Advanced vocational education (AVE) is since January 1st 2002 an established post-secondary education in Sweden. With AVE one third of the course time is devoted to advanced application of theoretical knowledge at a workplace. From its start in year 1996 as a pilot project, over 5000 students have today graduated from the approximately 250 different AVE programs available. The purpose with this paper is to present findings from a research project focusing on what has happened with the 5000 students after they have graduated, entering the labour market. The significance of this paper is that it uses unique longitudinal data from three sets of student questionnaires collected in year 1999, 2000 and 2001 by LuleΠUniversity of Technology and Statistics Sweden. The paper concludes with a general discussion on flexibility and lifelong learning within the Swedish system of vocational education and training. The research project is supported by Swedish office of Labour Market Policy Evaluation