Die Weiterbildungsindustrie

MDR Broadcast from January 29, 2014 Year after year, various education and retraining programs devour billions of taxpayer dollars. Yet only about one in five unemployed people actually finds a new job afterward. It's not uncommon for people to be stuck in a rut, as in the case of Heinz G. The trained mechanical engineer was ordered by the job center to participate in dozens of programs and has still been unemployed for 20 years. Qualifications, integration programs, further training, and retraining are a lucrative business. There are approximately 17,000 training providers in Germany. The number of courses offered is overwhelming, and quality and effectiveness are particularly difficult to monitor. This applies not only to the unemployed but also to employed individuals, who are targeted with the promise that further training will significantly improve their career prospects. "Exakt – The Story" takes a look behind the scenes of the continuing education industry, speaking with those affected, experts, and insiders about pointless programs and deceptive practices. The investigation follows the trail of educational institutions that primarily use course participants as cheap labor and providers that raked in millions for training courses that never took place. When is continuing education truly worthwhile? What are the system's flaws? What are the alternatives?