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SWISS

EDUCATION

REPORT

BUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 148: Udvalgsrejse til Schweiz i uge 10 - afrapportering og evaluering af rejsen

THE SWISS EDUCATION SYSTEM

Advanced Federal

Diploma of Higher

Education

Master

Bachelor

Universities incl.

Federal Institutes

of Technology

Master

Bachelor

Universities

of Teacher

Education

Master

Bachelor

Advanced

Federal

Diploma HE

Colleges of Higher

Education

Federal Diploma of

Higher Education

Preparation for Federal

Diplomas of Higher Education

ISCED 7

PhD

Doctorate

ISCED 8

TERTIARY

ISCED 6

Universities of

Applied Sciences

Transition

Specialised

Baccalaureate +

Specialised School

Certiﬁcate

Specialised School

Certiﬁcate

ISCED 4

Baccalaureate

Federal Vocational Baccalaureate +

Federal VET Diploma

Option 2

Federal VET

Certiﬁcate

UPPER SEC.

Baccalaureate

Schools

Specialised

Baccalaureate

Option 2

Vocational Education and

Training (Apprenticeship)

With optional Federal Vocational Baccalaureate (vBac):

vBac1 during the Apprenticeship,

vBac2 following the Apprenticeship

ISCED 3

Vocational

Education and

Training

Upper Secondary

Specialised

Schools

Bridge Year Courses

Baccalaureate

Prep. Schools

Lower Secondary Level

Performance-based grouping

LOWER SEC.

ISCED 2

Compulsory Education

PRIMARY

Years

Primary Level

Including Kindergarten or First Learning Cycle

ISCED 1

Kindergarten

First Learning Cycle

ISCED 020

ISCED

International

Standard

Classiﬁcation of

Education 2011

Children and adolescents with

special educational needs

Support through special

measures from birth up to

age 20

The responsibility for the precise

arrangement of special needs

education during compulsory

education (special schools,

special classes, special support

integrated in regular classes,

etc.) lies with the cantons and

is not shown on the chart.

1 Duration of primary level: 8 years. Two years of kindergarten and the ﬁrst

two years of the primary cycle are included in compulsory education in most

cantons. In Canton Ticino the primary level lasts 7 years.

2 Lower secondary level: 4-year scuola media in the Canton of Ticino

(pursuant to exception clause in Art. 6 HarmoS Agreement)

3 Vocational education and training (apprenticeship): training company +

VET school + intercompany courses; full-time school education possible

4 Passerelle 1: traditional baccalaureate

universities of applied sciences

(internship)

Passerelle 2: vocational and specialised baccalaureate

traditional university

(additional entrance examination)

5 General educational programmes = ISCED 34

Vocational training programmes = ISCED 35

BUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 148: Udvalgsrejse til Schweiz i uge 10 - afrapportering og evaluering af rejsen

SWISS

EDUCATION

REPORT

2023

BUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 148: Udvalgsrejse til Schweiz i uge 10 - afrapportering og evaluering af rejsen

Report commissioned by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)

and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) within the framework of the Education Monitoring Switzerland

Citation suggestion:

SCCRE (2023). Education Report Switzerland 2023.

Aarau: Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education

Aarau, 2023

SKBF | CSRE Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education

Entfelderstrasse 61, 5000 Aarau

www.skbf-csre.ch

Project director: Stefan C. Wolter

Project coordinator: Stefan Denzler

Authors: Stefan C. Wolter, Janine Albiez, Maria A. Cattaneo, Stefan Denzler,

Andrea Diem, Samuel Lüthi, Chantal Oggenfuss and Ramona Schnorf

Scientific assistance: Nadine Elsener

Translation: Apostroph Group, Bern

Proof reading: Robin Hull, Hull School, Zurich

Design concept: belle vue, Sandra Walti, Aarau

Layout: Sarah Fehr and Senta Schwammberger, SCCRE

ISBN 978-3-905 684-25-4

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FOREWORD BY THE REPORT COMMISSIONERS

GENERAL CONTEXT OF THE SWISS EDUCATION SYSTEM

COMPULSORY EDUCATION

PRIMARY SCHOOL LEVEL

LOWER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

111

125

155

179

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING

BACCALAUREATE SCHOOLS

UPPER-SECONDARY SPECIALISED SCHOOL

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

193

225

255

285

315

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

UNIVERSITIES

UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES

UNIVERSITIES OF TEACHER EDUCATION

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

331

CONTINUING EDUCATION AND TRAINING

355

375

397

CUMULATIVE EFFECTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEX

FOREWORD BY

THE REPORT

COMMISSIONERS

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Foreword by the report commissioners

A reference work on

education in Switzerland

You are holding the fourth issue of the Swiss Education Report in your

hands. This reference work on education in Switzerland provides a compact

and up-to-date overview of our education system. It is organised according

to educational level and considers the aspects of effectiveness, efficiency

and equity. First published in 2010, the Education Report has become well

established and is now an important reference work for many players in

the world of education. It provides answers to numerous questions and at

the same time highlights the areas in which we lack reliable knowledge.

In an unplanned development, this report also investigates the short-term

effects of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 on the education system. The tem-

porary ban on face-to-face teaching in particular created challenges for the

players in the education system, for instance with regard to lesson design

and structuring. However, the sudden switch to digital, remote teaching

also opened up numerous opportunities and provided a possibility to take

an in-depth look at new questions such as: were there observable effects

on the performance of school pupils, apprentices and students? To what

extent have the changed labour market conditions impacted the labour

market success of graduates? How are we faring in terms of equal opportu-

nities? The fourth edition of the Education Report is being published a year

later than originally planned, not least in order to answer these questions.

People making education policy decisions or involved in quality devel-

opment need reliable knowledge as a basis for their actions. There is a

plethora of studies and research results out there. However, there are also

publications that have no serious scientific basis. That is why education

policymakers and players in the Swiss Education Area need reliably and

expertly presented research results. The Education Report compiles results

that prove to be relevant and reliable. It is addressed to anyone with an

interest in educational issues, whether in the communes or cantons, or at

intercantonal, national or international level.

The Federal Constitution requires the Confederation and the cantons,

within the scope of their powers, to jointly ensure the high quality and

accessibility of the Swiss Education Area. In order to fulfil this mandate,

they have maintained a system of education monitoring for more than a

decade. This instrument enables them to collect data on the sometimes

complex issues at play and act in a coherent manner while adopting an over-

all perspective on the education system. The goal is to develop education,

support and advisory offerings, reinforce cooperation among educational

players, examine the processes at work at transitional points in education,

ensure the permeability of the education system, and maintain the system-

atic nature of qualifications and the connectivity between them.

The Covid-19 pandemic

Decision-making on the

basis of reliable knowledge

The key product in

education monitoring

SKBF | CSRE Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education

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Foreword by the report commissioners

The information compiled in the Education Report allows us to make a

reliable assessment of the quality and permeability of the education sys-

tem. The joint education policy objectives of the Confederation and the

cantons first agreed in 2011 are developed and laid down in joint decla-

rations on the basis of the Education Report’s findings. The last decla-

ration presented in 2019 defines two new objectives: the active shap-

ing of the digital transformation and the promotion of exchange and

mobility. Not only does the Education Report help to estimate the pro-

gress that has been made in achieving these objectives; it also creates

a picture of the quality of the data available in the various fields and at

the various levels of the education system. Information gaps make

it difficult to make sound assessments or plan measures; this report

helps to identify such gaps, and further studies will help to close them.

Since the publication of the Education Report in 2018, two thematically sig-

nificant reports have been issued as part of the education reporting process.

Digitalisierung in der Bildung

(Digitalisation in Education, 2021) is the

first report to summarise the available knowledge about digitalisation in

education. It also highlights gaps in that knowledge. The second in-depth

report,

Sonderpädagogik in der Schweiz

(Special Needs Education in Swit-

zerland, 2021), provides an overview of the legal fundamentals, statistical

data and special needs education measures and services in Switzerland. In

addition, it presents selected research results on measures that have been

taken. These two reports supplement the existing education reporting.

Since the first Education Report in 2010, we have managed to obtain sys-

tematically prepared and reliable information for many areas of the system.

This information is continuously used to develop quality, plan measures

and draw up strategic objectives for the Swiss Education Area. In order to

continuously improve our understanding of the numerous complex causal

relationships in the education system, education reporting will remain

reliant on the sustained efforts of the researchers and their thorough

investigation of the many facets of the Swiss Education Area.

Further developing objectives

in education policy

In-depth reports supplement

education reporting

Continuously improving reporting

through joint efforts

We would like to thank everyone who was involved in compiling this report.

Berne, March 2023, Education Monitoring Switzerland

For the report commissioners

Susanne Hardmeier

Secretary General

Swiss Conference of Cantonal

Ministers of Education

Martina Hirayama

State Secretary

State Secretariat for Education,

Research and Innovation

Swiss Education Repor t | 2023

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SKBF | CSRE Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education

BUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 148: Udvalgsrejse til Schweiz i uge 10 - afrapportering og evaluering af rejsen

GENERAL

CONTEXT OF THE

SWISS EDUCATION

SYSTEM

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General context of the swiss education system Introduction

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of three groups of factors with a direct

or indirect impact on all or part of the Swiss education system. The first of

these is demographics, which determines not only the number of school

pupils but also the number of people who finance education via tax on their

income. The second group comprises factors that affect the behaviour and

experiences of children and young people outside school. They outline the

wider context of the needs and requirements of the children and young

people in Swiss schools, which the education system needs to cater for.

The third group includes a series of economic factors. From a fiscal per-

spective, the analysis of these factors shows the scope for investment in

education, while from the perspective of the labour market, it highlights

the requirements placed on the education of the working-age population.

Particular attention is paid to the impact of digitalisation and automation

on the demand for new skills. In a separate new section, selected key fig-

ures will be presented on the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dominated

society, the economy and thus also the education system since 2020. The

potential consequences of the pandemic for education are addressed in the

respective chapters on the individual educational levels.

Demographics

1 Life

expectancy of women

and men, 1981–2021

Data: FSO

Demographic trends belong to the most important factors affecting the

education system. Cyclical fluctuations in the number of students have

a direct influence on the education system, determining in large part the

demand for teachers, classroom space and apprenticeships. Demographic

fluctuations can be accommodated to a certain extent by adjusting class

sizes. Since demographic changes affect the individual educational levels

and types differently, there will be additional analysis of them in the chap-

ters on the educational levels in question.

Years

Population development

Switzerland’s population has almost tripled in size since the start of the

century, reaching over 8.7 million by the start of 2022. Population

development is determined by birth rates and immigration on the one

hand, countered by deaths and emigration on the other. If there are more

births than deaths in a given year, this is called a birth surplus. Increasing

life expectancy has had a positive impact on the birth surplus in recent dec-

ades

(→ figure 1)

, although the rate of increase has slowed considerably since

the turn of the millennium. The excess mortality caused by the COVID-19

pandemic in 2020 only led to a short drop in life expectancy.

The rise in life expectancy means that fewer births are needed per

woman to ensure generation replacement. Population growth and above all

the extent of the fluctuations in growth are determined less by the number

of births and more by net migration, i.e. the difference between immigra-

tion and emigration figures

(→ figure 2)

. However, the number of births per

woman is decisive for education as it has a direct impact on pupil numbers.

1981 1989 1997 2005 2013 2021

Women

Men

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Demographics General

context of the swiss education system

After a baby boom at the start of the new century, 2021, the second year of

the COVID-19 pandemic, saw another rise in birth rates in Switzerland.

The 89,400 live births marked an increase of 4.1% over the previous year

and the highest figure recorded since 1972

(FSO, 2022o).

2 Population

development, 1970–2070

Forecast as from 2021, according to the reference scenario

Data: FSO

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

-20,000

-40,000

-60,000

-80,000

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

2030

2040

2050

2060

2070

Birth surplus

Net migration

Rising migration figures

Net migration over the last two decades has led to a sharp increase in the

proportion of foreign nationals living in Switzerland. At the end of 2021,

some 2.2 million people, or 25.7 % of the total population, did not have

Swiss citizenship

(→ figure 3)

. The introduction of freedom of movement

with the EU in 2002 brought with it not only an increase in the number of

foreign residents in Switzerland but also a change in the composition of the

foreign national population. Whereas most immigrants came from neigh-

bouring countries before the introduction of freedom of movement (1990:

48.5%; 2021: 37.2%), today the proportion of people moving to Switzerland

from the rest of Europe is highest, at 45.4%. The number of people migrat-

ing to Switzerland from outside of Europe remains the lowest figure, but

as a proportion it has doubled since 1990.

3 Foreign

residents in Switzer-

land by nationality, 1990–2021

In thousands

Data: FSO

2021

2010

2000

Ageing population

Fluctuations in the birth rate and changes in life expectancy and net migra-

tion also lead to changes in the age structure of the population. The pro-

portion of older people in the population is currently increasing rapidly

because the baby boomer generation born between 1950 and 1970 are in the

second half of their lives. The proportion of the total population over the

1990

1000

2000

3000

Neighbouring countries

Europe excluding AT, DE, FR, IT

Other countries

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General context of the swiss education system Demographics

age of 65 stood at 19% in 2021 and, according to the forecasts of the Federal

Statistical Office (FSO), will increase to around 27 % by 2070

(→ figure 4)

4 Age

distribution

Age distribution 2021 and 2070, reference scenario

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

94+ years

90–94 years

85–89 years

80–84 years

75–79 years

70–74 years

65–69 years

60–64 years

55–59 years

50–54 years

45–49 years

40–44 years

35–39 years

30–34 years

25–29 years

20–24 years

15–19 years

10–14 years

5–9 years

0–4 years

400,000

200,000

Men 2021

Men 2070

Women 2021

200,000

Women 2070

400,000

Regional differences in the proportion of the young population

The proportion of young people in the total population differs by can-

ton and region.

(→ figure 5)

. The youth quotient measures the propor-

tion of people aged under 20 relative to the working-age population (aged

20– 64). It provides an indication of the financial burden to be borne by

the working population in relation to the school-age population (up to and

including upper-secondary education). On average across Switzerland, the

youth quotient was 32.7 % in 2021, which means that there are approxi-

mately three people of working age for every young person. Youth quo-

tients are often below average in urban and tourist regions; they are above

average in Central, Eastern and French-speaking Switzerland.

5 Youth

quotient by district,

2021

Data: FSO

–

, %

–

,9%

, %

≥

– 3, %

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Demographics General

context of the swiss education system

Family structures and ways of living

Family structures and thus social forms of life have changed considera-

bly over the last forty years: More private households without children

and single-person households have emerged

(→ figure 6)

. In 2020, house-

holds with children under the age of 25 only accounted for a third of all

private households. Couples without children make up a similar propor-

tion of households, although a large proportion of these will either go on

to have children or have children aged over 25. The latter is also a reflection

of the ageing society. The number of single-parent households has risen

continuously over the last 50 years; by 2020, it accounted for 6.4% of pri-

vate households, or around 16% of all households with children and young

people under the age of 25.

The size and composition of households have a direct impact on the risk

of poverty and thus on the children and young people’s life situation. In

Switzerland, about 15% of the total population was at risk of poverty in

2020

(→ figure 7)

. Families with many children and single-parent house-

holds are particularly affected, with over a quarter being at risk of poverty.

By way of comparison, only 6% of working-age couples without children

are at risk of poverty. Families with under-age children are more likely to

be at risk of poverty than families with grown-up children. For single-par-

ent households with children aged between 0 and 17, the risk of poverty is

33.4%; this figure falls to 16.1% when the children are aged 18 to 24. This is

an indication firstly that parents’ income increases as they grow older and

secondly that, after completing their compulsory education, young people

often begin an apprenticeship, thereby taking the pressure off the family

finances with the income that they earn. However, the fact that households

only manage to avert the risk of poverty when the children get older also

means that children and young people are particularly likely to be affected

by poverty during the period of compulsory education.

6 Number

of family households

by household type, 1970–2020

Data: FSO

1,200,000

1,000,000

800,000

600,000

400,000

200,000

2000

2010

1980

1990

2020

1970

Couples without children

Couples with children

Single-parent households

7 Risk

of poverty by household type, 2020

The at-risk-of-poverty figure at under 60% of the median equivalised income

Data: FSO

Overall population

Couples (< 65 years) without children

Couples with children

1 child

2 children

3 or more children

Single-parent households

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

The

risk of poverty

is a relative parameter

that is defined in relation to the available

median equivalised income. Whether a person

is deemed to be at risk of poverty therefore

depends on both their own economic situation

and that of the other people in the country

in question. People with an income (exclud-

ing assets) of less than 60% of the median

equivalised income are deemed to be at risk of

poverty (European Union method). However, if

the threshold for being at risk of poverty were

to be set at 50% of the median equivalised

income (OECD method), the rate would only be

half as high

(FSO, 2021b).

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General context of the swiss education system The

COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland

The COVID-19 pandemic

in Switzerland

The new

coronavirus

(SARS-CoV-2)

is a respiratory disease that is

transmitted primarily via droplets in

the air and via surfaces and hands

(FOPH, 2022).

The new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) caused a pandemic at the start of 2020.

By June 2022, over 3.7 million people had tested positive in Switzerland and

some 13,800 had died as a result of infection with the virus. The first wave

of the pandemic mainly affected people over the age of 80. However, when

the lockdown ordered by the federal government ended in May 2020, the

average age of the infected people fell.

For a long time, children under the age of nine had the lowest infection

rates, although the fact that the disease is often asymptomatic in children

also meant that they were tested less frequently. In the winter of 2021,

infection figures in 0 to 9-year-olds increased because more tests were

conducted in this group and because a vaccine was available for the adult

population. Infection rates in children up to the age of nine were actually

higher than those in 20 to 29-year-olds for a brief period at the end of 2021

(→ figure 8)

8 Infections

with the new coronavirus, March 2020–June 2022

Data: FOPH; calculations: SCCRE

50,000

No. of cases in age group

250,000

No. of cases in overall population

40,000

200,000

30,000

150,000

20,000

100,000

10,000

50,000

Oct.

May

Nov.

Aug.

Oct.

Dec.

Nov.

May

Aug.

Dec.

Mar. 2020

June

Jan. 2021

Mar.

Feb.

June

Jan. 2022

Mar.

Feb.

May

July

Sept.

June

Apr.

Overall population

0–9 years

10–19 years

20–29 years

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Children and young people of school age General

context of the swiss education system

Infection rates were primarily determined by three factors: firstly, by the

measures taken to stem the spread of the virus; secondly, by the type and

frequency of virus mutations that occurred; and thirdly, especially in the

middle phase of the pandemic, by developments in vaccination rates.

The severity of the measures taken to curb the virus’s spread changed

over the course of the pandemic and also differed from region to region. It

is depicted in a measure called the “stringency index”. This reached an ini-

tial highpoint during the first lockdown in March 2020 and peaked again

in the winter of 2021/2022

(→ figure 9)

9 Severity

of COVID-19

measures (stringency index)

January 2020–June 2022

Data: KOF ETH

Children and young people

of school age

The factors that can influence school learning and development of chil-

dren and young people include physical and mental health and delinquent

behaviour. They relate to the physical and psychological health or the

behaviour of the young people themselves and can have an impact on their

educational path and that of their fellow pupils – for instance if the young

people encounter physical or psychological violence in their environment,

be it by adults or other young people. A particularly significant factor is

bullying, especially cyber-bullying, which is becoming more widespread

as our social lives become increasingly digitalised. This report addresses

the special situation during the COVID-19 pandemic in connection with

psychological health and experiences of violence.

