The AMU system: educational plans, FKBs, and continuing education funding

When you register for an AMU course it often looks simple: you choose a course for a couple of days attend and afterward you have proof. But behind the simple course lies a system built to bind labor market needs together with uniform training supply across the country's vocational schools.

§Common competence descriptions (FKB's)

AMU courses are organized in so-called shared competency descriptions, abbreviated FKB. An FKB brings together the AMU objectives that belong to a specific job area or industry, making it easier to see which courses work together and what direction they point in. When you choose several courses within the same FKB, they often build on each other instead of being random isolated days.

§Education plans—the path through the system.

To make it manageable to find your way in the large course selection, there are training plans that describe typical progression within a field — for example which courses make sense to take in sequence if you want to develop expertise in management, warehousing, IT or workplace wellbeing. The training plans can be found collectively at the training providers and on the Ministry of Education and the AMU providers' websites.

§VET allowance: why it doesn't cost your salary to take a course

One of the most important tools in the AMU system is VEU compensation (adult further and continuing education compensation). It makes it possible for a company to send an employee on a course without having to bear the entire salary cost itself and for a self-employed person to receive compensation for lost work income while sitting in school.

• 01You must be employed — as a wage earner or self-employed with a Danish CVR number — to apply.
• 02The allowance is calculated in proportion to the number of teaching hours on the course
• 03In addition transport grants can be applied for if the distance to the course venue exceeds a certain limit
• 04Application typically occurs simultaneously with course registration, typically via voksenuddannelse.dk

The rate is adjusted continuously

VET allowance corresponds to the highest unemployment benefit rate and is adjusted annually by the Ministry of Education. This means that the actual amount changes from year to year, but the principle is the same: the rate covers much of the wages the company would otherwise lose while the employee is away from the workplace.

§Participant fee and financing

AMU is not free for the employer in all cases – most courses have a participant fee that varies according to the course's target group and content, but it is largely financed by the state together with the labor market parties in the so-called tripartite tradition. For many shorter courses and for unskilled and skilled workers below a certain educational background, participant fees are relatively low compared to the course's real value.

§Who offers AMU courses?

AMU courses are offered by a number of approved educational institutions throughout the country – typically vocational schools, technical schools, and AMU centers. This means you rarely have to travel far to find a relevant course, and several schools often offer the same or similar courses within the same FKB (shared competency description), so you can choose the time and place that best fits your everyday life.

Your workplace's role

Although you as an employee can register yourself for an AMU course on your own it usually happens in dialogue with the workplace — both because the employer typically seeks VEU allowance and because it makes sense to link the courses to the tasks you will actually solve afterwards. A competency development plan or a MUS conversation are good occasions to discuss specific AMU courses in a shared direction.

Understanding the framework around AMU — FKBs, training plans and further education allowance — makes it easier to use the system actively. Instead of taking random individual courses, you or your workplace can compose a program that really builds a competence, while the economics of it is transparent for both you and your employer.