Alternance schemes or apprenticeships are typically known in Austria and
Germany as the "dual system". These are fundamentally based on the integration of
companies as training providers together with VET schools or other education/training
institutes. In these programmes, learners spend a significant time on training in
companies. In parallel, or in "alternating" periods, they acquire general and
occupation-related knowledge and often complementary practical skills and key
competences in VET schools or other education/training institutes. One in twenty staff
is an apprentice in Germany and Austria, but the numbers are far lower in most other
European countries, with less than one in every hundred staff being an apprentice in
10 of the 17 countries for which data are available.