January

2020

January

2021

January

2022

The health of children and young people in Switzerland

Having fallen between 2008 and 2014, the proportion of young people

who take regular exercise has been increasing again since then. In 2020,

children and young people exercised for one hour longer per week on aver-

age than in 2014. Around half of the children and young people also exer-

cised outside of school sports, and almost a third of them for longer than

the recommended hour per day

(Lamprecht et al., 2021).

One aspect of children and young people’s health that receives a lot of

attention is their weight. The proportion of children and young people who

are overweight increases with age. Between 2010 and 2021, the proportion

of overweight children fell at the lower and middle levels and no signifi-

cant change was visible at the upper level

(Stamm et al., 2021)

(→ figure 10)

A total of 17.2% of all pupils were overweight in 2021, and around a quar-

ter of those were classed as obese. From the middle level onwards, there

are slightly more overweight children and young people in urban than in

rural areas. A migration background and low socioeconomic status are also

risk factors. Although there is a negative correlation between being over-

weight and school performance, the link is not causal.

The

stringency index

documents the

stringency of the COVID-19 measures over time,

with the scale ranging from 0 = no measures

to 100 = total lockdown. It is made up of the

following metrics: school closures, workplace

closures, cancellation of public events, restric-

tions on public gatherings, closures of public

transport, stay-at-home requirements, restric-

tions on internal movements, international trav-

el controls and public information campaigns

(KOF ETH, 2022).

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General context of the swiss education system Children

and young people of school age

Psychological health

According to latest FSO figures, 85% of the total population over the age of

15 describe themselves as happy, but 11% have symptoms of moderate and

4% symptoms of severe psychological stress

(FSO, 2022f ).

However, data

on the psychological health of children and young people is not collected

systematically in Switzerland. In the HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-

aged Children) study, 87 % of children and young people indicated that

their level of life satisfaction is high to very high, which approximately cor-

responds to the levels seen in surveys of the adult population

(Ambord et

al., 2020).

Between 2002 and 2018, however, the proportion of 11 to 15-year-

olds who regularly suffered from at least two psycho-affective disorders

rose from 27.4 to 34.3%

(→ figure 11)

. Girls were consistently more strongly

affected than boys, and the level to which the participants were affected

increased as they got older.

Whereas the suicide rate in adults is on the decline, it remains stable

among adolescents. At 3.7 per 100,000, it is above the European average

(Berger et al., 2021).

Data on suicidal ideation and suicide attempts is not

collected systematically in Switzerland, but a significant increase in the

use of emergency services has been recorded. In a study by the University

of Lausanne, 9% of all children and young people surveyed reported that

they had already attempted suicide at least once

(Barrense-Dias et al., 2021).

Psychological problems in children and young people can be causally

attributed to increased internet usage

(Donati et al., 2022).

For example,

internet access among children and young people around the turn of the

millennium led to an increase in diagnoses of depression, anxiety, drug

abuse, personality disorders and self-injury in both genders as well as eat-

ing and sleeping disorders in girls. This was in comparison with children

and young people who did not yet have internet access in the same period.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown placed a specific

burden on people’s psychological health

(Schuler et al., 2022; Stocker et al.,

2021).

Children, adolescents and young adults reported that their stress lev-

els had increased due to the impact on their social lives and leisure activi-

ties and the uncertainty as to how long the state of emergency would last

(Mohler-Kuo et al., 2021).

Most vaccinated young people perceived the cer-

tificate requirement introduced in 2021 to be a relief, while the unvacci-

nated ones more frequently experienced it as a burden

(de Quervain et al.,

2021).

There are practically no representative studies comparing the psy-

chological health of children and young people in Switzerland before and

during the lockdown as almost all studies were started only at the outbreak

of the pandemic or are based on small, non-representative random sam-

ples. It is too early to evaluate the potential long-term effects. Now it is a

question of waiting to see how it settles down as the general health situa-

tion continues to normalise and the measures are lifted.

10 Proportion

of overweight

and obese children

Comparison between 2010 and 2021

Data:

Stamm et al. (2021)

25%

20%

15%

10%

2010

2014

Girls

2021

Lower

level

Middle

level

Upper

level

Obese

Overweight

Classes 1–3 were categorised as lower level,

classes 5–7 as middle level and classes 10–11

as upper level (class numbering according to

HarmoS classification). The study used data

from the cantons AG, BS, GE, GR, JU, LU, OW,

SG and UR and the cities of Berne, Fribourg,

Winterthur and Zurich.

11 Children

with psycho-

affective problems, 2002–2018

Proportion of 11 to 15-year-olds who stated

that they had experienced at least two chronic

psycho-affective disorders in the last six

months

Data:

Ambord et al. (2020)

45%

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

2002

2006

Boys

2010

2018

1 These include: sadness/despondency, irritability/ bad mood, nervousness, difficulties getting

to sleep, tiredness, anxiety/worries, anger/rage

(Ambord et al., 2020).

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Children and young people of school age General

context of the swiss education system

Domestic violence

An increase has been observed in the proportion of children affected by

domestic violence in Switzerland since 2009

(→ figure 12)

. Girls are more

frequently affected as they grow older; the correlation with age is less

clear in boys. It is difficult to estimate the extent to which children are

affected as the number of unreported cases is likely to be high.

(Baier et

al., 2022; FOGE, 2020).

Children who live in a violent environment are

subject to increased psychological stress even if they themselves are not

direct victims of the violence. This may express itself in the form of sleep

or attention deficit disorders or learning difficulties or in the impaired

development of their self-image or social skills

(FOGE, 2020).

According

to non-representative studies, a third of children have already experienced

violence against themselves at home

(Brüschweiler et al., 2021)

and a fifth

have witnessed violence between their parents

(Baier et al., 2018).

It is difficult to gauge how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted

the frequency of domestic violence. Studies investigating the effect of the

pandemic on the incidence of domestic violence in Switzerland have not

produced clear results

(Baier, 2020; Baier et al., 2022; Baier & Kamenowski,

2021).

Official statistics do not show a noticeable increase in the number of

reported cases, even though victim support centres, helplines and women’s

shelters reported more frequent use of their services during the pandemic

(FOGE, 2021; Pro Juventute, 2021).

That said, a longitudinal study based

on survey data from Switzerland showed a significant increase in the rates

of domestic violence committed by young men aged around 22 years old

(Steinhoff et al., 2021).

The rise in the number of people seeking support

due to domestic violence could be attributable to the fact that stress factors

such as financial worries, problems with addiction or the double burden of

working from home and looking after children increased during the pan-

demic and especially during the lockdown

(Baier, 2020; FOGE, 2021).

is unclear, however, whether the increased use of support services was

related to a genuine surge in rates of domestic violence or merely to a rise

in the demand for support services.

12 Domestic

violence

by parents, 2009–2019

Occurrence rate (number of victims per

100,000 children of the same age), by gender

and age

Data: FSO

Occurrence rate in boys

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019

< 10 years old

10–14 years old

15–17 years old

Occurance rate in girls

Media use and cyber-bullying

The use of digital media is playing an ever-increasing role both at school

and in pupils’ free time. During the week, young people use the internet

for an average of two hours per day, and this figure rises to three hours a

day at weekends

(Süss et al., 2020).

However, the variance in the figures

is high. Most time is spent on social networks or using the internet for

entertainment purposes. Only as young people grow older does their use of

the internet for information procurement increase. During the COVID-19

pandemic, the amount of time spent on the internet rose to almost six

hours per day on average, with just over three hours of this time being

used for school and the rest for private purposes.

More frequent media use does not only affect the way young people

interact socially; it also means that bullying increasingly takes place in the

virtual sphere. In comparison with other countries, the overall proportion

of children and young people who experience bullying more than once a

month is high in Switzerland

(Erzinger et al., 2019).

Both forms of bullying,

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019

< 10 years old

10–14 years old

15–17 years old

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General context of the swiss education system Children

and young people of school age

i.e. in the physical and virtual spheres, are now more or less equally fre-

quent

(Hermida, 2019).

The proportion of children and young people who

have experienced particularly severe cases of (cyber-)bullying (at least once

a week) stands at roughly 1 to 5% across all ages and school levels

(Erzinger

et al., 2019; Hermida, 2019).

According to the JAMES study (

Jugend, Aktiv-

itäten, Medien – Erhebung Schweiz

[youth, activities, media – survey

Switzerland]), a quarter of young people have already been personally

attacked on the internet and around a sixth have experienced offensive

images or texts being sent about them

(Süss et al., 2020)

(→ figure 13)

A comprehensive meta-study with international data, including data from

Switzerland, shows that boys are more often perpetrators than girls

(Smith

et al., 2019).

Gender ratios are less clear with regard to the victims. In Swit-

zerland, the tendency seems to be that girls more frequently fall victim to

both classic and cyber-bullying

(Ambord et al., 2020; Hermida, 2019; Süss

et al., 2020).

Girls are affected by sexual harassment and the distribution of

offensive and incorrect statements on the internet almost twice as often as

boys. Bullying and cyber-bullying can have severe effects on the victims’

mental health. As a result, those affected report depression, anxiety, low

self-esteem and suicidal thoughts more frequently than those who are not

affected

(Baier et al., 2018; Takizawa et al., 2014).

13 Experience

of cyber-bullying, by gender

Proportion of 12 to 19-year-olds who have been a victim of cyber-bullying at least once

Data:

Süss et al. (2020)

Distribution of false or offensive information

on the internet

Sending of offensive images and texts

Personal attacks online

Unwanted verbal contact by a stranger with

sexual intentions

Putting photos or videos online without

consent

Girls

10%

20%

Boys

30%

40%

50%

60%

The influence of lockdown and distance learning on cyber-bullying has

not yet been fully clarified. Studies from the US noted that cyber-bully-

ing and classic forms of bullying decreased during this period. The rea-

son for this is suspected to be the lack of personal interaction during the

phase of restrictions. An argument in favour of this is that cyber-bullying

very rarely occurs independently of real-world bullying

(Bacher-Hicks et al.,

2021).

A survey-based study conducted in Switzerland found that, although

fewer young people were affected by cyber-bullying during the lockdown,

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Children and young people of school age General

context of the swiss education system

rates were higher after the schools reopened than they had been before the

lockdown

(Baier & Kamenowski, 2021).

Juvenile delinquency

Statistically recorded severe delinquency in young people, i.e. cases which

led to a conviction, has stabilised since the year 2010

(→ figure 14)

, particu-

larly as a result of the decline in criminal offences committed by young

people with migration backgrounds

(FSO, 2022l).

If one looks at the

proportion of delinquents per 100,000 of the same age group (occurrence

rates), the following picture emerges: the occurrence rate increases as the

young people grow older and reaches a highpoint in late adolescence (15–17

years of age), before falling again in adulthood. Male adolescents are four

times more likely to be delinquent their female counterparts

(Baier, 2019b;

FSO, 2022l).

Proportionately speaking, in the year 2000, twice as many for-

eign national adolescents were delinquent as Swiss adolescents; from 2010,

the proportion was only 1.2 times higher. The convergence was much more

evident in boys; in girls, the difference between foreign national and Swiss

adolescents was small to begin with. The reasons for the convergence in the

occurrence rates of delinquency in Swiss and foreign national adolescents

have not yet been empirically investigated.

14 Convicted

adolescents, 1999–2021

Convicted Swiss and foreign national adolescents (B or C permit) living in Switzerland;

occurrence rate (number of convicted people per 100,000 adolescents of the same age)

Data: FSO

350

300

Occurance rate

250

200

150

100

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

The data up to 2019 only includes convictions

under the Swiss Criminal Code (StGB), the

Swiss Narcotics Act (BetmG), the Federal Act

on Foreign Nationals (AIG) and crimes or mis-

demeanours under the Road Traffic Act (SVG);

from 2020 onwards, all convictions under the

Youth Crime Act (JStG) are taken into account.

Swiss adolescents

Foreign national adolescents (B or C permit)

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General context of the swiss education system The

economy and the labour market

Potential explanations for delinquent behaviour among adolescents include

socioeconomic and cultural background, criminality in the adolescents’

environment (e.g. contact with delinquent friends or experience of vio-

lence at home) and individual personality traits and behaviours, such as

low self-control and alcohol or drug consumption

(Baier, 2019b; Ribeaud,

2015).

These factors can have a mutual effect on one another. Delinquency

and school success also have a reciprocal relationship: studies have shown,

for example, that delinquency correlates with a negative school climate,

poor school performance, difficulties with social behaviour (especially

bullying) and regular truancy

(Rabold & Baier, 2007; Reinecke & Stemmler,

2016; Ribeaud, 2015).

The economy and the labour market

Growth rates stable despite crises

Economic development over the last two decades has been marked by three

large cycles, which Switzerland has by and large followed

(→ figure 15)

. The

first cycle began with the recession after the dot-com crash on the finan-

cial markets and the terror attacks of 11 September 2001. A short phase of

growth was followed by the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 and then a

fiscal crisis that led to a further slump in the eurozone. This slump, how-

ever, did not have an impact on Switzerland

(FSO, 2015b).

Following the

recovery in the global economy, the upturn ended with the declines that

were triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020. Even though

the recession was restricted to the first year of the pandemic in most coun-

tries, the slump was so sharp almost everywhere that the subsequent

recovery was not sufficient for production to return to pre-pandemic lev-

els by 2022. The recovery was jeopardised again in 2022, on the one hand

by further COVID-19-related interventions in economic life in China and

the resulting supply chain bottlenecks, and on the other by the upheavals

on the commodity markets brought about by Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

15 Growth

rate of GDP

per capita, 2000–2021

Data: OECD

-2%

-4%

-6%

-8%

2000

2005

2010

2015

USA

2020

Switzerland

Eurozone

Government borrowing at a consistently low level

The economic cycles of the last two decades, particularly the financial and

subsequent fiscal crisis as well as the economic downturn caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic, have had a negative effect on government debt. A

pattern of hysteresis has been observed in almost all countries. This means

that in every crisis, government debt exceeds the level of the previous cri-

sis and during the phases of economic recovery it never returns to the level

of the previous recovery phase. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Switzer-

land was an exception to this pattern as it had found a way of preventing

continuous growth in government borrowing with the “debt brake”. Swit-

zerland’s government debt is consistently low in an international compar-

ison

(→ figure 16)

. Measured in terms of GDP, it stood at just under 45%

in 2020. In the environment of historically low interest rates since the

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The economy and the labour market General

context of the swiss education system

financial and euro crises, government debt has not had a tangible effect on

the ability of countries to act as servicing the debt was very cheap. How-

ever, rising inflation and, consequently, interest rates will significantly

restrict many countries’ capacity to act because a rapidly growing portion

of government revenues have to be used to service the debt, which is also

likely to have a detrimental effect on educational expenditure.

16 Government

debt,

2006–2020

As a proportion of GDP

Data: OECD

200%

180%

Cantonal fluctuations in educational expenditure

The significance of government revenue for education in Switzerland is

apparent from the fact that some 17.4% of total public spending went on

education in 2019. Not all cantons are equally affected, however,

(→ figure 17)

which can be explained by both their different economic output and

their educational offering. For example, the Canton Fribourg spends

most on education when measured both in terms of cantonal GDP and

total government spending, not least because it operates its own univer-

sity (which also generates revenues, however). At the other end of the

spectrum is the Canton Zug, whose educational expenditure is in upper

mid-table in relation to government spending but makes up relatively little

of its economic output thanks to the canton’s high GDP.

160%

140%

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

2006

2010

2012

2008

2014

2018

2016

2020

Switzerland

Austria

France

Germany

Italy

OECD

17 Educational

expenditure by canton, 2019

Expenditure as a proportion of government spending and GDP, with the average for all cantons

(green line)

Data: FSO

35%

33%

Proportion of total cantonal spending

31%

29%

27%

25%

23%

21%

19%

17%

15%

10%

Proportion of cantonal GDP

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General context of the swiss education system The

economy and the labour market

Stable labour market situation despite pandemic

According to the ILO,

the unemployed

are

defined as permanent residents between the

ages of 15 to 74 who were without a job, have

been actively seeking work and are available

to start work

(FSO, 2022p).

Switzerland managed to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

quickly and effectively, not least thanks to generous government support

measures (e.g. short-time working compensations or bans on debt collec-

tion). According to the ILO (International Labour Organisation) definition,

unemployment was 4.6% in Switzerland in the first quarter of 2022, hav-

ing fallen below the four-percent mark before the pandemic. It reached a

high of 5.8% during the pandemic in the first quarter of 2021

(FSO, 2022p).

A similar picture emerges at a slightly higher level for the entire EU, where

the unemployment rate shrank from 7.8% in the first quarter of 2021 to

6.5% in the first quarter of 2022. The difference in the unemployment rate

is more marked among young people; in Switzerland, it fell from 8.8 to 7.2%

within a year up to the first quarter of 2022, whereas in the EU, despite a

sharp decline, it stood at 14% at the same point in time.

The fact that education continues to provide effective protection against

unemployment is demonstrated by the differences in unemployment rates

by education level. Unemployment is highest among people who only

completed compulsory education

(→ figure 18)

. The rate has risen contin-

uously since 2008, reaching a high of 9.8% in 2016. The unemployment

rate among people with an upper-secondary level qualification is signifi-

cantly lower, if slightly higher than among those with tertiary-level educa-

tion. An upper-secondary level qualification therefore provides good pro-

tection against unemployment, albeit not as good as a tertiary qualification.

18 Unemployment

rate by education level, 2005–2021

Unemployment rate according to ILO (25 to 64-year-olds)

Data: FSO

12%

10%

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

Tertiary level

2021

Compulsory education

Upper-secondary

Only those aged 25 to 64 are displayed, as younger people have often not yet completed their

education and those over 64 are usually no longer in employment. Due to a change in the survey

method, there is a break in the time series in the years 2010 and 2021.

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The economy and the labour market General

context of the swiss education system

High employment rate but low degrees of employment

A country with a low unemployment rate does not automatically have

to have a high employment rate as people can withdraw from the labour

market either temporarily or permanently. Besides low unemployment,

Switzerland also has one of the highest employment rates in Europe; the

2021 figure of 83.7 % was around 10 percentage points above the European

average. However, this high employment rate partially conceals a very

high rate of partial employment – the second highest in Europe. As a result,

despite the regular working hours for a full-time position being high, aver-

age weekly working hours per person in Switzerland are among the lowest

in the OECD countries

(→ figure 19)

19 Partial

employment rate and average weekly working hours

Data: OECD

40%

35%

Rate of part-time employment

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

Switzerland

Part-time work

According to the OECD, anyone who works less

than 30 hours a week at their main place of

work is deemed to be in part-time employment

(OECD, 2016a).

This means that in Switzerland,

a person’s degree of employment would have to

be less than around 75% for them to be classed

as part-time.

