The country's Minister for Education and Research, Edelgard Bulmahn, said that these were key targets in the new 'apprenticeship offensive 2004' programme.
Ms Bulmahn said that there was a desperate need to increase the pool of skilled workers and technicians in the science sectors. "The experts have all agreed that, without effective efforts in the area of training, by the year 2015, in the age group 35 to 45, we will have a shortage of 3.5 million skilled workers," she said.
For further information on the programme, visit http://www.bmbf.de .
