Markus Maurer is professor of vocational education at the Zurich University of Teacher Education. His research mainly focuses on implementation of vocational education policies.
Philipp Gonon has held the Chair of Vocational Education and Training and Teacher Training at the University of Zurich since 2004. Gonon's main research areas are the Comparative and Historical Perspectives on Vocational Education.

Focusing on national qualifications frameworks and on the dual model of vocational training, this volume analyses the challenges that are tied to the transfer of models in the domain of vocational skills development. It brings together contributions from authors involved in both the theory and practice of vocational skills training development.

Contents: Markus Maurer/Philipp Gonon: The challenges of policy transfer in vocational skills development: An introduction - Kenneth King: Skills, competencies, and knowledge in international translation and cooperation - Michel Carton: What do we need for vocational skills development: Data, consultancy or research? All of them! - Stephanie Allais: National qualifications frameworks and apprenticeships: Promises, premises, pitfalls - Madhu Singh: The work of UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in strengthening lifelong learning through. National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) - Poorna Kanta Adhikary: Youth skill development in Nepal: An approach to human security and sustainable peace - Markus Maurer: The revolutionary scope of qualifications frameworks and their limitations on the ground: Reflections on the model used in development cooperation and its implementation in Sri Lanka - Salim Akoojee: Promises unfulfilled and (still) counting casualties: Embedded interests and the NQF in South Africa - Rashmi Agrawal: The Indian approach to skill certification - Matthias Jäger: Meandering through policy development: Observations on vocational education and training in Albania - Philipp Gonon: Development cooperation in the field of vocational education and training - The dual system as a global role model? - Reinhard Stockmann: The transfer of dual vocational training: Experiences from German development cooperation - Rudolf Batliner: Adapting the dual system of vocational education and training - Stefan Wolf: The 'need' approach for curriculum development in the TVET cooperation with developing countries - CBET meets work-process oriented curriculum design - Siroco Messerli: Result-based payment systems in vocational skills development - Christopher Winch: Are the dual system and qualifications frameworks compatible with each other?

In the context of renewed global interest in the development of vocational skills, policy makers in many countries as well as representatives of technical organisations often hope to reform existing training systems by borrowing models and policies that seem to work elsewhere. One of these prominent models is that of 'National Qualifications Framework', the use of which now spans the entire globe. On a much smaller scale, the 'Dual Model' of vocational training - a systematic combination of school and workplace-based learning that is common in a number of countries in Western Europe - has also gained attention in international cooperation.
Bringing together contributions from authors involved in both the theory and practice of vocational skills training development, this volume analyses the challenges that are tied to the transfer of these two dominant models in the context of international cooperation, sheds light on how they are being implemented, and discusses alternatives to the standard approaches to policy transfer.