Working time (hours per week)

Relatively equal income distribution

A further result of good educational levels that are equally distributed

throughout the population is an equal income distribution. In contrast to

many other countries, the equality of income distribution has remained

relatively stable in Switzerland over recent decades. Before taxes and trans-

fers, Switzerland is in third position among the OECD countries in terms

of equality of income distribution, after Iceland and Slovakia

(→ figure 20)

Even though Switzerland is only in mid-table after taxes and transfers, the

very equal income distribution before taxes and transfers means that the

amount of redistribution required to achieve high income equality is much

lower than in other countries

(Avenir Suisse, 2013).

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General context of the swiss education system The

economy and the labour market

Digitalisation leading to changes on the labour market

20 Gini

coefficients

of income distribution, 2018

Data: OECD

Slovakia

Czech Republic

Iceland*

Slovenia

Belgium

Norway

Denmark

Finland

Sweden

Austria

Hungary

Poland

Germany

Ireland

Netherlands

France

Canada

Estonia

Greece

Switzerland

Portugal

Luxembourg

Australia

Italy

Spain

Japan

South Korea

Israel

Romania

Latvia

Lithuania

USA

Turkey

France

Italy

Japan

Turkey

Canada

Spain

Hungary

Greece

Spain

USA

Netherlands

Australia

Austria

Estonia

Switzerland

Israel

Ireland

Luxembourg

Greece

South Korea

Portugal

Romania

Germany

Portugal

South Korea

Bulgaria

Estonia

Japan

Poland

Switzerland

Israel

Mexico

UK Italy

Digitalisation, which is often referred to as the fourth industrial revo-

lution, is having a major impact on the process of structural change and

is also changing the labour market both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Unlike earlier waves of technological progress, the additional potential for

automation that digitalisation provides is mainly affecting services rather

than manual activities. OECD calculations assume that an estimated 9

to 14% of all jobs have high potential for automation, i.e. there is a high

risk that work that was previously performed by humans will be done by

machines

(Georgieff & Milanez, 2021).

However, digitalisation also creates

new employment opportunities, so that on a net basis, structural change

does not automatically have to lead to fewer jobs being available

(Bughin

et al., 2018; OECD, 2021b).

There are forecasts for Switzerland which state

that, in retail and wholesale, manufacturing, finance, insurance and trans-

portation and storage, more jobs will be lost than new ones created due to

digitalisation

(→ figure 21)

. The biggest increase in jobs is expected in the

areas of technical and scientific services and healthcare

(Bughin et al., 2018).

0.6

0.4

Other

-60% -40% -20%

Replaced jobs

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0.2

0.4

0.6

Latvia 0.2

Bulgaria

Turkey

USA

Mexico

Costa Rica

0.2

0.4

0.6

Before taxes and transfers

After taxes and transfers

transfers

* Data from 2017

The

Gini coefficient

shows the extent of

income inequality on a scale of 0 to 1.

A coefficient of 0 expresses perfect equality –

everyone has the same income. 1 expresses

maximum inequality – one person has all

the income

(FSO, 2020g).

Costa Romania

Rica

Australia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Latvia

The diagram shows the proportion of jobs that will be added or replaced in the various sectors

due to automation by 2030 (reference year: 2014). The researchers studied how the activities

performed can be automated with currently available technologies. In addition, the distribution

of new technologies was modelled using the adoption speeds of earlier technologies. Matte

colours depict the scenario with a high degree of automation.

Costa Rica

Lithuania

Bulgaria

Before taxes and transfers

After taxes and transfers

21 Jobs

replaced and created by automation by 2030, by industry

Data:

Bughin et al. (2018)

Retail and wholesale

Production

Healthcare

Administration

Techn. and scient. services

Education

Construction

Finance and insurance

Transportation and storage

Hospitality and food service

Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting

New jobs

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The economy and the labour market General

context of the swiss education system

Alongside quantitative shifts between the professions and sectors, digi-

talisation and automation are also leading to a change in the required

skills in almost all professions. In addition to technological skills, soft

skills such as problem-solving, ability to work in a team and creativity are

becoming more and more important

(Bughin et al., 2018; OECD, 2021a).

Whereas in previous phases of industrialisation it was primarily routine

activities in manual fields that were replaced through the mechanisation of

work processes, digitalisation is mainly eliminating routine activities of a

cognitive nature. This process has already been under way for several dec-

ades and has led to a constant expansion of non-routine cognitive activi-

ties

(→ figure 22)

. The process is likely to continue in the coming years and

will have consequences both for the labour market mobility of workers and

for the education system. Whereas in past decades, many manual workers

were able to improve their salaries by switching to professions involving

routine cognitive activities, this path is only open to a limited extent now.

At the same time, a switch from routine or non-routine manual activities

to non-routine cognitive activities is generally only possible with addi-

tional education, which explains the increasing tertiarisation of the edu-

cation sector in particular.

22 Change

in work activities between 1993 and 2021

Share of activity among employed people

Data: FSO; calculations: Christian Gschwendt, University of Bern

0.6

0.5

Share of activity

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

2001

2005

2011

2003

2009

2013

2015

2017

2007

2019

1993

1995

1997

1999

2021

Routine cognitive activity

Non-routine cognitive activity

Routine manual activity

Non-routine manual activity

The analysis studied 436 different professions which each encompass 2–14 different activities.

In turn, these were divided into four activity categories.

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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COMPULSORY

EDUCATION

CROSS-CUTTING THEMES

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Compulsory education

Organisation of compulsory education

Compulsory education comprises the primary level – including kinder-

garten or the first two years of an entry level – and lower-secondary level.

According to the International Standard Classification for Education

(ISCED 2011), the first and second years at primary level: pre-school or

the first two years of a first learning cycle correspond to ISCED Level 0.20

(pre-primary education), school years 3 to 8 are ISCED Level 1 (primary

education) and school years 9 to 11 are at ISCED Level 2 (lower secondary

education)

(UNESCO et al., 2016).

The duration of compulsory education

is therefore set at 11 years and divided into three cycles

(→ figure 23)

23 Organisation

of compulsory education

Comment on German-speaking Switzerland:

Lehrplan 21

is divided into cycles.

Data: EDK-IDES

School years

As per HarmoS Agreement

German-speaking Switzerland

French-speaking Switzerland

Ticino

Cycle 1

Cycle 2

Cycle 3

Kindergarten

Cycle primaire 1

Scuola dell'infanzia

Primarschule

Cycle primaire 2

Scuola elementare

Sekundarstufe I

Cycle secondaire

Scuola media

Cantons are responsible for compulsory education. They are responsible

for the curricula, set the timetable and determine the teaching resources.

The Federal Constitution, however, obliges the cantons to provide a high

quality and accessibility of the Swiss Education Area in conjunction with

the Confederation and to harmonise important targets and structures

nationwide

. One of the instruments in achieving this constitutional

target is the joint education-policy initiated targets that the Confedera-

tion and cantons want to manage in a coordinated manner

(EAER & EDK,

2019).

The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)

has also defined how the harmonisation mandate is to be implemented

with the Intercantonal Agreement on Harmonisation of Compulsory Edu-

cation

(EDK, 2007).

It was determined, for example, that the harmonisa-

tion of curricula and coordination of teaching resources will be at the lin-

guistic region level. The conferences in the different linguistic regions are

responsible for this. The German-Speaking Swiss Conference of Cantonal

Ministers of Education (D-EDK) established in 2011 – a merger of the

regional conferences of Eastern, North-western and Central Switzer-

land as well as the Principality of Liechtenstein – was dissolved again fol-

lowing the successful introduction of

Lehrplan 21

at the end of 2018. The

three regional conferences (EDK-Ost, NW EDK, BKZ) and the Princi-

pality of Liechtenstein still harmonise certain areas relevant for compul-

sory education (

Lehrplan 21

competence centre, Databank

Lehrplan.ch

Art. 61a para. 1 FC and Art. 62 FC

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Compulsory education

educational television)

(D-EDK, 2018).

The French-speaking cantons and

Canton Ticino, which form the

Conférence intercantonale de l’ instruction

publique de la Suisse romande et du Tessin

(CIIP), continued the imple-

mentation of the

Convention scolaire romande

during the 2020 – 2023 man-

agement period, by proceeding with the creation of the western Switzer-

land teaching resources (

moyens d’enseignement romands [MER]

) on the

basis of

the Plan d’ études romand

(PER)(CIIP,

2021a, 2021b).

The EDK also

regularly sets priorities at national level. From 2021–2024, the focus is on

equality in education and digitalisation in the education system. Both sub-

jects are attributed particular significance due to the Covid-19 pandemic

(EDK, 2021c).

Compulsory education in figures

Schools operating in the compulsory education segment were attended

by approximately 976,000 pupils (2020/21 school year), or 58% of the

entire pupil population from the start of the primary through to the ter-

tiary level. A good 94% of children and adolescents attend a public school

at no cost, 4.5% attend a private institution without cantonal subsidies

(→ Private school, private tuituion and homeschooling, page 49).

the 976,000 pupils, 1% attend a special needs class and 2% a special school

class

(→ Special needs education, page 38).

Corresponding to the high

number of pupils in compulsory education, 62,846 teachers work in state

schools full-time equivalent (FTE), which corresponds to 97,339 persons

in absolute figures

(→ figure 24)

. Given the large number of pupils, about

43% of all state education expenditure is accounted for at this level (includ-

ing special schools).

24 Compulsory

education

in figures, 2020/21 school year

Information on the teachers and school

management: public schools;

repetitions: regular classes in public schools

Data: FSO (LABB)

number of pupils

–11

school year total

–2

school year

–8

school year

–11

school year

976,105

181,082

530,230

264,793

educational pathways

For the first time it is possible to map the entire individual educational

paths for a cohort of pupils during compulsory education using individual

data

(FSO, 2021l).

Available data enables tracking over nine years of the

cohort that started the 3

school year at primary level in 2012/13. Of

these about 70,000 pupils, 91% achieved a linear educational trajectory

without repetition up to the end of the primary level and 6.5% repeated a

year. About 2% attended a special needs class or special school at the end

of primary school. Of the children who had already repeated a year at pri-

mary level, 3% repeated again at lower-secondary level.

Eight

years later,

86% of the cohort attended the 11

school year (mainstream class) and 11% in

total repeated at least one school year

(→ figure 25)

. The longitudinal data for

compulsory education show overall that foreign nationals, pupils from

French-speaking Switzerland and children of low socio-economic status

repeat more frequently

(FSO, 2021l).

In future it will be possible for this

cohort and others to make observations about post-compulsory education.

Personnel (FTe) 1

–11

school year

Teaching staff

Special education staff

School management

62,846

8,746

3,394

Repetitions

–2

school year

–8

school year

–11

school year

2.7%

1.2%

2.6%

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Compulsory education

25 Educational

pathway during compulsory education

Cohort that started the 3

school year in 2012/13; observation after

eight

years in the 2020/21 school

year Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Total

Migrationstatus

Swiss, non-foreign-language-speaking

Swiss, foreign-language-speaking

Foreigners, non-foreign-language-speaking

Foreigners, foreign-language-speaking

Gender

Boys

Girls

Language region

D-CH

F-CH

IT-CH

school year

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Sec II

100%

school year

Special needs class

Special school

Foreign programme

Development of pupil numbers and pupil forecasts

Pupil numbers in compulsory schooling have risen consistently since 2011.

According to the 2021–2031 reference scenario, growth is ongoing across

all levels: a 9% increase is expected for the first and second school years

(to 192,600 pupils) and a 10% increase in the third to eighth school years

(to 558,300 pupils). The relatively strong growth at lower-secondary level

(+ 14% to 279,100) is due to the large number of primary school pupils from

earlier strong cohorts only transferring to lower-secondary level in these

years

(→ figure 26)

. By cantonal comparison, the forecasts vary greatly in

the area of compulsory schooling

(FSO, 2021k).

While average growth of

plus 10% is expected for the Swiss, the forecasts for the individual cantons

vary from minus 3% (Ticino) to plus 17 % (Thurgau).

There was an above-average increase in the birth rate in Switzerland

during the pandemic

(→ chapter General context of the swiss education

system, page 9).

In 2021, births were higher than at any time since the

1970s. This will filter through to the number of school-age children by

2025/26 at the latest. The rising pupil numbers in compulsory education

will impact demand for teachers at all levels in the coming years

(→ chap-

ter Universities of teacher education, page 285).

It is uncertain whether it

will be possible to employ more teachers – in spite of their already being in

short supply in many places – or whether the rising number of pupils can

be absorbed into larger classes. The resulting costs for the education system

will depend on whether it is the former or the latter outcome.

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Compulsory education

Harmonisation

The joint education policy goals of the Confederation and cantons

(EAER & EDK, 2019)

comprise the following areas for harmonisation of

compulsory education: starting age, compulsory schooling, duration

of education levels and transitions and national education targets. At

the cantonal level, the HarmoS Agreement regulates

(EDK, 2007)

their

implementation and contains details about the duration of school levels,

language teaching and national education targets. By 2010 – one year fol-

lowing the coming into force of the agreement – fifteen cantons have joined

(→ figure 27)

. This number has not changed over the past 12 years.

In 2019, the EDK evaluated the progressive harmonisation of the struc-

ture and targets for all the cantons for the second time

(EDK, 2019a).

reported in the first assessment in 2015, 17 cantons incorporated the two

years of kindergarten or the first two years of an entry level cycle into

compulsory schooling. The other cantons broadened the mandatory offer

in kindergarten or brought forward the cut-off date for starting school

to 31 July. While the primary level in Switzerland is six to eight years

and secondary school lasts a standard three years

, the main intercan-

tonal differences still arise in the first two school years at primary level

(→ chapter Primary school level, page 53).

To ensure the high quality of the Swiss Education Area, practically

all the cantons, regardless of whether they have joined the HarmoS

Agreement, have approved legal fundamentals to secure and promote the

quality of compulsory schooling. While external evaluation as such is not

so established in French-speaking Switzerland, cantonal performance

tests (

épreuves communes, épreuves cantonales or épreuves de référence

)

are common.

The cantons in German-speaking Switzerland ensure qual-

ity mainly through a combination of in-school quality management, exter-

nal school evaluation and school supervision

(EDK-IDES, 2021a).

In recent

years, different cantons have realigned the external evaluation, for exam-

ple as focus evaluation whereby a selected quality area is evaluated, such

as school management, the special needs offering or promotion of inter-

disciplinary competencies

(→ figure 28)

. Two thirds of German-speaking

cantons are members of the

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Externe Evaluation von

Schulen

(argev), which supports the cantons in developing external school

evaluation and quality assurance

(argev, 2020).

26 Forecasts

for pupil numbers

in compulsory education

Reference scenario; index value 100: year 2020

Data: FSO

120

110

Index value (relative development)

100

2010

2000

2005

1990

2015

1995

2030

2020

2025

Primary 1–2

Primary 3–8

Sec I

27 Accession

to the

HarmoS Agreement

As of June 2022

Data: EDK-IDES

■

Accession decided

Beitritt beschlossen

Accession rejected

Beitritt abgelehnt

Accession pending

Beitritt offen

2 With the exception of Canton Ticino, which has the four-year

Scuola media

(HarmoS

Concordat, Art. 4)

3 Cantons Geneva and Waadt generate data which can be used for the quality assurance

processes. In the French-speaking part of Canton Fribourg, the introduction of external eval-

uation is planned.

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Compulsory education

linguistic-regional curricula

28 External

evaluation for quality

management

Data:

EDK-IDES (2021)

external evaluation

External evaluation

or focus evaluation

AG, AR, GL, GR, LU,

NW, OW, SO, TG,

UR, ZG, ZH

BE-d, BL, FR, SG,

SH, SZ

AI, BE-f, BS, GE, JU,

NE, TI, VD, VS-d,

VS-f

Suspended following

pilot phase

None

29 Introduction

of the curricula

for the different linguistic

regions

Data: BKZ (2019); CIIP (2013)

Start of introduction

2011/12

Cantons

BE-f, FR-f, GE, JU,

NE, VD, VS-f

BL, BS, TI

AR, GL, LU, NW,

OW, SG, SZ, TG, UR

AI, BE-d, GR, SO,

VS-d, ZH

FR-d, SH, ZG

2015/16

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

Since 2023, the introduction of linguistic-regional curricula has also been

completed in German-speaking Switzerland. While the

Plan d ’ études

romand

(PER) was incrementally introduced in the French-speaking

regions as early as 2011, the Ticino curriculum

(Piano di studio della scuola

dell’obbligo ticinese)

was implemented in 2018/19. Most German-speak-

ing cantons began introducing

Lehrplan 21

in 2017/18 or 2018/19

(→ figure

29)

; it will be in all the cantons by 2022/23.

The introduction did not fol-

low a standard format in all the cantons: barely a quarter of cantons imple-

mented the curriculum simultaneously following a preparatory phase in all

cycles. Whereas in many cantons, the introductory process lasted for three

up to a maximum of six years starting with the 1

cycle.

Unlike German-speaking Switzerland, the CIIP approved clear guide-

lines for the

moyens d’enseignement romands

(MER). There is usually one

teaching resource per subject and level. The school language is an exception:

there is a choice between two teaching resources for the school language

(CIIP, 2021a).

In German-speaking Switzerland, the cantons determine the

teaching resources themselves to a large degree. Individually, the cantons

agreed to the joint use of certain teaching resources. One example is the

Passepartout project. That is the agreement to coordinate foreign language

teaching and the associated teaching resources

(→ chapter Primary school

level, page 53).

In French-speaking Switzerland, changes are already

being made to

Médias, images, technologies de l’ information et de la com-

munication

(MITIC) towards a digital education. Moreover, an Item data-

base (EpRoCom) is being generated that enables the cantons and teachers

to reliably evaluate the competencies underlying PER. An actual impact

analysis of the introduction of the PER curriculum has not hitherto been

possible due to the ongoing development. The introduction process and

framework conditions can voluntarily be evaluated in German-speak-

ing Switzerland. While some cantons (St. Gallen, Uri, Zug) have already

created evaluation reports on the introductory phase, others are at the start

of this process (e.g. Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Graubünden, Schwyz).

With the introduction of

Lehrplan 21

, there was also a convergence of

the cantonal timetables with regard to the teaching time and technical

terms. In 2018, the biggest differences became apparent at primary level

between the cantonal number of periods in

Natur, Mensch, Gesellschaft

(NMS)

and design. At lower-secondary level, the share of cantons where

the number of periods does not correspond to the guideline is greatest

for mathematics and languages (14 or 15 cantons out of 21). The cantonal

technical terms correspond to a large degree to the terms in

Lehrplan 21

(BKZ, 2019).

4 In Cantons Aargau, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Berne, Grisons, Lucerne, Schaff hausen, Solo-

thurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau and Zurich there were initiatives against the introduction of

Lehr-

plan 21;

in Cantons Grisons, Lucerne and St. Gallen, the initiatives did not reach the ballot box

and in the other cantons, they were rejected (status 2021).

