After the big success in 2010, the German Research Center for Comparative Vocational Ed-ucation and Training (G.R.E.A.T.), at the Chair of Economics and Business Education at the University of Cologne (Prof. Dr. Matthias Pilz), will hold the 2nd International conference. The conference under the main topic “Youth in Transition: Vocational Education and Training in Times of Economic Crisis” will take place at the University of Cologne from September 22nd to 24th.Main objective of the conference is the exchange of experiences and knowledge between leading academics and experts in the field of Vocational Education and Training (VET). The experts are from various countries all over the world, e.g. Australia, South Africa, and the United States, from China, India as well as many other Asian nations and numerous Europe-an countries.

Confirmed keynote speakers are Prof. Dr. Lorna Unwin (University of London), Prof. Dr. Robert Lerman (American University, Washington DC), Prof. Dr. Paul Ryan (King's College, Cambridge University), Prof. Dr. Tara S. Nayana (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore) and Prof. Dr. Philipp Gonon (University of Zurich).
In twelve clustered sessions and specific working groups, approximately 150 conference par-ticipants will discuss international questions, problems, and perspectives on various VET-issues, such as policy and comparative research, transitions, pre-vocational education, initial and further training, quality assurance, measurement and much more.
More information on the 2nd International G.R.E.A.T.-Conference can be found here: http://www.great.uni-koeln.de/29587.html?&L=1. For further information about the activities of G.R.E.A.T., please visit our website: http://www.great.uni-koeln.de/.