Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship with a length of 3 or 4 years are the most common ones. The certificate awarded after successfully completing a 3 or 4-year apprenticeship is called "Certificat Fédérale de Capacité" (), "Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis" (EFZ) or "Attestato federale di capacità" (AFC).
Pierre Mauroy
A law on vocational training in February 1984 established employment contracts for six months for further training on the job while taking courses. These included the contrats de qualification, the contrats d’adaptation, ranging from 6 to 24 months, and a 3 to 6-month programme known as the stages d’initiation a la vie professionnelle, which was designed to familiarise young people with factory and firm. A 1983 law on apprenticeships laid down the principle that apprenticeship is a method of giving young workers having completed schooling a general theoretical and practical training, for the purpose of acquiring professional qualifications leading to technology diplomas. The law laid down a number of general rules on apprenticeship. Training is organised on the basis of alternation, part in industry, and part in the
apprenticeship centre, while a contractual relationship must be created between the apprentice and the employer, by means of an apprenticeship contract. A higher education law of 1983 restored democratic representation on university councils and granted the universities greater autonomy and more power to conduct research and to make contacts with industry.