Integrated degree programs here referred to as hybrid study programs (HSP) have gained attention and importance in Germany in recent years. Initiated and supported by large industrial companies in the 1970s, their development was a reaction to changing labour market requirements at the time (Brodsky, 2022, p. 41). Accordingly, the aim was a higher education provision more strongly oriented towards the labour market. Thereby, these programs aimed to offer alternative and thus a wider range of study and training options to an increasing number of eligible students resolving the strict institutional separation between VET and HE (Brodsky, 2022, p. 2; Kuhlee & Irmscher, 2018, p. 9). The number of HSPs and students in these programs has been increasing steadily (Hofmann et al. 2019, p. 12 ff.). There has been growing interest in such programs in other countries, too. A more recent development is the introduction of Degree Apprenticeships (DA) in England rolled out in 2015 (McEwan, 2019), by now being structured on the basis of so-called standards within an employer-led system (Hubble & Bolton, 2019). They get offered by 81 universities, 6 colleges and over 68 employers (Which?University?, 2020, pp. 10-11). In comparison, the proportion of HSPs in Austria is rather small. Apart from the first HSP at the Joanneum University of Applied Sciences in 2002 a gradual expansion has only been taking place since 2011 (Haas & Humpl, 2019, p. 113). An analysis on the introduction of these programs in the three countries based on a systematic document analysis (n=32) indicates that despite similar conceptual approaches, there seemed to exist rather different policy intentions connected to HSPs (Graf, 2015, Welbourne & Reynolds, 2019, Wissenschaftsrat, 1996). The current expansions seem to be associated with different intentions by policy stakeholders again, as the empirical data of a qualitative interview study indicate (n=9). The findings point to different perspectives regarding the systematic integration, the role and described function of hybrid programs within each national education system. Taking the empirical findings into account, the contribution examines the conceptual structures of HSPs in the reference countries and the educational policy intentions associated with them. It debates the role of these programs in promoting permeability and diversity for the national system structures, and hence in enhancing pathways of transition. The aim is to clarify the system-specific integration and mode of action of HSPs from the perspective of education policy for their national context over time.

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