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Compulsory education

Verification of the attainment of basic competencies

In 2011, the EDK approved the harmonisation of teaching goals across

the country in its national education standards. These education targets

define the baseline levels that pupils must achieve in the school’s language,

two foreign languages, mathematics and natural sciences at the end of the

fourth, eighth and eleventh school years. The survey of verification of the

attainment of basic competencies (ÜGK) is to determine which share of

pupils actually achieve these basic competencies. In the first survey in the

2015/16 school year, the competencies in mathematics at the end of com-

pulsory schooling were examined, in the second in the 2016/17 school year

it was competencies in the school language and the first foreign language at

the end of the primary school level

(Consortium ÜGK, 2019a, 2019b).

The

work related to the planned ÜGK 2020 and 2022 had to be interrupted and

postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19

(→ figure 30)

30 Surveys

for the verification of the attainment of basic competencies

Status September 2022

Data:

EDK ( 2019a);

chart: SCCRE

School year

school year

2016

ÜGK

Maths

2017

2018

PISA

2019

2020

ÜGK

2021

2022

PISA

2023

ÜGK

2024

2025

PISA

2026

school year

ÜGK

Maths

Yes

school year

Publication

Education report

Maths: Mathematics L1: teaching language L2: first foreign language L3: second foreign language

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Compulsory education

In 2016 62% of pupils acquired the basic competencies in mathematics

across Switzerland, whereby the corresponding cantonal proportions var-

ied markedly between 44% and 83% Only a small part of the major inter-

cantonal differences can be justified by the composition of the pupils

(Consortium ÜGK, 2019a).

In 2017, between 80 and 90% of pupils across

Switzerland achieved the basic competencies in the school language and

first foreign language, whereby the corresponding proportions at cantonal

level are a lot less varied than with mathematics

(→ chapter Primary school

level, page 53;

→

chapter Lower-secondary education, page 83).

This

can partially be explained by the average already being a lot higher

(Con-

sortium ÜGK, 2019b).

Change of canton and school performance

In connection with the structural and target harmonisation of compul-

sory school, the Confederation and cantons aim to ensure the accessibility

of the Swiss education system. Although the cantons have a high degree

of autonomy in compulsory schooling, the approximation will strengthen

shared cornerstones and remove major hurdles to mobility among the

national population

(EDK, 2007).

Only about 1% of pupils in Switzerland

change school canton in a year during the compulsory stage (excluding

transfers to private school or in the context of special needs educational

offerings). It is therefore not clear whether the low number is an expres-

sion of a generally low tendency to move to another canton or due to the

worry that the children could suffer from changing to another school sys-

tem. Switching within a canton is somewhat more common: about 6% of

children change school to a different municipality. Although changing

school across a cantonal border remains rare, the data on the educational

pathways can be combined with the performance data from the ÜGK, ena-

bling an initial analysis of the effects of a change of school. Unlike switch-

ing within a canton, such moves across the cantonal border do not suggest

that dissatisfaction with the school was the reason for moving. This justi-

fies the assumption that the causal effects of moving may be measured by

school performance when switching cantons. International research on the

effect of changing school on performance at school predominantly indi-

cates a negative effect, the evidence is however conflicting

(McMullin et al.,

2020; Schwartz et al., 2017; Voight et al., 2012)

. The studies only occasion-

ally factor in whether the change of school was an endogenous or exoge-

nous factor

(Hanushek et al., 2004).

There is no evidence in Switzerland

of a negative effect on performance from changing school when taking all

pupils into account

(→ figure 31)

. However, the effect of such a switch dif-

fers a lot according to gender. In the case of boys, changing school is asso-

ciated with performance impairments

(→ chapter Lower-secondary edu-

cation, page 83).

31 Performance

in mathematics

in the 11

school year with and

without changing to a school

in a different canton

The performance results are listed as logits

with ÜGK. The higher the Logit value,

the higher the competencies of the pupil.

Data:

(Angelone et al., forthcoming)

0.5

ÜGK-Logits

-0.5

-1

-1.5

Without change

With change

legend

The median of persons who have changed to a

school in a different canton is – 0.2 (blue).

The performance of the middle 50% of pupils

is between – 1.1 and 0.6 (green bar).

5 The majority of the studies are from the USA, where free choice of school and attendance

of private schools are widespread and the school change rate is correspondingly high. Why

children leave a school and which new school is chosen as the target school is therefore not usu-

ally coincidental in this context.

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Compulsory education

language teaching

As regards language teaching, the main key principles are in the national

language strategy approved by the EDK in 2004. These principles form the

basis for the corresponding articles in the HarmoS Agreement

(EDK, 2007)

and in the Federal Act on the National Languages and Understanding

between the Linguistic Communities.

These key principles cover the pro-

motion of the local national language at all school levels, the promotion

of a second national language and another foreign language during com-

pulsory schooling, then the promotion of the first language of pupils with

a migration background through instruction in the native language and

culture and finally the promotion of language exchange with classes from

different linguistic regions. By 2015, 23 of the 26 cantons had implemented

the provision in the languages strategy involving teaching a national lan-

guage and another foreign language to primary level pupils

(EDK, 2015).

The harmonisation has progressed further in the meantime. 24 cantons

are implementing the 5/7 model, i.e. the first foreign language starts in the

school year and the second foreign language in the 7

year of compul-

sory schooling

(→ figure 32)

. The national education targets stipulate that

the same level of competency must be achieved in both languages by the

end of compulsory schooling

(EDK, 2019a).

The ÜGK reviewed achieve-

ment of the basic competencies in the first foreign language at the end of

the primary level

(Consortium ÜGK, 2019b) (→ chapter Primary school

level, page 53).

The review regarding the achievement of the basic com-

petencies at the end of compulsory schooling in 2023 will enable compar-

ison of competencies in both foreign languages.

The HarmoS cantons are committed

to supporting the voluntary

native

language and culture (HSK) teaching

outside the compulsory curriculum,

provided it conforms to religious and

political neutrality

(EDK, 2007).

The organisation and financing is

privately funded (e.g. local entities,

associations). The Confederation

has made its position clear in the

Languages Act, which enables it to

provide funding for cantonal measures

to promote the first language. The

HSK offering is mentioned in the

legislation in 19 cantons. The review

of quality criteria or the neutrality

principle is, however, hardly institu-

tionalised. Individual cantons (such

as Basel-Stadt and Zurich) have a

recognition procedure for sponsoring

bodies

(EDK-IDES, 2022b).

32 Implementation

of the 5/7 model

In 2022

Data: EDK-IDES

Foreign language teaching and instruction time

The introduction of a second foreign language at primary level raises the

question of whether the compulsory school curriculum has become more

language-intensive as a result. The comparison of the number of hours

in a school cohort before and a second following the introduction of the

second foreign language at primary level reveals the following: In 22 of

the 23 cantons evaluated or language-regional cantonal parts

, there was

also an increase in the total number of periods per week following the

introduction of the second foreign language, although the increase in for-

eign languages was partly offset by a reduction in lessons in other subjects

(→ figure 33)

. Nowhere has the introduction of the second foreign language

been compensated solely through reducing hours in the first foreign lan-

guage (e.g. at lower-secondary level) or the school language. However,

as there were minor reductions to the school language overall, the share

of total language teaching (school language and foreign languages) only

increased slightly in the overall school curriculum. The share of language

subjects increased by a mere 2 percentage points in total and comprises

about one third of teaching time before and after the reform. School has

therefore tilted slightly more towards foreign languages through the

Language Act of October 2007

■

National language/English

Landessprache/Englisch

English/French

Englisch/Französisch

Deviation from 5/7vom Modell 5/7

Abweichung model

English from the 3

school year,

French from the 9

school year

UR English from the 5

school year,

French from the 9

school year,

Italian as a compulsory optional subject

from the 7

school year

There is an exception for three foreign

languages as compulsory subjects:

French from the 5

school year,

German from the 9

school year and

English from the 10

school year

7 Due to incomplete information on the period before the reform or due to special circum-

stances (Grisons, Ticino, Uri), not all cantons could be considered.

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Compulsory education

33 Change

in number of weekly periods by subject

Before and after the introduction of the second foreign language; 3

–11

school year accumulated; only compulsory and compulsory optional subjects

of the extended requirements profile considered

Data: EDK-IDES; calculations: SCCRE

Weekly periods

-5

-10

BE-d

VS-d FR-f

BE-f VS-f

FR-d

Foreign languages (L2 and L3)

Teaching language (L1)

Mathematics, natural sciences, geography, history

Music and design

introduction of the second foreign language at primary level, but is only

conditionally more language-intensive

(→ figure 34)

. It is not possible to

evaluate the effect of introducing the second foreign language at primary

level on the competencies of pupils in Switzerland due to a lack of data for

the time preceding the new measure. It is, however, possible to analyse the

influence on education progression following the reform

(→ chapter Low-

er-secondary education, page 83).

School exchange between linguistic regions

The promotion of a school exchange between classes from different lin-

guistic regions is a specified goal of the languages strategy in Switzer-

land

(EDK, 2004)

and enshrined in law at the national level.

In 2017, the

Confederation and cantons also formulated the objective in their strategy

that all young people should participate in at least one exchange during

their education

(EAER, 2017).

In the 2019 declaration, the promotion of

exchange and mobility was accordingly adopted at all education levels as

an educational policy goal

(EAER & EDK, 2019).

To review this objective,

there was an initial and unprecedented nationwide survey of exchanges

among school classes in 2018/19 (earlier surveys formed cantonal quo-

tas at educational levels or were based on estimates). On the whole, 4% of

all classes asked participated in language-regional exchanges during the

year under review. The cantonal exchange quotas were between 0 and 16%

(→ figure 35)

. Participation was restricted almost exclusively to lower-

secondary level, where 11% of classes surveyed participated in an activity

Languages Act, Art. 1 4

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Compulsory education

during the year under review. To achieve the political aim of all pupils tak-

ing part in an exchange once during their compulsory schooling, activities

would have to be trebled. In-depth survey analyses have enabled statements

on the determinants of the language exchange for the first time

(→ figure 36)

Results show that school classes in municipalities that are further away

from the language border have a lower probability of participating in an

exchange. Therefore those classes that come into contact with another lan-

guage and culture on a daily basis tend to have more exchanges. Wherever

contact with another language cannot be spontaneously organised, there

are fewer instances of institutional exchange. Other results indicate une-

qual access opportunities (equity issue). Exchanges were more frequent in

municipalities with few migrants, classes with more girls and with higher

requirements at lower-secondary level

(Albiez & Wolter, 2021).

34 Shares

of subjects

in the school curriculum

Total teaching time (3

–11

school year)

before and after introduction of the second

foreign language

23%

24%

Data: EDK-IDES; calculations: SCCRE

11%

21%

23%

22%

11%

Teaching language (L1)

21%

Foreign languages (L2 and L3)

22%

Natural sciences, geography, history

Music and design

Teaching language (L1)

Foreign languages (L2 and L3)

Mathematics

22%

23%

Natural sciences, geography, history

Music and design

Mathematics

24%

35 Class

exchange ratio during compulsory schooling by canton

No data available: Jura, Lucerne and Zug; not considered due to a low response rate (< 60%):

Bern, Ticino, Thurgau and Zurich

Data:

Albiez & Wolter (2021)

16%

14%

12%

10%

VS UR AR OW NW FR NE VD BS SZ AG SG SH GE GR SO BL

20%

22%

21%

14%

23%

14%

Teaching language (L1)

20%

Foreign languages (L2 and L3)

Mathematics

21%

Natural sciences, geography, history

Music and design

Teaching language (L1)

Foreign languages (L2 and L3)

Mathematics

Natural sciences, geography, history

Music and design

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Compulsory education

education for sustainable development

36 Exchange

ratio

with relevant determinants

Only Sec I considered; controlled for different

background variables; the distance to the

language border and share of migrants is at

the municipal level.

Data:

Albiez & Wolter (2021)

16%

12%

Share of migrants

above vs. below average

Distance from language

border 1 h vs. 0.5 h

25 vs. 75%

girls in the class

Basic vs. expanded

requirements

legend

The exchange ratios of the municipalities one

hour from the language border average out

at 8.2%. The ratio is 14.5% in municipalities

half-an-hour from the language border.

That makes a difference of 6.3 percentage

points (marked blue).

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is part of the state’s edu-

cational provision. It has the objective of promoting the skills needed

to participate in environmentally, socially and economically sustainable

development

(Education21, 2016).

The Federal Council approved Agenda

2030 for sustainable development in September 2015

(Swiss Federal

Council, 2021).

This is based on the resolutions of the UN global sustain-

ability conference and formulates 17 global Sustainable Development

Goals

(UNESCO-Kommission, 2017; United Nations, 2020).

In view of the

increased significance of sustainable development in education, the EDK

sits on additional committees in the 2021–2024 programme period that

deal with sustainability: e.g. the

Beirat Schweizerisches Netzwerk gesund-

heitsfördernder und nachhaltiger Schulen Schulnetz21

(Advisory board

of the Swiss network of health-promoting and sustainable schools). The

ESD-relevant competencies are also integrated in the language-regional

teaching plans, which are now in force across the country. ESD is not seen

as an independent subject, instead it is part of many subjects as a cross-

disciplinary education concept. ESD is listed as a guiding principle in indi-

vidual subjects and in the

Allgemeine Bemerkungen zur Allgemeinbildung

(general observations on general education) (Cycle 1–3); the ESD education

concept is included in

Lehrplan 21

in cross-divisional subjects

(BKZ, 2022).

For example, in recent years work with

Querblicke

(interdisciplinary per-

spectives) has been established for primary level teaching in some can-

tons (Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Lucerne,

Nidwalden, Obwalden, Solothurn and Valais). Various ESD modules in

universities of teacher education instruct the teachers in how to deliver

ESD-based teaching.

Special needs education

Since 1 January 2008 – the date when the

Neugestaltung des Finanz-

ausgleichs und der Aufgabenteilung zwischen Bund und Kantonen

(NFA)

came into force – the cantons have been responsible for special needs edu-

cation in all areas. They are technically, legally and financially responsible

for the special schooling of children and young persons from the age of 0

to 20 years old and for special needs educational measures.

To fulfil this

constitutional mandate, the cantons have specified in Art. 1 of the Inter-

cantonal Agreement on Special Needs Education – the baseline offering for

the education and care of children and young persons with special educa-

tional needs and disabilities. The principle “integration before separation”

applies. 16 cantons have joined the agreement since it came into force

in January 2011. Independently of their accession, all the cantons had to

change the legal bases in the context of the NFA and establish strategic

special needs education concepts. This was not least done against the

background that the cantons have to finance the offerings themselves. In

2019, for example Canton Bern started a review of the Act on State Schools,

which legally regulates the combination of special schooling and main-

stream school education; it came into force in January 2022. The theme is

Art. 62 FC

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Compulsory education

Measure

Curri-

culum

Class

Type

also prominent in the 2021–2024 EDK activity programme

(EDK, 2021c).

And: the Federal Council also wants to commit to inclusive access based on

equality of opportunity to high-quality education in the context of Agenda

2030

(Swiss Federal Council, 2021).

All these efforts are based on focus-

ing on integrative schooling in mainstream schools and classes for chil-

dren and young persons with special educational needs, i.e. a departure

from separate schooling in special schools and classes

(Kummer Wyss, 2012;

Luder et al., 2019; Sahli Lozano et al., 2021).

37 Survey

model on the teaching

types in compulsory education

Percent values for the 2020/21 school year

Data: FSO; figure:

Kronenberg (2021)

93.72

1.20

Special needs education statistics: separation and integration

The modernised statistics on special needs education distinguish between

the separate teaching types in special school classes from the 2017/18

school year and other special needs classes (introductory classes, classes

for speakers of a foreign language and other special needs classes). The

latter belong in the mainstream schools with the mainstream classes. The

2004–2019 statistics show that the number and share of separately taught

pupils (separation ratio) have consistently declined

(FSO, 2020d; Lanners,

2021).

In the 2020/21 school year, 3% of the 976,000 pupils in compul-

sory schooling were in a special needs class (1.2%) or special school class

(1.8%). About 97 % of children and young people attended a mainstream

class (integration ratio) – an increase of 2.1 percentage points over the past

15 years. The modernised special needs education statistics enable the

detailed presentation of the separate forms of schooling. They also allow

the recording of pupil numbers undergoing enhanced special educational

measures and/or an amended curriculum (adjusted learning targets in one,

two or more main subjects)

(FSO, 2020d).

There are 15 schooling variants

(→ figure 37)

derived from the combination of these measures and schooling

typ es. Access to enhanced special needs educational measures is formally

regulated. The individually ordered measures are based on the standard-

ised assessment procedure (SAP)

(EDK, 2014)

or a similar procedure. The

enhanced measures include psychomotor therapy and speech therapy

specific support with visual, hearing and physical impairments, cognitive

disorders or autism. Individual learning goals can be changed (curriculum

adjustment) if a pupil fails or exceeds the learning goals by a large margin

and over an extended period. They can be changed in one or more subjects.

No diagnosis is required for individual learning goals, however a note is

made in the report. Curriculum adjustments do not necessarily involve

supporting measures. Relevant literature refers to the risk when curric-

ulum adjustments are made without supporting measures. They do not

entail any costs and therefore often go unnoticed. However, they have

far-reaching consequences for the affected pupils

(Kronenberg, 2021; Sahli

Lozano et al., 2020, 2021; Schellenberg et al., 2017).

Mainstream classes

NSM

(1 – 2 )

(≥ 3)

(1 – 2 )

(≥ 3)

(1 – 2 )

(≥ 3)

(1 – 2 )

(≥ 3)

(1 – 2 )

(≥ 3)

NSM

0.48

0.78

0.30

0.50

Special needs classes in

mainstream schools

NSM

0.44

0.14

NSM

0.33

0.02

0.01

0.14

Special school

classes

0.22

0.28

1.45

NSM

CA (1–2)

CA (≥ 3)

No or simple measures

Enhanced special needs educational

measures

Mainstream curriculum

Curriculum adjustment in 1–2

subjects

Curriculum adjustment in 3

or more subjects

10 These two interventions occur both as simple or non-reinforced measures and also as rein-

forced measures

(Kronenberg, 2021).

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Compulsory education

Distribution of measures to certain groups of persons

Besides the schooling in a mainstream class without enhanced measures

and without curriculum adjustments, there are 14 more teaching oppor-

tunities for children with special needs educational needs, which are used

to varying extents

(Kronenberg, 2021).

For example, variants 2 and 4 are

very much to the fore in mainstream school at 60%. There are differences

as regards distribution of measures according to specific personality traits

(nationality, foreign language or gender). Compared to the gender distri-

bution in the mainstream classes, there are more boys than girls in prepa-

ratory classes (+ 21%), other special needs classes (+ 24%) or special school

classes (+ 36%)

(FSO, 2021l; Lanners, 2021).

Foreign and foreign language

speaking pupils are overrepresented in special needs classes and also have

more than twice as many reduced learning goals than Swiss children

(→ figure 38)

. Taking account of only 3.4% of pupils with special educational

needs who are integrated into schools, the share of Swiss is higher at 57 %

than that of foreign nationals. However, as many more Swiss ( 74%) than

foreign nationals (26%) attend compulsory schooling, the foreign pupils

are overrepresented. Looking solely at the distribution of Swiss pupils, it

is apparent that they are more often integrated into mainstream schooling,

especially the girls

(FSO, 2020d).

