The problem of cultural fit—what can we learn from borrowing the German Dual System?

Culture impedes educational transactions between developed countries, and is often an area of tension when developing countries try to borrow models, or have models imposed upon them. This article uses the German Dual System as a case for examining issues surrounding the adaptation of borrowed models. Since attempts at borrowing models can fail for cultural as well as non‐cultural reasons, a contention here is that culture needs to be unpacked and laid bare, to avoid it becoming the too easy answer for failure. Borrowed models have a greater chance of taking hold, if the conditions that forged them are understood, and if conditions of the receiving country are likewise internalized. Limits imposed by culture have to be recognized. Four approaches to cultural borrowing that conceivably can reduce the tensions are proposed namely, partial borrowing, pilot borrowing, customization and conceptual borrowing.