Growing in a Niche: Dual Study Programs Contribute to Change in Germany’s Higher Education

Summary: The German educational model is characterized by a histori-cally evolved strong institutional di-vide between the vocational educa-tion and training system and the higher education system. Yet, the con-temporary development of dual study programs implies the systematic combination of institutional elements from both subsystems. The rapid ex-pansion of these programs is based on the hybridization of organizational structures – outside of traditional structures – at the nexus of the tradi-tional organizational fields of voca-tional training and higher education