Skill needs and the institutional framework: Conditions for enterprise-sponsored CVT - The case of Denmark

The focus of this article is twofold. The first part is centred around the historical development of the Danish training and education system for people in employment, while the second draws on the results of a recently conducted survey in order to discuss the role of skill needs analyses and the determinants of enterprise-sponsored training. A major issue that emerges in an analysis of the historical development to the present is that the introduction in 2001 of the latest changes in the legal framework of CVT signalled changes in the established ways of viewing CVT in Denmark. These changes constituted a shift in financial responsibility away from the state and towards the social partners. Furthermore, they indicated diminished state responsibility for CVT activities and a move towards more market-oriented/demand-led CVT. An important conclusion reached in the part of the paper dealing with analyses of skill needs is that motivation for sponsoring CVT should not be analysed as a simple causal relation where a qualification need leads to sponsored CVT. Instead, sponsoring of CVT should be seen as an enterprise's way of dealing with external as well as internal challenges of varying nature. The conclusions drawn are based on the view that personnel policy consists of four elements: recruitment, retainment, development and outflow. Applying this perspective paves the way for a more comprehensive picture of CVT activity and acknowledges the multifaceted motives behind enterprise-sponsored CVT.