38 Pupils

in compulsory education by schooling type

and demographic features, 2020/21

Explanations on schooling types 1–15 see figure 37

Data: FSO

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Schooling type

Foreign language speaking Swiss

Non-foreign language speaking Swiss

Foreign language speaking foreigners

Non-foreign language speaking foreigners

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Compulsory education

The impact of the enhanced measures for special educational needs and

curriculum adjustments on the children’s post-compulsory schooling

cannot yet be determined based on current data, as the detailed data only

covers few years. It thus will not be possible for a few years yet to statis-

tically combine the curriculum status and education path of pupils until

achievement of an upper-secondary education certificate. Those pupils who

follow the mainstream curriculum in spite of enhanced measure, should

be in a position to successfully complete upper-secondary level education.

Not least because they also have the opportunity to request compensatory

measures

(→ chapter Upper-secondary education, page 111).

Those who,

on the other hand, are taught predominantly using the adjusted curriculum

during compulsory schooling, are suspected to only be able to achieve basic

vocational level in exceptional instances.

School management and teaching staff

For several decades, most primary level teachers have been women. Most

primary school headteachers are also women. There is a certain time

lag with the increase in female teachers at lower-secondary level; it has

been over 50% for about ten years. Most head teachers at lower-second-

ary level schools are male. One reason for the high proportion of women

among the staff at the compulsory schooling level is the scope for part-

time employment

(→ chapter Universities of teacher education, page 285)

with guaranteed equality of salary and promotion opportunities (school

management). In other areas, part-time work often impacts remuneration

or at least entails restricted career opportunities. Current research litera-

ture does not definitively answer the question of whether a teacher’s gen-

der is relevant to pupils’ performance

(Antecol et al., 2015 ; Paredes, 2014;

Winters et al., 2013).

It emerged, independently of the gender of the teacher,

that gender-specific stereotypes were detrimental to the performance of

girls

(Carlana, 2019; Lavy & Megalokonomou, 2019; Terrier, 2020).

A cur-

rent extensive study from Finland is investigating the abolition of the male

quota in teaching and now demonstrates a positive effect on a balanced gen-

der ratio of teaching staff on pupils’ performance at school and educational

pathway. The effects may be related to certain unobserved male competen-

cies or complementarities among teaching staff

(Schaede & Mankki, 2022).

The further development of compulsory schooling with regard to inte-

gration, daily structures and school autonomy leads on the one hand to

schools employing staff with varying qualifications, besides the teach-

ers. On the other hand, it becomes apparent that the different functions

are differentiated in connection with different professionals. Support

staff have been used increasingly for about ten years, for example class-

room assistants, classroom volunteers such as senior citizens or, since

2016, also people engaged in civilian service

(Verordnung über den zivilen

Ersatzdienst,

as amended on 1 July 2016). There are auxiliary staff in class-

rooms throughout almost every canton. The applicable cantonal provisions

on employment and qualifications differ greatly

(→ figure 39)

. However,

there is no exact information on that or statistical data on the extent to

which such support is used in schools. In addition, there has been next to

no research to date regarding the nature and use of support staff. Accord-

ing to an exploratory Swiss study, classroom assistants often undertake

39 Use

of support staff

Compulsory school in total, as at 2021

Data: EDK-IDES

BE-d

BE-f

FR-d

FR-f

VS-d

VS-f

■

Yes

■

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People engaged

in civilian service

Voluntary

classroom aid

Classroom

assistance

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Compulsory education

40 Change

of job and years of

service in current position, 2021

Public schools at cycle 1–3; excluding school

management boards for special areas such

as music schools; monitored for gender and

linguistic region

Data: SLMS; calculations: SCCRE

100%

60%

Years

80%

40%

20%

≤ 5 years

6–15

years

16 ≥ years

No change

Once

Twice and more

At current school

legend

52% of school managers having been in the

position for 16 or more years, have changed job

no more than once. The group has been at the

current school for an average of 12.5 years.

teaching-related tasks when administrative and organisational support is

needed under the regulations

(Vogt et al., 2021).

The research literature on

the effect of classroom assistants does not present a clear picture. On the

one hand, there are negative findings showing that strong assistant support

leads to less interaction with the qualified teacher and poorer learning out-

comes when comparing pupils with similar characteristics

(Webster et al.,

2013).

On the other hand, other studies indicate a positive causal effect of

classroom assistants on school performance

(Hemelt et al., 2021).

For about two decades, schools in Switzerland have been institutionally

managed by school management boards

that are responsible for staff as

well as school and teaching quality

(EDK, 2019a).

School managers there-

fore play a central role in terms of quality assurance. There is a comprehen-

sive body of research literature confirming the importance of the school

management to school success. School management boards are not just cen-

tral to staffing decisions and other factors that can directly and indirectly

impact pupil’s learning outcomes, but also to the general school climate.

Various studies also indicate that fluctuation at school management level is

also associated with higher staff fluctuation at the school and a lower level

of learning progress among the pupils

(Bartanen et al., 2019; Burkhauser,

2017; Kraft et al., 2016; Miller, 2013).

According to the

Schulleitungsmonitor

Schweiz

(SLMS)

the school managers surveyed have been in their role for

ten years on average, about seven of which have been with their current

school (only cycle 1–3 state schools without particular specialisms, i.e.

music schools etc.). These positions are therefore rather stable and 85%

of those surveyed said that they had not changed school more than once

in their capacity as a management member. The share of school manag-

ers who have changed job a number of times increases markedly in line

with seniority

(→ figure 40)

. About half of school management board mem-

bers (55%) work 100%, the others often teach as well at varying employ-

ment levels. The size of the management team varies greatly. There is also

a marked disparity in terms of employment level among the school man-

agement, for example smaller schools with fewer than 20 teachers have

managers working from 20% to 100%

(→ figure 41)

. In non-German speak-

ing Switzerland, the employment level among school managers tends to

be higher than in the German-speaking part of the country

(→ figure 42)

11 Canton Schaff hausen represents an exception. Cantonal legislation does not stipulate that

schools must be run by school directors. In 2017, the corresponding ordinance was adjusted, so

that the municipalities can voluntarily appoint school directors, which some of the munici-

palities have done in the meantime.

12 The SLMS (survey of school management boards in Switzerland) is a cooperation project of

the School Leadership Association Switzerland (VSLCH), the School Leadership Association

of French- and Italian-Speaking Switzerland (CLACESO) and the PH FHNW, which is sup-

ported by the Mercator Schweiz Foundation and the Jacobs Foundation

(Tulowitzki et al., 2022).

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Compulsory education

41 School

management workload and team size 2021

Public schools at cycle 1–3; without school management boards for special areas such as music

schools; number of teachers: in absolute figures without accounting for level of employment;

blue: median, green: middle 50%

Data: SLMS; calculations: SCCRE

Number of teaching staff

42 School

size by linguistic

region

Only public schools excl. special schools,

–11

school year; 2019/20, excl. special

schools, 3

–11

school year

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

40%

60%

Employment

80%

100%

D-CH

1–50 pupils

101–150 pupils

201+ pupils

F-CH

51–100 pupils

151–200 pupils

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Compulsory education

Compulsory schooling during the Covid-19 pandemic

Compulsory schooling was massively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic

in 2020 and 2021. As instructed by the Federal Council, all lessons were

conducted remotely for eight weeks during the pandemic (16 March to 10

May 2020). The teachers had to work remotely, the pupils had to study

from home and parents were to help their children – as much as possible.

To support the teachers and families, about half of the cantons drew up

an official guide on remote learning with information on school material,

the number of online lessons, pupil assessments and possible groups of

tasks. Depending on school level or canton, there were major differences

in terms of the number of online lessons to be held. While the curriculum

was adhered to in most cantons in spite of the distance learning – albeit at a

slower pace – other cantons preferred to go over past teaching content again

(Brüderlin et al., 2020; Canton de Vaud, 2020; Garrote et al., 2021; Kanton

Bern, 2020; Kanton Zug, 2020).

When onsite lessons resumed, the cantons

selected different paths in accordance with the federal system

(→ figure 43)

In April 2020, the EDK decided the 2019/20 school year counts as a full

compulsory schooling year and the school time will therefore not be

lengthened. Reports for all classes include a comment (there was no onsite

teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic). The provisions determining the

type of grading during the distance learning were left up to the cantons;

they are therefore not uniform

(EDK, 2020, 2021a).

43 Return

to onsite teaching

in May 2020

Data: EDK, cantons

Teaching

Regular onsite teaching

Cantons

AG, AI, AR,

BL, BS, GL,

GR, LU, NW,

OW, SH, SO,

SZ, TG, UR,

BE, JU, NE,

FR (prim),

GE (prim),

VD (prim),

VS (prim)

SG, TI, ZH,

FR (Sec I),

GE (Sec I),

VD (Sec I),

VS (Sec I)

Half-class teaching

for a maximum of 2 weeks

Half-class teaching

for 3 to a maximum of 5

weeks

effects of distance learning

Pandemic-induced distance learning (school closures and quarantine cases)

and the associated increased use of digital learning led to the initiation

of over 30 studies on the influence of distance learning. A fifth of these

are international studies that include Switzerland, in 6% of cases the spe-

cific influence of distance learning on children with special needs or the

influence on equality of opportunity are evaluated

(Cecchini & Dutrévis,

2020; Garrote et al., 2021; Helm et al., 2021; Neuenschwander, 2020).

There

are many redundancies in terms of questions and groups of persons sur-

veyed. Moreover, the evaluations are mainly based on random samples, i.e.

samples involving persons who randomly and voluntarily made them-

selves available for the study or survey. As most of these studies were to

deliver immediate results under considerable time pressure, they were gen-

erally not designed to examine the long-term consequences of distance

learning, providing a short-term snapshot of the situation instead. As a

result, most of the studies provide no, or only very limited, evaluations

regarding the influence of distance learning on medium or long-term

learning success, equality of opportunity or even sustainability of digi-

tal teaching following the switch back to onsite lessons

(→ Digitalisation,

page 47).

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Compulsory education

The different evaluations show that the compatibility of working from

home and distance learning was a very big challenge to the parents or

guardians. One of the biggest problems cited was that parents often felt

they were expected to assume the role of teachers for their children. There

was also the limited space from so many persons having to work and take

their lessons in the same household, as well as the timing issues involved in

undertaking multiple tasks in parallel

(Helm et al., 2021; Sieber et al., 2020;

Siebert Egger & Unterweger, 2022).

The children complained about a lack

of contact with people of the same age, teaching staff often reported being

overstretched by obscure digital learning offerings or having too little sup-

port for their new tasks.

Different studies examined pupils’ daily study time while schools were

closed. Unsurprisingly, the consensus was that study times varied greatly.

This was evident, for example, between the poor and strong performers,

but also between children with non-academic and academic parents. There

were also differences in terms of quality of study time and the question of

what the time was used for

(Huber et al., 2020; Werner & Woessmann, 2021).

To date, only one study in German-speaking Switzerland has examined

learning progress during school closures in that results of the Mindsteps

collection of tasks created shortly before the schools closed were compared

with those originating from when the schools were closed

(Tomasik et al.,

2021).

Learning progress among secondary school pupils remained about

the same as with onsite lessons during the distance learning period in

spring 2020. Primary school pupils, on the other hand, learned a lot less

while at home than when in school.

Normally it should have also been possible to measure the influence of

distance learning on the competency acquisition of Swiss pupils through

cantonal diagnostic testing. However, many cantons decided not to con-

duct such surveys given the extraordinary situation in 2020. Other can-

tons postponed the tests by several months in some cases, so the tests

predating the pandemic were no longer comparable with those conducted

post-pandemic as they were conducted at different times

(→ figure 44)

Analyses were only possible for specific subjects or school levels in the few

cantons where the tests were conducted regularly

(→ chapter Primary school

level, page 53;

→

chapter Lower-secondary education, page 83).

figure 45

shows an overview of the diagnostic testing in all cantons in the school year

2020/21.

44 Conducting

of cantonal

diagnostic assessments

following school closures

Conducted in 2019/20 school year

Data: EDK-IDES, cantons

Diagnostic

testing

Not completed

Cantons

FR-f,

GE (H4, H6, H8),

GL, LU

(Stellwerk 8),

NWCH* (Check S3), SZ,

SH (Stellwerk 8), TI,

VS-d/f, VD (H10)

GE (TAF),

(Stellwerk 9),

NE,

NW, NWCH* (Check P3),

OW, VD (H4, H6 und

H8), ZH

AR, BE-d, NWCH*

(Check P5, Check S2),

SG, TG, UR, ZG

Conducted

regularly

Survey

postponed,

partially carried

out in autumn

2020

No obligatory

surveys

AI, BE-f, FR-d, GR

NWCH* AG, BL, BS, SO

Stellwerk

test 9 in Canton St. Gallen was

voluntary, as in Canton Appenzell Ausser-

rhoden and Canton Uri. In the latter instance,

however, all the pupils took part in the test.

The implementation period was extended in

cantons Uri and Zug, as it was for

Stellwerk

test 8 in Canton St. Gallen.

13 Mindsteps is a learning platform. It provides schools with a collection of 2 45,000 tasks

for the subjects German, English, French and Mathematics (Cycle 2 and 3 of

Lehrplan 21

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Compulsory education

45 Cantonal

diagnostic assessments by canton and school year, 2020/21 school year

Data: EDK-IDES

VD VS

AG BS

lu nW OW SZ

uR ZG

AR Gl GR SG SH TG

■

For individual promotion

■

For individual promotion and analyses at cantonal level

■

Voluntary

Quarantine cases in schools

Children and young people received media coverage as drivers of the

Covid-19 pandemic. The most varied developments influenced this discus-

sion. The asymptomatic presence of the infection in children meant they

were not tested so often during the initial phase and the infection rate was

thus underestimated. Long-term studies such as Ciao-Corona at the Uni-

versity of Zurich or SEROCoV-Schools at the University of Geneva show

that the proportion of children who were infected and developed anti-

bodies increased tenfold from June 2020 to April 2021. The infection rate

was thus comparable with that of the parents and school staff

(Lorthe et al.,

2022; Ulyte et al., 2020).

Mass testing in schools from May 2021, on the other

hand, led to disproportionately high testing of children and young peo-

ple, which was again reflected in the infection rate. This increased for chil-

dren and young people after the end of each vacation, as for the rest of the

population. The increase in schools was disproportionately high after the

outbreak of the omicron variant at the end of 2021

(→ figure 46)

. This was

also due to the fact that vaccination was available much later in children

and adolescents than in the rest of the population and that many schools

had reduced the strong protective measures that were still applied in the

winter of 2020/21.

Quarantine measures were reintroduced in schools for individual

pupils, entire classes and even entire schools during the second wave of

the pandemic. These quarantine cases posed major challenges to teachers

and families. The figures are not available to determine how many classes

or schools were actually impacted in 2020. At the start of 2021, when

infection rates rose, the EDK therefore started to monitor the number of

school closures in the cantons, whereby not all the cantons delivered the

data. At primary level, entire classes were quarantined more often than

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Compulsory education

46 Development

of incidences by age category, August 2020 till April 2022

Data: FOPH

7,000

Spring holidays

Summer holidays

Autumn holidays

6,000

Incidences of Covid-19

Christmas holidays

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

End of measures

Start of mass

testing in

schools

Start of vaccination for

young people

at lower-secondary level due to the number of infections. The peak levels

following the summer holidays, however, never exceeded the 1.5 percent

mark (per week), which equates to about 286 classes being sent to quar-

antine every week.

Digitalisation

Until recently, there was no national data basis that would have enabled

periodic and standardised snapshots of the status and development of

digitalisation in schools. Specific reports and surveys

(Educa, 2021)

docu-

mented on the basis of various data – gathered at different times and cov-

ering different pupil populations and school levels – that schools in Swit-

zerland had improved their infrastructure in recent years and that digital

technologies were being more widely used. As there were no real-time and

regular surveys before the Covid-19 pandemic covering all school levels and

types, such a survey was introduced in 2020 providing up-to-date results

for three surveys (autumn 2020, spring 2021 and spring 2022). This national

monitoring covers compulsory and upper-secondary level schooling and

reports on the status of digitalisation from the perspective of the pupils

and those undergoing vocational training. The survey covered the availa-

bility of digital facilities and their use

(Oggenfuss & Wolter, 2021a, 2021b).

Swiss Education Repor t | 2023

CW 36

CW 38

CW 40

CW 42

CW 44

CW 46

CW 48

CW 50

CW 52

CW 1

CW 3

CW 5

CW 7

CW 9

CW 11

CW 13

CW 15

CW 17

CW 19

CW 21

CW 23

CW 25

CW 27

CW 29

CW 31

CW 33

CW 35

CW 37

CW 39

CW 41

CW 43

CW 45

CW 47

CW 49

CW 51

CW 1

CW 3

CW 5

CW 7

CW 9

CW 11

CW 13

CW 15

CW 17

CW 19

CW 21

CW 23

2021

2022

12–14 years: Young people

60–69 years (hardly any parents of schoolchildren)

6–11 years: Children

40–49 years (inc. parents of schoolchildren)

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Compulsory education

47 Private

acquisition

of digital end devices

Share of pupils who report that their family has

acquired an end device; monitored for different

individual characteristics

Data:

Monitoring Digitalisierung;

calculations: SCCRE

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

2020

2021

2022

This monitoring only started in autumn 2020 in contrast to the numer-

ous studies on school closures. The question was whether and to what

extent experiences with distance learning in spring 2020 had a sustaina-

ble impact on an expansion and acceleration of digitalisation in education.

Since the first survey up to 2022, there was an increase in the use of com-

puters in schools and specific digital applications. However, as there was

no direct comparison with data before the pandemic, this increase cannot

be attributed to the pandemic. The only short-term boost was in autumn

2020 in connection with the private acquisition of digital end devices. 30%

of pupils in compulsory schooling said their family had acquired at least

one new device in spring 2020 (when the schools closed). This proportion

fell markedly in follow-up surveys (22%), mainly due to German-speak-

ing Switzerland. A catch-up effect was noted in French-speaking Switzer-

land

(→ figure 47)

. There are major language-regional differences not only

in the private acquisition rate of digital end devices, but also in the equip-

ping of schools and use of digital aids

(→ figure 48)

, which were also evi-

dent in 2022. The requirement of being able to study with digital aids there-

fore does not apply to the same extent throughout all the linguistic regions.

German-speaking Switzerland

French-speaking Switzerland

Ticino

48 Internet

availability and use of computers in schools

by language region

Share of pupils saying they have WLAN at their school or who say that they use computers

at school; monitored for different individual characteristics

Data:

Monitoring Digitalisierung;

calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

2020

2021

WLAN

German-speaking Switzerland

2022

2020

2021

Use of computers

French-speaking Switzerland

Ticino

2022

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Compulsory education

2020

2021

Private school, private tuituion and homeschooling

Only a small minority of pupils in Switzerland attend private school during

their compulsory education. Private school attendance across Switzerland

is at 4.6% (2019/20 school year) and has been stable over the past decade.

There is therefore no evidence of growing demand for private education

at national level. This outcome matches the results of two representative

surveys of the Swiss population in 2007 and 2019

(→ figure 50)

. In 2019 and

about ten years earlier, most adults surveyed were not in favour of using

public funds in support of private schools. Only a free choice of school in

the public school system was supported by the majority

(Diem & Wolter,

2013).

