The BA

The Berufsakademie, or university of cooperative education, system is a system of vocational training unique to Germany. It tries to combine the advantages of both university education and on-the-job training.

A BA study takes three years, two semesters each (makes six semesters). Each semester is spent half at the BA, studying like in a university, and the other half is spent in a company. These companies have an agreement with the BA, and they provide „Praxisphasen“. During Praxisphasen, the student works in a department in the company, applying the skills he acquired during the time at the BA (at least in theory). Students have to write short seminar papers on their Praxisphasen.

At SAP, the student gets a tutor in the department called Dezi („Dezentraler Ausbilder“, decentral trainer). The Dezi assigns tasks to the students, and cares for them in the department.

This is only a very short description, but it will help you to understand the expressions I use in my blog. You can find more information on the official BA pages, in German and English