[germanier]

Ok, and where does the article claim that it is a dead end (or even just suggests that)? It gives a brief overview of the most important features and nothing more. It seems like you are debating against yourself here.

(Just out of personal interest: What is this "first shortened Ausbildung then university education" with 70k+ people in it called?)

[lispm]

The point is to understand the context of the Ausbildung. The son of a friend just finished his Ausbildung and now he makes his Meister. This is quite common. The Meister then enables him to go to University without Abitur.

The integrated dual Ausbildung/Studium:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ausbildungsintegrierter_dualer...

The number 40000 mentioned there is from 2007. Since then offerings have been expanded and made more attractive.

Example:

http://mein-duales-studium.de/fuer-schueler/information/was-...

> An der Westfälischen Hochschule kombinieren dual Studierende ein Studium mit einer Berufsausbildung oder beruflicher Praxis in einem Unternehmen oder einer öffentlichen Organisation.