Initial vocational education and training (IVET) not only prepares young people for the labour market – it also provides opportunities for further learning in continuing VET (CVET), general and higher education, Cedefop’s data insights suggest.
As the data indicate, in the EU, IVET takes place principally at upper secondary level. In 2021, there were 8.8 million IVET students, almost half (48.7%) of the total number of upper secondary students in the EU. Cedefop estimates that, in 2021, some 71% of upper secondary VET students were enrolled in programmes that gave direct access to tertiary education.
Almost 40% of young VET graduates in the EU continue in formal or non-formal education and training. While this is less than half of the 81% of upper secondary general education graduates who continue in further and higher learning, it reflects structural differences between VET, which mainly prepares people for the labour market, and general education, which focuses on preparing people for further studies.
That a significant proportion of VET graduates in the EU go on to further learning shows that there is both demand and opportunities.
Both demand and opportunities
VET has a strong presence in post-secondary non-university-level education. Some 94.7% of all students at this level, around 1.3 million students, in the EU, are enrolled in vocational programmes. Short-cycle tertiary level education in the EU is also dominated by VET, which accounted for 99.7% of all students, enrolled in this type of learning in the EU in 2021.
However, the 1.4 million students in short cycle tertiary VET account for only 7.6% of the 18.5 million students enrolled in university-level education or above, in the EU in 2021.
The presence of VET at higher levels of education may be understated. At Bachelor level and above, international statistics fail to capture the general or vocational orientation of programmes and qualifications. An international definition of academic and professional programmes and qualifications that would enable the collection of such data is under discussion.
For more information on VET and opportunities for further and higher learning, see Cedefop’s data insight. For a comprehensive comparative statistical snapshot of EU and Member State progress towards their education and training and related targets for 2025/30, check out Cedefop’s Key indicators on VET and European VET policy dashboard.
