Shortcomings of further training provision for scientific and technical personnel: an impediment to personal, corporate and economic development. Part 2: Demands on individuals, industry and the state

Technical progress in Germany, and, indeed, the competitiveness of each individual company using new technology, is determined by the engineers, scientists and technicians available at any given moment in time and by their educational level. Within that, the further training provisions for scientific and technical personnel have a key role to play. Present advanced training provision is characterised by the imparting of management know–how and business knowledge. In–career training, characterised by a high degree of commitment, has been left primarily to the individual professional's own initiative – for example the study of professional literature in popularising journals. But this does not comply with the solution of the escalating deficiencies. Our discussion highlights certain shortcomings of research and development (R&D) which have not yet been addressed, either in Germany or in other countries. If there are to be more effective, and more efficient, personal, corporate and public development efforts...