A higher proportion of foreign pupils attend private schools. At 7.5%,

it is almost twice as high as the proportion of Swiss pupils

(→ figure 51)

However, this difference has also remained constant over the years. Private

school attendance, however, is not generally higher among pupils of a for-

eign nationality, it applies more to those children whose parents are well

educated, irrespective of whether the parents speak the school language

at home. The ratio of private schools in cantons with a high share of well

qualified foreign nationals (Basel-Stadt, Geneva and Zug) is accordingly

much higher than in other cantons.

50 Support

for private schools

and agreement with free choice

of school

Approval rate among the Swiss population

(only those entitled to vote); representative

surveys

Data: Centre for Research in Economics

of Education, University of Bern

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

2007

2019

Public funds for private schools

Free choice of state schools

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CollHE/UAS/UTE

Even if the documented availability and intensity of use does not reflect

the relevant information on quality of use for the learning process

(Educa,

2021),

the following can still be said: In those places where digital devices

are not so widespread, the degree of digitalisation is lower and it is also

lower when the devices are available, but used sparingly. Moreover, there

are major differences between the different educational levels in terms of

use

(→ chapter Primary school level, page 53).

It should also be borne

in mind that broad distribution of digital devices and their intensive

use in lessons does not actually say anything about the effectiveness of

teaching with digital aids. Monitoring will not provide the answer to this

fundamental question, instead it must be subjected to further research

(→ chapter Lower-secondary education, page 83).

Monitoring also shows differences with regard to internet speed at

home. This is connected to the parents’ education level. Speed of internet

access has emerged in research as a central condition for the effective appli-

cation of digital education. It is not in itself sufficient but is is indispensa-

ble to the effective application of digital teaching and learning approaches.

For all surveys, almost twice as many pupil respondents whose parents do

not have any post-compulsory education thought their internet connec-

tion at home was too slow relative to respondents whose parents have a

university degree

(→ figure 49)

49 Assessment

of internet

quality by parents’ education

Share of persons who think their internet

access at home is too slow, monitored for

various individual characteristics; without

Sec II: no post-compulsory educational

qualifications

Data:

Monitoring Digitalisierung;

calculations: SCCRE

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

Without Sec II

University

Sec II

2022

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Compulsory education

51 Private

school ratio

by first language and nationality,

2020/21

Visit to a non-subsidised private school;

excl. pupils who attend a special school;

monitored for individual characteristics

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Foreign language

speaking

Before the pandemic-induced school closures and classroom measures,

the individual cantons reported an increase in requests from parents to

teach children privately or to be privately taught. Subsequently, individual

cantons revisited their relatively liberal approach to their regulations and

increased their demands or were more exacting with their requirements for

homeschooling (e.g. Aargau 2019 and Bern 2022). The Covid-19 pandemic

led to twice as many children being taught at home in some cantons during

the 2020/21 school year than in the years preceding the pandemic. In spite

of the strong uptake in homeschooling in some cases, it remains marginal

in Switzerland, as under 1% of pupils undertake home tuition.

Speaks the school

language

Foreign nationals

Swiss

There is a statistically significant difference

between the foreign language and non-foreign

language group and between Swiss and foreign

nationals.

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Compulsory education

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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PRIMARY

SCHOOL LEVEL

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Primary school level Context

Context

early childhood education and care

Early childhood education and care involves supporting children during

their learning process from birth to starting primary school. In most can-

tons, pre-school age is the time from birth to the fourth birthday

(Dratva

et al., 2019).

According to the HarmoS Agreement, the child’s schooling

begins when they reach the age of four

(→ Institution, page 60) (EDK,

2007).

Besides general offers for the early nurturing of children and their

families (e.g. in play groups, daycare centres or with childminders) there

are also special offers for the early nurturing

. This is for families with chil-

dren in need of specific support to enhance their resources (e.g. courses

for foreign-language speaking children, therapeutic early education, spe-

cial educational needs measures). Even though all types of canton have

conducted projects involving early language learning among foreign-lan-

guage-speaking children from a migration background for a number of

years, to date only cantons Basel-Stadt and Thurgau have established an

obligatory selective scheme for attending such courses. The feedback is

positive for this comprehensive early language screening for children who

don’t speak German at home. It is not yet possible to scientifically gauge

how effective these courses are as they are relatively recent

(Grob et al.,

2014, 2019).

Pre-school care: supply and demand

Subsidised federal projects since

2018:

As of 2018, there is another

federal project to subsidise the

cantons and municipalities. It aims

to reduce daycare costs for parents.

There are also subsidies for projects

contributing to the optimisation of

the daycare offering by adapting it

more to parental requirements

(FSIO,

2018).

Childcare offered outside the family circle is important to ensure compat-

ibility of work and family and to support the child’s development

(FSO,

2017a).

The activity programme of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Min-

isters of Education (EDK) for 2021–2024, improving cooperation to that

end with the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Social Services Directors

(SODK) is explicitly stated as a goal

(EDK, 2021c).

Based on a parliamen-

tary initiative (Nr. 00.403), the Confederation launched an incentive pro-

gramme in 2003 to promote and provide financial support for extra-famil-

ial nursery places for children. In the eighteen years since the federal law

came into force, 3601 applications have been approved. In response, the

childcare offering was significantly increased with the creation of 35,300

new places

(FSIO, 2022).

In 2017, there were about 62,500 places in Switzer-

land for pre-school-age children in daycare centres. The comparison with

data from the national research programme NFP 60

from 2009 and 2011

shows an average increase in the supply rate (number of places in relation

Federal Constitution, Art. 62 para. 3

2 In 2007, the Federal Council mandated research project NFP 60

“Gleichstellung der Geschlech-

ter”

financed by the SNSF. Between 2010 and 2013, gender equality policy and corresponding

measures in Switzerland were investigated in 21 research projects. The research programme

was completed in 201 4.

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Context Primary

school level

to the number of pre-school-age children) of about nine percentage points

(FSIO, 2017),

meaning that the number of childcare places more than dou-

bled. Nevertheless, the supply rate remains very low at well under 20%.

The current supply rate and development thereof varies markedly among

the cantons

(→ figure 52)

52 Care

for pre-school-age children and development

in the supply rate between 2009 and 2017

Data:

FSIO (2017)

30%

Supply rate as per the latest data

25%

III

Increase in the supply rate in percentage points

AR, GR

20%

legend

Canton Geneva (Quadrant I) has a high supply

rate and above-average increase in the supply

rate (11 percentage points). Canton Basel-Stadt

(Quadrant IV) has a high supply rate, but it has

only increased slightly (6 percentage points).

15%

10%

In the second assessment date, the supply rate correlates with the increase

in the supply rate during the previous eight years. Current differences in

supply rates in most cantons are thus a consequence of the recent develop-

ment in the creation of daycare places. However, this most recent develop-

ment, as shown by

figure 52

does not result from the different take-up lev-

els of federal subsidies as they are not correlated to the development of the

supply rate. Instead, they must be due to cantonal characteristics.

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Primary school level Context

Heterogeneous use and effect of pre-school care

Support in applying for a place

at daycare

A study from Germany proves that

support programmes for families ap-

plying for a daycare place can reduce

socioeconomic disparities. The appli-

cation rate and take-up of a daycare

place among less educated families

could therefore be significantly

increased. The measure did not add

value for parents with a higher level

of education

(Hermes et al., 2021).

53 Effect

of early childhood

education and care

Reduction in the repetition rate

Data: FSO, FSIO; calculations: SCCRE

-1

Percentage points

-2

-3

-4

-5

-6

-7

–2

school year

Foreign nationals

–4

school year

Swiss

Many studies show that pre-school-age care offerings in daycare centres

have a positive impact on children’s development and on their educa-

tional and employment prospects in later life

(Hermes et al., 2021; Fryer et

al., 2015 ; Grob et al., 2019).

However, other studies also indicate negative

effects: the rate of children displaying socially problematic behaviour (e.g.

aggression, ADHD symptoms or depression) is slightly higher among chil-

dren who spend a lot of time in extra-familial care

(Averdijk et al., 2011,

2019; Drugli et al., 2018).

However, there is no disputing that the qual-

ity of care is pivotal to the impact

(Balthasar & Kaplan, 2019; Bleiker et al.,

2019 ; Vogt et al., 2022)

and that children from less educated families bene-

fit from extra-familial care. That is why daycare centres can make a major

contribution to achieving a fair education system

(Bjorklund & Salvanes,

2011; Camehl & Frauke, 2017; Eryigit-Madzwamuse & Barnes, 2014; Melhu-

ish et al., 2015).

In Switzerland, the effect of the increase in daycare places

financed by federal subsidies was also researched. There was almost no

effect on the stability of the education path for Swiss children in the first

cycle at primary level. For children from a migration background, on the

other hand, there is evidence that attending a daycare centre reduces the

likelihood of repeating a school year by up to seven percentage points

(→ figure 53)

. However, this data unfortunately includes no information as

to whether children with a foreign nationality made more use of the offer-

ing or not. Numerous foreign studies show that children who would derive

the greatest potential benefit from attending a daycare centre are those who

attend daycare the least

(Cornelissen et al., 2018; Hermes et al., 2021).

Besides pre-school extra-familial care, there is also demand for school-

age care to improve the compatibility of family and work. The cantons are

obliged under the HarmoS Agreement to prepare wraparound care during

compulsory schooling

(EDK, 2007).

This are primarily additional, volun-

tary childcare modules before and after school and on afternoons where

there are no lessons, as well as supervised care at lunchtime (known as

midday meal). Moreover, in recent years there have been more projects

for wraparound care or all-day schools with obligatory care offerings

(e.g.

Zürcher Tagesschulen 2025

Ganztagesschulen Stadt Bern

), albeit

mainly in an urban setting.

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Context Primary

school level

Development of and forecast for pupil numbers

While pupil numbers at primary level (3

–8

school year) continued to fall

throughout the 2000s, they have grown by 22% since 2010 (94,680 chil-

dren). In the 2020/21 school year, the primary level accounted for 530,230

pupils. In connection with the structural harmonisation (HarmoS Agree-

ment), there was a further, non-demographic increase in pupil numbers in

the first and second years at primary school level (kindergarten). Due to

the introduction of compulsory attendance or the mandatory offer of the

first and second school years, the number of children attending the first and

second years at primary school level has risen consistently.

The strong growth of the past decade should also apply throughout the

coming decade according to the Federal Office of Statistics’ (FSO) refer-

ence scenario

(FSO, 2021k).

According to these forecasts there will be an

increase throughout Switzerland of 10% from 2020 to 2031 (3

–8

school

year). Developments in cantonal pupil numbers deviate very strongly from

the Swiss median value in keeping with the different dynamics of popu-

lation growth in the individual cantons

(→ figure 54)

. The effects of these

developments in terms of infrastructure adaptation and need for teaching

staff depend on whether the cantons can achieve new highs with growing

pupil numbers. The latter will trigger new investments and new appoint-

ments. The historical highs since 1999 will be greatly exceeded inter alia

in cantons Aargau, Fribourg, Vaud and Zug.

54 Development

in pupil numbers and forecasts,

–8

school year at primary level

Deviations from the historic peak since 1999 and from 2020 to 2031 on the basis

of the reference scenario

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

20%

15%

Forecasts 2020–2031

10%

-5%

-35%

-25%

-15%

-5%

15%

25%

Deviations from historic peak (since 1999)

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Primary school level Context

Composition of pupil population

Sociodemographic pupil characteristics, such as origin (migration back-

ground) and first language, are important framework conditions for school

and tuition

(→ Equity, page 78).

In the 2020/21 school year, about 73%

of primary school pupils (3

–8

school year) had Swiss citizenship. Only

3% of them were born abroad; 18% spoke another language to the school

language at home

(→ figure 55)

. The nationality of the pupils is not a static

value at the primary level. While naturalisations already play a role at pri-

mary level, their significance for lower-secondary level and in particular

upper-secondary level is more pronounced still

(→ chapter Lower-sec-

ondary education, page 83;

→

chapter Upper-secondary education,

page 111).

55 Pupils

by migration background, language and

parents’ education, 2020/2021

Primary level, 1

–8

school year, incl. special schools and private schools

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Swiss

Foreign

nationals

20%

Born abroad

40%

60%

80%

100%

Born in Switzerland

Foreign language speaking

Upper-secondary education

Non-foreign language speaking

Compulsory education

Tertiary qualification

Schools facing special challenges

A highly heterogeneous pupil population poses a major didactic and edu-

cational challenge to schools and teachers. Schools with a very high pro-

portion of foreign-language-speaking children, children with a migration

background or children from uneducated families are especially chal-

lenged

(Cattaneo & Wolter, 2012; Coradi Vellacott et al., 2003).

These chal-

lenges are often met with extra resources, as in cantons Aargau, Geneva

or Zurich for example

(

→

margin text, page 59),

where these schools

receive additional financing and staff

(Jaeggi et al., 2012; Jaeggi & Osiek,

2008; Maag Merki et al., 2012; SCCRE, 2014).

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Context Primary

school level

Various studies of academic achievement show that foreign-language-

speaking pupils or pupils from uneducated families are more at risk than

their peers of poor performance at school

(→ chapter Lower-secondary

education, page 83).

This applies even more, when a child has some of

the following characteristics. In Switzerland 11% of pupils (3

–8

school

year, 2019/20) are from uneducated families (at least one parent does not

have a post-compulsory school-leaving certificate); 19% of children are for-

eign nationals who speak a foreign language. The share of children, at about

6%, displaying all three risk factors, i.e. foreign-language-speaking, foreign

national and uneducated, is relatively low.

Pupils with risk factors in Switzerland are unevenly distributed across

schools. About 16% of primary schools have a share exceeding 30% of for-

eign-language-speaking foreign nationals (hereinafter high-risk schools

There are major cantonal differences in the share of such schools and in

the share of the high-risk pupils in those schools

(→ figure 56)

. As can

be expected, the share of high-risk schools correlates closely to that of

foreign-language-speaking pupils in the canton. Nevertheless, if cantons

with low proportions of foreign-language-speaking foreign pupils have a

relatively high share of high-risk schools, this testifies to a highly uneven

distribution of these children among individual schools.

Resources for multicultural schools

Aargau:

Since the 2020/21 school

year, resources in state schools have

been allocated at a flat rate based on

standardised legal and statistical val-

ues. This enables linguistic and social

factors and the framework conditions

to be taken into account on site. The

calculation basis is, on the one hand,

the number of foreign nationals and

proportion of social security claimants

and, on the other hand, the ratio of

low-income people where each child

lives.

Zurich:

Schools with over 40% foreign-

language-speaking pupils are included

in the Zurich Quality in Multicultural

Schools (QUIMS) programme and

receive professional and financial

support, e.g. through more intensive

language tuition and promotion of

56 High-risk

schools and foreign-language-speaking

foreign pupils by canton, 2019

–8

school year; high-risk schools: schools with more than 30% foreign-language-speaking

foreign nationals

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

50%

40%

social integration.

Geneva:

In project

Réseau d’ensei-

gnement prioritaire (REP)

in Geneva,

schools receive extra resources when

the following two conditions are met:

the proportion of parents with a low

socioeconomic status is at least 55%

and that of foreign-language-speaking

children above 60%. These schools

also benefit from the cooperation with

the youth welfare office and the pres-

ence of socioeducationally oriented

staff.

Proportion of high-risk schools

30%

SO ZG

10%

15%

20%

10%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Proportion of foreign-language-speaking foreign nationals

3 When determining high-risk schools, the pupils’ social background cannot be taken into

account as this information is only available for a sample of pupils.

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Primary school level Institution

57 Uneven

distribution of pupils

with risk factors by canton

Appenzell Innerrhoden is not included

in the chart for reasons of readability.

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

0.02

0.04

Index value

Distribution by class

Distribution by school

0.06

0.08

The Herfindahl index gives an indication of an uneven distribution of

foreign-language-speaking foreign pupils in schools

(→ figure 57)

. The val-

ues show, on the one hand, that these deviations are larger when gauged

at school level. However, the classes are more relevant for teaching than

the schools. The distribution of foreign-language-speaking foreign pupils

among classes can be steered through the school system, while distribution

across schools depends more on factors (e.g. geographic segregation) that

schools cannot influence. On the other hand, it is apparent that cantons

with very low proportions of foreign-language-speaking foreign pupils

normally deviate a lot more from the ideal distribution across schools and

classes than cantons with very high proportions of such pupils.

Institution

The primary level lasts eight years in the Swiss education system and covers

the first to the eighth school year. The first two school years correspond to

kindergarten or the first two years of the entry level. The structural har-

monisation has led to changes in the duration and structure of the primary

level. Nonetheless, there are still differences in the structuring of the first

cycle (1

–4

school year) or the transition to the second cycle (5

–8

school year) at lower-secondary level

(→ chapter Compulsory education,

page 27).

Organisation of the first cycle

The first two school years can be organised in different ways. The HarmoS

Agreement

(EDK, 2007)

has no stipulations in that regard. 17 cantons

included two years of kindergarten or the first two years of the entry

level into compulsory education. The primary level is accordingly eight

years in these cantons. These 17 cantons comprise the 15 HarmoS Agree-

ment signatories plus cantons Aargau and Thurgau. In seven more can-

tons, the primary level is also eight years, although only seven years of

attendance is required (Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Inner rhoden,

Luzern, Nidwalden, Schwyz, Uri) or six years (Graubünden)

(→ figure 58)

One year of kindergarten is obligatory in cantons Obwalden and Zug. The

municipalities there are not obliged to offer two years of kindergarten

(EDK, 2019a).

Another way of adding flexibility to the initial school years

is the preparatory stage being offered either as a “

Grundstufe

” (two years

of kindergarten and the first primary class) or as a “

Basisstufe

” (two years

of kindergarten and the first two primary classes). The added structural

flexibility brings advantages. Bypassing the selective threshold of trans-

ferring from kindergarten to primary school is seen as a gain

(Hutterli et

al., 2014; Lanfranchi, 2002, 2007).

Different cantonal studies address the

kindergarten situation, which has changed through structural harmoni-

sation and evaluate the current situation

(Edelmann et al., 2018; Fasseing

Heim et al., 2018; Imlig et al., 2019).

To date, there has been no research on

the question as to how these different structures impact the education path

over the long term.

The

Herfindahl index

is a measure of con-

centration that measures the distribution of

specific characteristics. In an initial step, an

index was calculated per canton, that would

apply if pupils displaying risk factors were

ideally or evenly distributed across schools

and/or classes. The chart shows the deviation

of the actual distribution from the ideal value.

The higher this index value, the more the actual

distribution in the canton deviates from an

even distribution.

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Institution Primary

school level

School entry age and cut-off date

The cantons Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Lucerne, Zurich and Valais have

incrementally moved the cut-off date back to 31 July over about eight years.

The cut-off date in the 2020/21 school year is therefore 31 July in a total

of 20 cantons. The other six cantons have other cut-off dates.

