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 on vocational education have become a point of discussion over the past few years here in Minnesota and the rest of the United States. Federal education officials are toning down their push for a four-year degree and instead have begun emphasizing the need for two-year degrees, certificates and other forms of postsecondary education and training.

Yesterday, a group of Minnesota education officials was scheduled to leave for a six-day trip to study Germany's workforce development program, 

. The Germans are known for a "dual education" system that's heavy on hands-on education and apprenticeships.

Here's a roster of which Minnesotans are going, according to MinnPost:

I do find one minor thing interesting: The 

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU)

 system -- known as the state's main supplier of vocational-technical education, and the institution making 

the big push to find out what Minnesota industry wants from its graduates

 -- has only two of the 13 slots. The apparently higher-brow, research-heavy 

meanwhile, has three. (It's a UMN-sponsored gig.)

Just seems like a disproportionately small percentage for MnSCU, considering the role it's supposed to be playing in workforce development.

Education News

On Campus Blog

Alex Friedrich

Author

European ideas on vocational education have become a point of discussion over the past few years here in Minnesota and the rest of the United States. Federal education officials are toning down their push for a four-year degree and instead have begun emphasizing the need for two-year degrees, certificates and other forms of postsecondary education…

Why are so few MnSCU folks visiting Germany?

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