German dual-study system aims for skills mastery

Munich

FROM Adidas to Volkswagen, Siemens to Bosch, many German multinational companies have made dual-study programmes a mainstay of talent and recruitment strategies. But it is probably the less-recognisable names among Germany's Mittelstand which have benefited the most.

These small and medium-sized enterprises - typically private, family-owned businesses that have found success in niches on the global stage - account for more than half of Germany's total economic output and generate 60 per cent of jobs.