The earlier

the cut-off date in the calendar year, the older the pupils are. In Canton

Graubünden, the children are about eight months older than pupils in can-

tons with the 31 July cut-off date, solely due to the cut-off date (31 Decem-

ber). Different cut-off dates also mean that children of the same biological

age can start school one year earlier or later depending on the canton. As a

consequence, these pupils also enter the world of work or further education

one year earlier or later. In addition, the probability of starting school at the

regular time depends on how many days there are between the birthday

and cut-off date

(Aune et al., 2018; Balestra et al., 2020; Beatton et al., 2021;

Cook & Kang, 2018; Givord, 2020).

The children are also positioned differ-

ently in the class age structure relative to their peers. For example, a child

born on 30 March will be the youngest in cantons where the cut-off date is

1 April, whereas in cantons with a cut-off date of 31 July, there will be chil-

dren up to 3.5 months younger than the child born on 30 March. As a result,

children of the same age in cantons with a cut-off date of 1 April have a 33%

probability of being put back a year, compared to 7 % in cantons where the

date is 31 July. However, delayed enrolments are determined much more

by cantonal characteristics than the absolute cut-off date. Cantons with

the same cut-off date therefore vary much more in this category than can-

tons with a different cut-off date

(→ figure 59)

. Besides the probability of

starting school late, the effect of the relative age (compared to the class)

must also be taken into account. The younger a child, the more likely he or

she is to perform worse in tests than older pupils due to the biological age

difference

(→ Equity, page 78).

In Switzerland, it is mainly the structural requirements regarding the

number of compulsory kindergarten years, access to the HarmoS Agree-

ment and implementation of the key principles contained therein that

decide the ratio of delayed enrolments. If only one compulsory kinder-

garten year is taken into account when calculating the ratio of delayed

enrolments in cantons without two years of compulsory kindergarten, the

cantonal ratios for delayed enrolments are practically zero

(→ figure 60)

Many children do two years of kindergarten, which entails delayed enrol-

ments to the third school year

(SCCRE, 2018).

58 Organisation

of the first and

second school year at primary

level

Current situation in the nine cantons

without two years of obligatory kindergarten

Data:

EDK (2019a)

2006/07

2015/16

2020/21

KG 2

KG 1

KG 2

KG 1

KG 2

■

Mandatory offer

■

Compulsory attendance

4 In Canton Nidwalden, 30 April was the date for the 2020/21 school year. In the 2018/19

school year, it was still 31 July. Since then, there has been an incremental shift to February

(28/29 February from 2021/22). In Canton Schwyz, starting school has been made flexible.

In the 2020/21 school year, 31 March could be requested, otherwise it was 31 July.

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Primary school level Institution

59 Schooling

age and delayed enrolments, 2020/21

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

The cut-off date deviates in six cantons from

31.7, 2020/21: Appenzell Ausserrhoden (30.4.),

Appenzell Innerhoden (1.4.), Graubünden

(31.12.), Nidwalden (30.4.), Schwyz (on request,

31.3.), Zug (28.2.). Four cantons with the

youngest possible schooling age of 4 are not

included in the chart (share of delayed enrol-

ment in Aargau (15%), Basel-Landschaft (13%),

Solothurn (7%), Genf (3%) .

60%

50%

Proportion of deferred school entries

40%

30%

20%

3.9

4.0

TI NE

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

10%

4.6

4.7

4.5

Youngest possible school age (1

school year)

60 Delayed

enrolments taking

account of compulsory

kindergarten years, 2020/21

Canton Graubünden is not included.

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

4.0%

3.5%

3.0%

2.5%

Proportion of deferred school entries

2.0%

1.5%

1.0%

0.5%

0.0%

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

The cantonal schooling rules offer another explanation for the marked dif-

ferences in ratio of delayed enrolments. In practically all cantons, the par-

ents may request early or delayed enrolments if they have justification for

doing so. There are, however, marked intercantonal differences in some

instances as regards the parents’ right to have their say in the final deci-

sion. While, for example, in Canton Bern the final decision is mainly left

up to the parents, the supervisory authorities of municipal schools have

the final say in other cantons. In case of doubt, reports may be requested

from the school doctor or psychologist. Whether a canton is more or less

restrictive with regard to starting school certainly has an influence on the

pupil’s individual path

(→ Effectiveness, page 66).

Children in restric-

tive cantons

, where parents have limited influence, are younger on aver-

age as the proportion of children born near to the cut-off date and schooled

on time is larger. In cantons where parents have a lot of influence, on the

other hand, many more children born close to the cut-off date start school

later

(→ figure 61)

. Higher ratio of delayed enrolments entails increasing age

heterogeneity per academic year.

Youngest possible school starting age

legend

Only taking account of the second, compulsory,

pre-school year in cantons with just one year of

compulsory pre-schooling, the share of delayed

enrolments in Uri falls from 41% to 3.5%, in

Canton Zug from 6% to 0.1% and in Canton

Nidwalden from 11% to 0.6%.

5 Restrictive cantons: Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel-Stadt, Graubünden, Jura, Neuchâtel,

Nidwalden, Valais (French-speaking part), Ticino and Zürich.

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Institution Primary

school level

language-regional curricula and ICT

There have been major changes in curricula in recent years

(→ chapter

Compulsory education, page 27):

besides a second foreign language at

primary level, subjects like education for sustainable development have

been introduced and given greater weighting; there is also more focus

on digital skills. Digital competencies are not a standalone subject in the

language-regional curricula, instead they are clustered across disciplines

and subjects. In the

Plan d ’ études romand

(PER), for example, they are

included in the curriculum modules “

Éducation numérique

” and “

For-

mation générale

”, in

Lehrplan 21

in the “

Medien und Informatik

” mod-

ule and in the “

Piano di studio della scuola dell’obbligo ticinese

”, they are

part of “

Tecnologie e media

” as “

Contesto di esercizio

” in “

Formazione gen-

erale

”

(Educa, 2021; IRDP, 2020).

The cantonal timetables contain provi-

sions regarding whether the digital competencies are taught as a standalone

subject, integrated into other subjects or taught as part of interdiscipli-

nary learning environments

(→ figure 62)

. There are also differences in the

school year in which the teaching of digital competencies takes place and

the number of periods dedicated to that

(Educa, 2021).

61 Age

distribution in restrictive

and non-restrictive cantons

Deviation from national age distribution of

pupils in the third school year (ÜGK pupil

cohort 2017); restrictive and non-restrictive

refers to regulation of starting school or

delayed enrolments

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

50%

Deviation from average share of

pupils of the same age

40%

30%

20%

10%

-10%

-20%

-30%

-40%

0–2

3–5

6–8

9–11

Deviation from cut-off date in months

Restrictive cantons

Non-restrictive cantons

legend

Across Switzerland on average, 22% of pupils

in the third school year were born 0 to 2

months before or after the cut-off date.

In non-restrictive cantons this share (share of

people of the same age) is 39% lower.

62 Transfer

of media-specific competencies and IT during compulsory schooling

Data:

Educa (2021)

AR Be

Gl GR lu nW OW SG SH SO

VS uR ZG ZH

FR Ge

ne VD VS

■

Own subject (VD: integrated and standalone subject) ■ Included in other subjects ■ Included in cross-disciplinary teaching

■

No designated transfer

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Primary school level Institution

Teaching time

The average annual teaching time at primary level (3

–8

school year)

is about 819 hours in Switzerland. Cantonal deviations from the Swiss

average range from 11% more to 6% less teaching time. Accumulated over

six years of primary education, the pupils in Canton Obwalden there-

fore receive about 830 fewer hours of teaching than their counterparts in

Canton Geneva

(→ figure 63)

. The different teaching time in the cantons is

reflected first in the lesson time (45 or 50 minutes), second in the diverging

number of school weeks (36.5 weeks in Canton Ticino up to 40 weeks in

Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden) and third in the dif-

ferent number of weekly lessons (e.g. an average of 27 lessons in Canton

St. Gallen and an average of 32 lessons in Canton Ticino). Just under half

of cantonal differences in the overall teaching duration are due to the dif-

fering number of school weeks and just under a fifth by the varying lesson

durations.

63 Teaching

time at primary

level, 2021/2022 school year

Primary level (3

–8

school year);

deviation from Swiss median (819 h)

Data: EDK-IDES; calculations: SCCRE

BE-f

BE-d

VS-f

VS-d

FR-f

FR-d

-8%

-4%

12%

Integration and separation ratio at primary level

The organisation of special needs education within compulsory schooling

has been reoriented since the end of the 1990s. Instead of finding separative

solutions, the focus has since been on integrating special needs pupils into

regular classes. Since the 2017/18 school year, this reform can also be seen

in the special needs education statistics within the context of the mod-

ernisation of surveys in the FSO education area

(FSO 2019b, 2020d).

The

proportions of separately educated children vary greatly at the cantonal

level, although the national policy aim is to integrate the pupils into classes

as much as possible. There are also major cantonal differences in the struc-

turing of the integrative and separative school measures

(Sahli Lozano et

al., 2020, 2021).

A look at the cantonal separation ratios (2020/21) shows

that they move in a range of 1 to 7 %. Other intercantonal differences are

visible for similarly high separation ratios. While the cantons of Freiburg

and Neuchâtel show identical separation ratios, 15% of separately schooled

pupils in Canton Freiburg are in a special needs class, whereas just under

half of these children attend a special school in Canton Neuchâtel. The

cantonal ratios for special school classes range from 1 to 5% and for special

needs classes from 1 to 3%

(→ figure 64)

The different separation and, conversely, integration ratios are also

significant against the backdrop that not all special measures have to last

during the entire school career. The FSO longitudinal analyses show that

about 42% of pupils at primary level who were once taught separately are

now again integrated in a mainstream class during primary school. This

applies particularly to children who were allocated to a preparatory class of

limited duration or a class for foreign language speakers on starting school.

On the other hand, a change from special school to a mainstream class

is rather rare, which means that being allocated to a special school does

impact a child’s or young person’s long-term education path

(FSO, 2021l).

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Institution Primary

school level

64 Separation

ratio at primary level, 2020/21

–8

school year; including private institutions

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Special needs class

Special school

Separation ratio

The proportion of pupils in separate settings,

such as special needs classes and special

schools

Special needs classes

are preparatory classes,

classes for foreign language speakers and

other special needs classes

(FSO, 2019b).

Special needs classes count as part of main-

stream school.

Special schools

are educational institutions

within compulsory school that offer adjusted

teaching in special needs classes for pupils

with disabilities of varying types, major learn-

ing difficulties or pronounced behavioural is-

sues. The transfer to a special needs school is

subject to a cantonal authorisation procedure

(FSO, 2019b).

Integrative schooling and its impact

About 4% (2020/21) of all pupils in compulsory schooling receive en-

hanced special educational measures, regardless of whether they are in

a mainstream class, special needs class or special school. Just under half

of them are integrated in mainstream classes (inclusion rate). There are

also marked cantonal differences here

(→ figure 65)

. The advantages of an

inclusive approach (enhanced peer relations, improved wellbeing etc.)

have been confirmed by various studies for pupils in receipt of such sup-

port

(Balestra et al., 2022; Bless, 2018; Gebhardt et al., 2015 ; Kocaj et al.,

2014; Sallin, 2021; Sermier Dessemontet et al., 2014).

As children with spe-

cial educational needs are difficult to statistically track throughout their

education and beyond, there is not much empirical evidence on the long-

term consequences on the performance at school and labour market inte-

gration of these pupils. One longitudinal study with data from Canton

St. Gallen, however, indicates positive effects on performance in math-

ematics and German at lower-secondary level as well as for the subse-

quent labour market integration and salary level

(Sallin, 2021).

Empiri-

cally, the effect of integrative schooling on pupils with special measures

can be assessed as almost entirely positive throughout schooling. How-

ever, if there is a high proportion of integrated children in the class, it has

an adverse effect on the performance of the other pupils

(Balestra et al.,

2022).

The distribution of children in need of integrative education is thus

of central importance. As even a distribution as possible of these children

would mitigate the potentially negative consequences for the other pupils.

At the same time, the educational path of children with special measures

would be influenced in a positive way.

65 Integration

ratios, 2020/21

Proportion of all pupils with enhanced special

needs measures who attend a mainstream

class (1

–11

school year);

Appenzell Innerrhoden: data missing; Jura and

St. Gallen: the measures of the pupils in main-

stream classes are unknown.

Data: FSO

25%

50%

75%

100%

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Primary school level Effectiveness

effectiveness

The degree of achievement for all types of goals must be reviewed to assess

the effectiveness at primary level. That means performance in the core

academic subjects (school language, mathematics, natural sciences and

foreign languages) has to be measured and personal, social and method-

ical competencies as well as competencies in such areas as sustainability

or digitalisation (cross-disciplinary goals) have to be recorded. The vol-

ume of goals shows that comprehensive definition of the degree of goal

achievement at primary level is not possible and can only be addressed

in sections. In 2011, the EDK formulated national education goals in the

areas of languages, mathematics and natural sciences, the achievement of

which is only partially reviewed within the framework of Verification of

the Attainment of Basic Competencies (ÜGK). For example, at primary

level only the school and first foreign language have been covered thus far.

There is no national data for other subjects and areas, so that a nationwide

assessment of goal achievement at primary level is not possible. However,

some cantons conduct cantonal performance tests for other subject fields

(→ Compulsory education, page 27),

which is why cantonal data is used

in these cases. The national tests are part of the national training monitor-

ing. Its goal is to evaluate and compare the performance of the different

cantonal education systems

(Consortium ÜGK, 2019b).

Reviewing achievement of the basic competencies

In 2017, the basic competencies in the school language (reading and spell-

ing) and first foreign language (reading and listening skills) were measured

for the first time at the end of primary level. Across Switzerland, 88% of

pupils achieved the basic competencies in the school language for reading.

The figures at cantonal level vary between 81% and 91%

(→ figure 66)

. With

regard to achievement of the basic competencies in the first foreign lan-

guage, the figures differ depending on the first foreign language and com-

petency area. 86% of pupils who learn English as their first foreign language

achieved the basic competencies in the area of reading comprehension and

95% in listening comprehension. In cantons with French as the first foreign

language, the corresponding ratios are 65% (reading comprehension) and

89% (listening comprehension). In cantons with German as the first for-

eign language, on the contrast, the ratios are 72% (reading comprehension)

and 88% (listening comprehension)

(Consortium ÜGK, 2019b).

To explain

the different results between and within the cantons adequately, it would

take more information on classes or teaching staff; they are only available

to a limited extent, if at all. For a reliable interpretation of results, especially

the differences between cantons, the classes and teaching staff identifi-

ers would have to be checked

(Bonefeld & Dickhäuser, 2018; Glock & Kovacs,

2013; Krkovic et al., 2014; Lavy & Megalokonomou, 2019).

However, they

were inadequately accounted for in the surveys.

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Effectiveness Primary

school level

66 ÜGK

basic competencies in the school language and first foreign language

Share of pupils who have achieved the basic competencies

Data:

Consortium ÜGK (2019b)

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

VS-d

VS-f

FR-f

BE-d

FR-d

BE-f

Teaching language (L1) reading

First foreign language (L2) listening comprehension

use of digital technologies in school

The education goals for digitalisation are refer, inter alia, on the teaching

staff using suitable digital teaching aids and media and the children being

competent in using digital aids

(EDK, 2019a; 2021).

Therefore, there was

also a self-assessment of pupils’ skills with information and communica-

tion technologies at the end of primary level as part of the ÜGK. This data

shows – like many international studies

(Falck et al., 2018)

– a descriptive

positive connection between intensity of use and the evaluation by pupils

of their own ICT competencies

(→ figure 67)

. However, this connection can-

not be interpreted as causal. Research has also shown that there is only a

tenuous connection between self-assessment and actual competencies in

dealing with digital technologies

(Aesaert et al., 2017; Educa, 2021; Porat

et al., 2018; Senkbeil & Ihme, 2017).

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Primary school level Effectiveness

67 Use

of ICT at school and ICT competencies

Self-assessment of pupils in the context of ÜGK 2017, 8

school year

Data: ÜGK

2.5

2.4

2.3

2.2

Index on ICT use

2.1

2.0

1.9

1.8

FR-d

BE-f

VS-f

= 0.072

FR-f

BE-d

VS-d

1.7

1.6

1.5

-0.2

-0.1

0.0

0.1

0.2

Index on self-assessment of ICT competencies

The focus on availability and use of digital aids grew with the outbreak

of the pandemic and associated remote teaching. Three waves of surveys

between 2020 and 2022 led for the first time to the availability and use of

digital aids recorded in schools across Switzerland and across educational

levels

(Oggenfuss & Wolter, 2021b, 2021a).

As regards the use of digital

aids, these surveys show major regional language differences

(→ chapter

Compulsory education, page 27),

as well as differences between educa-

tion levels. As expected, computers, learning platforms and text process-

ing programmes at lower-secondary level are used more often than at pri-

mary level

(→ figure 68)

. Age plays a unique role in this regard. The older

the children, the more often they work with digital technologies

(Educa,

2021; Oggenfuss & Wolter, 2021a).

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Effectiveness Primary

school level

68 Use

of digital aids in school

Share of pupils reporting use for or at school; monitored for individual characteristics;

primary level: Pupils from 8 years of age

Data: Monitoring Digitalisierung; calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

Prim

Sec I

Prim

Sec I

Prim

Sec I

Prim

Sec I

Computer

Learning app

2020

2021

Learning platform

2022

Word processing

COVID-19 pandemic and development of school performance

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an unprecedented ces-

sation of face-to-face teaching and nationwide remote schooling. In con-

nection with the pandemic-induced extraordinary situation, the influence

on school closures and pupils’ acquisition of competencies in Switzerland

is also of particular interest. Internationally these findings are not uni-

form and are based on differential robust data bases

(Contini et al., 2021;

Engzell et al., 2021; Grätz & Lipps, 2021).

Regular learning progress evalua-

tions at cantonal level would be a prerequisite to gauge how school closures

impacted performance at school. The data thereby obtained would have

allowed for a comparison of results before and after the schools closed.

Adjustments to measuring instruments or postponements of the timing

of the survey in the 2020 pandemic year, however, render any compari-

son with other test years impossible in many cases

(→ chapter Compul-

sory education, page 27).

In the 2020/21 school year, the only available data for the primary

level is from the cantonal performance test in Canton Vaud and for the

fifth school year (so-called Check P3) from the cantons of Northwest-

ern Switzerland (Aargau, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt and Solothurn).

Comparing the results of the surveys in 2020 with those of the last tests

before the pandemic

, there is a small performance improvement follow-

ing the school closures in Canton Vaud and in the north-western can-

tons. At first glance such performance gains are unexpected, but similar

outcomes have also been observed to a certain extent in other countries

(Borgonovi & Ferrara, 2022).

Taking account of the test results from the

years preceding 2019, the test results consistently show fluctuations, some

of which are extreme. In Canton Vaud, depending on the field, the cantonal

No surveys were conducted in the canton of Vaud in the 2019/20 school year.

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Primary school level Effectiveness

69 Test

result fluctuations,

Canton Vaud

The average share comprises the points

achieved as a ratio of the maximum points;

there were no surveys in the 2019/2020

school year.

