhance the willingness of enterprises to engage in vocational education and training, and how to secure financing.

Since 2007, the three institutions have collaborated on various vocational education topics in multiple formats. In 2023, they jointly established the "Dual Vocational Education Alliance" to expand their cooperation and jointly develop joint consulting projects encompassing core elements of vocational education. The goal is to assist countries in reforming their vocational education systems and integrating dual vocational education elements into their national education systems. Currently, all three institutions provide expertise in the field of vocational education globally, covering economic, political, research, and practical perspectives with their respective focuses. By forming the alliance, the three parties will better leverage synergies in the field of international consulting for vocational education, promoting and enhancing the influence of dual vocational education internationally. (Zhao Kerou)