QDUAL examined the current process of quality assurance and development in dual study programs in Germany. The process takes place between the poles of different institutional and actor-related interests as well as against the background of divergent concepts of quality. Research on this topic is important because the hybrid qualification format has experienced rapid quantitative growth over the past ten years and is becoming more differentiated. However, student and graduate surveys provide evidence that the expected good theory-practice-link, the conception of the practical phases as well as the learning support and documentation of the qualification in the companies could be improved in some places. The project aims at new and more data-based insights into the interplay in which structural and organizational as well as subject- and industry-specific factors influence quality assurance in dual study programs. For this purpose, an integrated multidimensional and multi-perspective mixed-methods-design was used, which was based on the combination of various qualitative and quantitative techniques of data collection and data analysis to define more precisely the degree of coherence between formal requirements and regulations concerning the quality assurance of dual study programs on the one hand and subjective theories and practices of the actors involved on the other.
