Overview of Vocational Education System in Berlin

Every year, over 35,000 young people leave Berlin’s vocational schools with a degree and good prospects for the labor market.

Berlin offers young adults who have completed their general education a broad spectrum of vocational courses of study and opportunities to earn a higher degree at a professional or vocational school or a post-secondary professional training center.

The advanced secondary vocational education centers (Oberstufenzentrum – OSZ) are a success story in the Berlin education system. The OSZ’s are professional centers of expertise that unite the following kinds of schools under one roof:

• Vocational college preparatory school (berufliche Gymnasien),
• Vocational schools (Berufsschulen),
• Full-time vocational schools (Berufsfachschulen),
• Higher trade and technical schools (Fachoberschulen),
• Higher vocational school (Berufsoberschulen),
• Trade and technical schools (Fachschulen). In the dual education system, learning happens both in the vocational classroom and through practical on-the-job training. In close cooperation with Berlin business and industry, the OSZ’s implement the classroom education component for about 350 recognized occupations requiring formal training.
• Depending on their educational path and the vocational school they attend, students who have completed 10th grade can choose to earn a secondary school diploma, a diploma qualifying for entrance to a university of applied science, or a diploma qualifying for entrance to a university (Abitur). The latter can be obtained at a vocational college preparatory school, the advanced academic course at an OSZ and allows a student to enter any degree program at any university or other institution of higher learning.