Business Colleges – Longitudinal Study on Their Contribution to the Professional Development and Careers of Graduates

Business Colleges – Longitudinal Study on Their Contribution to the Professional Development and Careers of Graduates

Business colleges are continuing education institutions within the vocational school system. Following initial vocational training and professional experience, graduates obtain the qualification of State-Certified Business Administrator as well as entrance qualification for universities of applied sciences upon completing this program.

Among other research questions, the longitudinal study focuses primarily on assessing school quality.

This study is based on the justifiable hypothesis that the professional success of State-Certified Business Administrators was significantly influenced, among other factors, by their continuing education at a business college. As early as 1999, an evaluation of Hessian business colleges was conducted that focused on the specific perspective of users of this type of school. Among other research questions, the primary focus was on assessing school quality, as graduates associated expectations with their motivation to complete precisely this form of continuing education, expectations that these schools were able to fulfill only to a limited extent. The longitudinal study presented here builds on this and involved a survey of graduates at two points in time: 2004 (five years after completing their continuing education) and 2009 (ten years later). In addition, selected companies were surveyed in 2006 as potential employers of the graduates.

Following a theoretical foundation, the results of the study are presented and then discussed. Since these colleges are undergoing a period of transition, which is also influenced by modularization in the bachelor’s/master’s system at universities of applied sciences and universities, recommendations for action to modify the concept and curriculum are to be developed on this basis.

Project lead: Prof. Dr. Horst Philipp Bauer

Project status: completed

Research associate: Inga Enderle

The results of the first study from 1999 can be found in: Bauer, Horst Philipp: Business Colleges – Reconstruction and Evaluation of a Continuing Education Institution for Middle Management. Gießen 2004.

The results of the longitudinal study were published in: Horst Philipp Bauer and Inga Enderle: Career Advancement through Business Colleges. Longitudinal Study on the Professional Development of Graduates. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler, 2015.