1887

Continuing Education and Training and the EU Framework on State Aid

Implications for the Public Higher Education Sector in Brandenburg

image of Continuing Education and Training and the EU Framework on State Aid

Ageing populations and rising skill demands have heightened expectations that higher education systems will widen their offer of continuing education and training (CET) for adults aiming to renew or augment their skills at an advanced level. CET is becoming increasingly important for maintaining a highly skilled workforce also in Germany, and particularly in the state of Brandenburg. However, Brandenburg’s public higher education institutions have so far been only marginal providers. To expand their offer of CET, they would require more legal certainty about the use of public funding in light of European Union (EU) state aid policy. EU state aid policy ensures public subsidies (state aid) are not used by state agencies to crowd out markets (economic activity). There are no clear EU, federal or state-level directions about whether CET is a non-economic activity and thus exempt from EU state aid rules. This report analyses the reasons for this legal uncertainty and provides recommendations to the state government and public higher education institutions in Brandenburg about how to clarify the status of continuing education and training as a state-aided activity. It also proposes pointers for interpretation and future reform of the EU framework on state aid, and provides impulses for policy action in other German states and at the federal level.

English Also available in: German

Introduction

Continuing education and training (CET) is of growing importance to the German economy and, in particular, to the economy of Brandenburg; the ageing population and the advances of automation and other forms of technology mean that workers will need to update their skills frequently in the future, as skills demand evolves and changes. However, the complexities of European law – and especially, the EU state aid rules – mean that the state government and Brandenburg’s higher education institutions (HEIs) are uncertain about the legality of public funding of CET. This poses risks of under-investment in CET – which, in turn, poses risks for workforce development. The OECD project team has commissioned an analysis of the legal constraints of funding for CET, which is set out in this report.

English Also available in: German

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error