Abstract:

Our research question is how can we measure values and costs of dual training in higher education in a complex way. It means that we would like to quantify all possible effects from the perspective of each stakeholder.

On international level there are similar researches related to dual education. On the one hand those are not complete from the point of view of methodology, on the other hand those concern vocational education. That is why we are thinking of an elaboration of a measurement method, under which the explicit and implicit costs and benefits can turn into measurable numbers at this educational level.

Our research is part of a project with the topic "Innovative solutions for the development of dual training in economic science" under the code number EFOP-3.5.1-16.The development of Dual and Cooperative Higher Education, Higher Vocational Training and Specialization Further Training consists of 16 subprojects, the 9th subproject includes the Cost-Benefit Analysis of Dual Training.

The basic objective of our research is to determine the added value of dual training in higher education. To this end, it is necessary to identify and evaluate all possible effects in order to prepare a methodological model for dual training. We try to measure the costs and benefits of dual education from the stakeholders (students, enterprises, university) point of view over the whole training period (1-3,5 years).
In our research, we measured value in a new way of approach and with a combined application of several methodological tools. At the first stage, we made a participatory research with the stakeholders and systematized the experienced cost and benefit elements through a mind map. To the system elements that evolved, we assigned units and unit prices. The output of our research is a matrix, which contains the calculation method of each cost and benefit that arise at the partners who are directly afffected in the training, with numerical values for the specified training of the project. The so called matrix is a three-dimensional map, which represents the net benefit or value-added derived from the matrix for each participant and for the whole training as a function of training period.

With our results, we would like to contribute to researches that try to quantify the value which derives from the cooperation between higher education institutions and any partner organizations in a complex, coherent way and to improve the quality and the efficiency of the training. On the basis of the results, we also intend to expand the scope of currently limited empirical studies and good practices in tertiary education.

Keywords:

Higher education, dual training, cost-benefit analysis, participatory research, system mapping.