Data: Canton Vaud; chart: SCCRE

90%

85%

80%

75%

70%

65%

60%

55%

50%

2016/17

2020/21

2018/19

2015/16

2017/18

average of the points total achieved in the different subjects (mathematics,

French or natural sciences) shows a fluctuation of up to 10%

(→ figure 69)

Therefore, bypassing a straightforward comparison of the performance

data following the school closures with the previous year’s data and com-

paring it with the long-term average instead, for the cases reviewed, there

was no significant increase or decline in test performance for 2020. In the

case of north-western Switzerland, there are also two trends in time in evi-

dence: one rising up to 2016 and one decreasing afterwards

(→ figure 70)

If a forecast had been made for the test results in 2020 based on the 2016

trend, the performance improvement after the school closures would have

been far more positive than a simple year-on-year comparison would have

indicated. Overall, however, it is reasonable to assume that cohort-specific

effects, changes to test questions or measurement errors over the years lead

to much greater changes than the year-on-year deviations witnessed in the

year of the school closures. These performance measurements only help to

a certain extent to measure the effects of extraordinary events

(→ chapter

Lower-secondary education, page 83).

French 4

school year

French 6

school year

Mathematics 6

school year

Mathematics 8

school year

70 Fluctuations

in the test results,

north-western Switzerland education area

Standardised values per test subject, measured over the whole period for all four cantons;

deviation from the longstanding average (2013–2020) per subject

Data: check data from the Northwestern Switzerland; calculations: SCCRE,

Centre for Research in Economics of Education at the University of Bern

0.25

0.20

0.15

Standard deviation

0.10

0.05

0.00

-0.05

-0.10

-0.15

-0.20

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Mathematics

2018

2019

2020

Reading ability

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Efficiency/costs Primary

school level

efficiency/costs

In order to adequately measure efficiency, it takes comparable data on the

real or monetary input indicators, on the one hand, and meaningful out-

puts on the other (performance measurements for the system). The rela-

tionship between use of resources and target achievement could be eval-

uated in two ways on that basis: one way is to analyse how economical

non-monetary or monetary means can be used to achieve education targets,

or whether the resources used can yield a maximum return. While the

data on monetary inputs (public education expenditure) is of good qual-

ity, there is only limited data at the national level for the real input and out-

put factors. Currently, the only national performance data on outputs is

ÜGK 2017 (school language and first foreign language). It is further com-

plicated by the data often only being at cantonal level and not at school

level

(Wolter et al., 2020),

leading to outcomes that are either difficult to

interpret or liable to inadmissible comparisons. For that reason, as with the

entire Swiss education system, it is almost impossible to make any state-

ments regarding efficiency for the primary level, so that only the differ-

ences between the real inputs (class sizes, student-teacher ratio and repe-

titions) as well as between costs are outlined below, without any reference

to corresponding outputs.

Development in public education expenditure

The statistics on spending for primary level education are based, as for the

entire field of compulsory education, on calculations that take account of

payments made at municipal and cantonal level. Such financial figures are

often subject to compulsory or at least optional referenda. As a result, the

aggregated figures for each educational level are only known after a con-

siderable delay. The latest figures relate to 2019. The calculations of can-

tonal expenditure are still not based on a uniform cost accounting model.

Therefore, only some expenditure categories are considered, for which the

maximum possible comparability eligibility is likely. This includes figures

on staff pay or rather for teachers’ pay. On average, real education costs in

Switzerland increased between 2008 and 2019 by 19% per pupil in the first

and second school year and 30% per pupil in the third to eighth school year

(→ figure 71)

. In many cantons, the public cantonal education expenditure

(only teaching staff ) has risen in real terms per pupil since 2008. Although

more was invested in each schoolchild on average, education costs for com-

pulsory schooling per adult (the over-20 age category was used for sim-

plification purposes) did not rise in all cantons. Where they did rise, the

increase was normally smaller than expenditure per pupil

(→ figure 72)

71 Development

in education

expenditure at primary level,

2008–2019

Only teacher remuneration;

education expenditure per pupil

Data: FSO; calculations: FSO

16,000

14,000

12,000

10,000

In CHF

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019

–2

school year

–8

school year

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Primary school level Efficiency/costs

72 Education

expenditure 2008–2019 per pupil and per adult

Only teacher remuneration; compulsory school 1

–11

school year overall

(current data per canton not available by level); data for Canton Thurgau is missing

Data FSO; calculations: SCCRE

25%

Developments in education expenditure per adult

20%

15%

10%

-5%

-10%

TI OW

-5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Development in education spending per pupil

Class size development

In the past 20 years, the number of pupils and the number of classes at

primary level have both increased. Over the same period, class sizes at

primary level have been relatively stable on average at about 19.4 pupils

per class. However, there is a marked difference when the deviation

(2020/2021 school year) from the longstanding average is considered in

terms of small, average and large classes. The number of small (+ 13%) and

medium classes (+ 12%) increased significantly relative to the long-term

average (2000–2020). The number of large classes with over 24 pupils, on

the other hand, were about 40% lower relative to the long-term average.

However, as there was only a small number of large classes at the start of

the 2000s, this marked reduction has a minor influence on average class

size at primary level. While earlier evaluations on class size development

in connection with pupil numbers indicate that the number of large classes

increases in tandem with growing pupil numbers

(SCCRE, 2014),

current

developments show that rising pupil numbers are being absorbed by more

small and especially medium-sized classes.

Class sizes and municipality-specific characteristics

In the 2020/21 academic year, Swiss municipalities had an average class

size of 19.1 pupils at primary level. Interestingly, class sizes in municipali-

ties with a small number of pupils are not generally small, instead they fluc-

tuate greatly. If the number of pupils increases in a municipality, the aver-

age class size increases and evens out at around 20 children per class. The

major differences in average class size between the cantons, are only based

to an extent on the different topographical situation of the municipalities

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Efficiency/costs Primary

school level

or different demographic samples

(→ figure 73)

. With or without consid-

ering these factors, the intercantonal differences remain just as signifi-

cant

(SCCRE, 2018).

Taking into account that the literature on the effects

of class sizes on pupils’ performance shows no or only a limited effect of

small classes on pupils’ performance

(Angrist et al., 2019; Filges et al., 2018;

Leuven & Lokken, 2017),

it is reasonable to assume that there is considera-

ble potential for efficiency increases in municipalities with fewer than 300

pupils and in some cantons.

73 Cantonal

deviation from

average class size, 2020/21

Only mainstream schools; 3

–8

school year;

cantonal deviation in number of pupils from

municipality average; green bars: number of

pupils, size of the municipality, urbanisation

level considered

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Intercantonal comparison of student-teacher ratio

Class size is much less of a factor than the student-teacher ratio as regards

education costs: the student-teacher ratio is a more reliable indicator for

calculating costs than average class size alone, as it takes more than one

teacher to teach a class – calculated as full-time equivalents (FTE). Even

when a class is large, it doesn’t necessarily mean the student-teacher ratio is

bad. This is often overlooked when analysing the effects of class size (effec-

tiveness) on pupil performance. The national average student-teacher ratio

is 14.9 pupils per FTE of a teacher (average class size is 19.1 children, main-

stream classes). A comparison of average class sizes against student-teacher

ratios at cantonal level

(→ figure 74)

, shows that the classes in cantons Val-

ais and Zurich are disproportionately high as are the student-teacher ratios.

The classes in Canton Graubünden are small and the student-teacher ratios

disproportionately low. While it is clear in terms of costs, that small classes

and good student-teacher ratios cost more

(→ Student-teacher ratio and

costs, page 74),

it is hard to gauge, inter alia, the effects of both factors

on pupil performance. It is also not clear how a specific relationship of

both factors impacts pupil performance – i.e. whether large classes with

an improved student-teacher ratio are better for school success, or whether

an average student-teacher ratio and small classes are more advantageous.

That the effect of both factors cannot be assessed is due to an extent to

there being different ways of structuring the teaching staff to children

ratio. There is a weak positive correlation

(→ figure 75)

between the stu-

dent-teacher ratio and the level of reading comprehension in the school lan-

guage data (ÜGK 2017) if possible structural specifics are left out of account.

-4

-2

Deviating pupil number

Effectively observable

Community characteristics taken

into account

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Primary school level Efficiency/costs

75 Reading

performance

and student-teacher ratio

at primary level

Proportion of pupils having achieved basic

competencies in the school language

(L1; reading comprehension) (ÜGK 2017);

student-teacher ratio: 3

–8

school year

in the 2016/2017 school year

Data: ÜGK, FSO

74 Student-teacher

ratio and class size at primary level by canton,

2020/21

Only mainstream classes (3

–8

school year); student-teacher ratio:

number of pupils per teacher as full-time equivalent (FTE)

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Class size (number of pupils)

92%

OW LU BE

TI AG

90%

Basic competencies achieved (L1)

88%

86%

84%

82%

Student-teacher ratio (number of pupils per FTE)

80%

78%

Student-teacher ratio

Student-teacher ratio and costs

Besides the rising cost of hiring teachers and financing various new tasks

(e.g. including kindergarten in compulsory schooling) the class size reduc-

tions or student-teacher ratio improvements are major cost drivers

(SCCRE,

2018).

This measure is often counted among the top education policy

priorities, even if it is costly and has a questionable influence on the effec-

tiveness of education. It not infrequently stems from the hope that smaller

classes have a positive impact on pupil performance. Such effects, however,

are not generally backed up by the data. If such an effect occurs, it can often

only be proven for specific pupil groups and under very precise conditions

(Bach & Sievert, 2019; Filges et al., 2018).

The cost impact of smaller classes ultimately depends on different Fac-

tors (OECD, 2016c, 2019b, 2021a). The calculation model of the Organisa-

tion for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a helpful tool

for calculating the cost of improving the student-teacher ratio – specifically

the reduction of the student-teacher ratio by one pupil per teacher (FTE) –

and comparing this result against other cost parameters. Conversely, the

results also show by what percentage the average teacher salary could be

raised if the student-teacher ratio were not improved. Salaries could be

increased by at least 5.5% (Canton Valais) and a maximum of 8.9 % (Canton

Jura). The amounts vary in absolute terms among the cantons from plus CHF

5620 a year (Canton Valais) and plus CHF 9030 (Canton Jura)

(→ figure 76)

; the

national average is CHF 7150 a year.

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Efficiency/costs Primary

school level

76 Pay

increase for teachers if student-teacher ratio is raised

2019/20 school year; increase in teacher salary per year in percent if an improvement of one

pupil in the student-teacher ratio were to be waived; due to missing data on teacher salaries,

the cantons of Geneva, Ticino and Vaud have been omitted.

Data: BKZ, SER; calculations: SCCRE

77 Public

opinion

on smaller classes

Agreement on smaller classes; population

survey with and without information on educa-

tion costs (see comment on chart below)

Data:

Cattaneo & Wolter (2021)

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

VS-d

VS-f

FR-d

FR-f

BE-f

BE-d

With information

USA

Without information

These calculations are far from trivial and provide an effective means for

assessing the efficiency of the education system as they show there are

always alternative ways of allocating additional funds. International sur-

veys show

(Cattaneo & Wolter, 2021),

that the population prefers for smaller

class sizes, but only if they don’t know the ensuing costs

(→ figure 77)

The specific choice of expenditure can only be evaluated if the impact is

also known. If increasing teachers’ salaries had a more positive impact on

pupil performance (selection of better teachers, motivational effect etc.)

than reducing class sizes by one child, this variant would be both more

effective and more efficient; it would thus be preferable to reducing class

size.

The Swiss population has been surveyed on

various education topics for about ten years

(Opinion surveys on education). Regarding

increased education expenditure, they were

asked, which of the following three measures

they would prefer: lower class sizes, higher

teachers’ salaries or more money for new

books and technologies. Only a subsample

was informed about the costs of the measures

(Cattaneo & Wolter, 2021).

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Primary school level Efficiency/costs

education paths and repetitions

The efficiency of an education system is also reflected in the average indi-

vidual duration of compulsory schooling. However, duration only provides

limited information on efficiency, as the impact of repetitions is also one of

the inadequately researched subjects. In order to measure efficiency, it must

be known which repetitions would have been avoidable if adequate meas-

ures had been taken in the education system. It would also be important

to know whether the costs of avoiding repetition would have been lower

than the actual repetition costs. If pupils derive some benefit from repeat-

ing a school year, that would have to be factored into the cost of repeating

a year.

The longitudinal data for compulsory schooling allows us in the

first instance to calculate the actual duration of schooling of the pupils at

primary level

(FSO, 2021l).

About 7 % of pupils repeat a school year at pri-

mary level. Boys, children with a migration background and pupils whose

parents are less educated are more likely to repeat a year

(→ figure 78)

78 Repetition

rate at primary level by individual characteristics

Average values for primary level (3

–8

school year; monitored for various background

variables; 1

generation: Foreign nationals born outside Switzerland; 2

generation:

Foreign nationals born in Switzerland

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

10%

–7

school year

2.5%

2.0%

Non-foreign

language speaking

Foreign

language speaking

Total

Boys

Youngest

Swiss

generation

Girls

Oldest

generation

1.5%

1.0%

0.5%

0.0%

Repetition of the 3

-7

school year

Repetition of the 8

school year

7 As it is not known whether repetitions are good or bad for the individual child, the subject

of repetitions is not included in the Equity chapter.

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Efficiency/costs Primary

school level

The repetition rate averages 1.2% over all school years (3

–8

school year).

The last year of primary school is an exception. Only 0.7 % of children

repeat it, so it is extremely rare. In cantons Glarus, Nidwalden, Obwalden,

Uri and Zug, the last year of primary level is not repeated at all

(→ figure 79)

In some cantons, repeating the last school year of primary school is

regulated more restrictively than repeating an earlier class. Nonetheless

pupils do still repeat the last year in these cantons as well (e.g. Canton

Neuchâtel).

79 Repetition

rate at primary level by canton

School cohorts that joined the 3

school year in 2013/14, observation up to 2018/19; only children enrolled in school on time considered;

Fribourg and Valais missing because they cannot be clearly assigned; TG: only once during primary level, AI: Repetition of the 8

school year is not

possible, GR: repetition of the 8

school year is not possible if it influences the requirement profile (lower sec.).

Data: FSO (LABB), EDK-IDES; calculations: SCCRE

14%

12%

10%

TG CH

NW SO

Repetition generally allowed

Repetition generally allowed (8

Repetition only in exceptional cases

Repetition generally

and 2

school year only in exceptional cases)

allowed (except 1

school year)

Repetition of the 3

–7

school year

Repetition of the 8

school year

Regardless of how the repetitions are regulated in the cantons, the can-

tonal repetition rates vary strongly. Assuming that the effectiveness of

repetition and its efficiency do not vary greatly among the cantons, the

major cantonal differences indicate that there are either too many repeti-

tions in some cantons or too few in others. In view of the social and private

costs, it would thus be worth taking a closer look at the effectiveness and

efficiency of repeating a year. The comparison of achieving basic compe-

tencies between pupils who have or have not repeated a year

(→ figure 80)

can neither be an indication of the effectiveness nor ineffectiveness of

repetitions: it is unknown how many children who have not achieved basic

competencies and have not repeated a year would achieve the basic com-

petencies by repeating a year. At the same time, it is unclear how many

pupils who repeated a year and achieve the basic competencies would have

succeeded in doing so without repeating.

80 Repetition

rate and

performance

Repeating from the 5

–8

school year;

basic competencies in reading performance

(school language), monitored for various

background variables

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

Repeated

Not repeated

Didn't achieve basic competencies

Achieved basic competencies

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Primary school level Equity

equity

Equality of opportunity at primary level can be considered on the basis

of various criteria. The question is whether all pupils are given the same

opportunity to realise their full educational potential regardless of their

gender and social background. This question cannot be answered at pri-

mary level due to a lack of repetitive and standardised performance tests.

Moreover, this question cannot normally be conclusively answered for an

individual or a specific group of pupils, as their educational potential is

unknown. Nonetheless, group-specific performance differences or differ-

ences in the educational path are analysed in this chapter. Such compar-

isons carry the most impact when applied to groups of people, for exam-

ple boys and girls, about whom it can be assumed that they would have

the same average educational potential. We allocate persistent differences

in the educational performance of these groups mainly to a lack of equity.

The other group comparisons must always be viewed subject to the caveat

that differences do not always have to stem from a breach of the equity

requirement.

Age-dependent performance in the 2017 ÜGK survey

School performance is not only influenced by the duration and intensity of

the schooling, but also by extracurricular learning activities, which can be

both formal and informal. The possibility of benefiting from these extra-

curricular activities depends on the pupil’s age. That means pupils from

the same school year perform differently at school depending on their bio-

logical age

(Dhuey & Bedard, 2006; Elder & Lubotsky, 2009; Fumarco et al.,

2022; Givord, 2020; Sprietsma, 2010).

As the biological age is not taken into

account when assessing performance at school, pupils who are among the

youngest in a class are at a potential disadvantage. If all the children in

the year were to start school according to their birthday, the maximum

age difference in a class would be twelve months. However, if some chil-

dren are kept back for strategic reasons, because the parents hope they

will benefit considerably from an even greater age difference, the disad-

vantages for their younger fellow pupils can be even worse. These compli-

cations can make their presence felt over an extended period and even for

the duration for the younger pupils’ education

(Görlitz et al., 2019).

These

relative age effects (RAE) can also be empirically observed in Switzerland.

They are apparent in reading performance at the end of primary level: the

closer the child’s birthday to the cantonal cut-off date, the worse their

ÜGK performance. For every extra month in terms of age, the likelihood

of being in the worst performing group decreases by 0.2 percentage points

(→ figure 81)

. Although this effect does not appear significant at first glance,

it extrapolates to a difference of 2.4 percentage points over a year. Interest-

ingly, these relative age effects almost always apply to girls. They are not

statistically significant for boys. The difference between the genders is due

to boys who were born closer to the cut-off date for starting school being

more likely to be kept back a year than the girls. This practice of keeping the

boys back means there are no more relative age effects for boys who start

school as soon as they can. However, it also means that those who are kept

back would have been among the weaker pupils in terms of performance.

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Equity Primary

school level

The open question is therefore why this practice of keeping the child back

a year only applies to boys and not girls. In other words, why do parents

of girls or the school authorities accept the relative age effect for girls but

not for boys.

81 Relative

age effect by gender, 2016/17

Data: FSO (LABB), ÜGK; calculations: SCCRE

legend

For each additional month of age, the proba-

bility of being in the lowest performance group

quintile) decreases by 0.2 percentage

points (in total).

Reading performance in school language

quintile

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Deviation from estimated median value (percentage points)

Total

Boys

Girls

Socioeconomic background and performance in ÜGK 2017

The influence of socioeconomic background on school performance is well

documented on the national and international level

(Hussmann et al., 2017;

Mullis et al., 2016; OECD, 2021a).

Across Switzerland, PISA surveys have

been used the most to research the issue in the past, as they show the influ-

ence of socioeconomic background on school performance at the end of

compulsory schooling. With the ÜGK at the end of primary school, this

phase of the educational path can now be analysed similarly in all can-

tons. As shown already with the PISA results, the cantons do not just dif-

fer in terms of pupils’ average school performance, but how strongly the

children’s socioeconomic background is related to individual school per-

formance

(→ figure 82)

. In cantons in which socioeconomic background

accounts for a very high proportion of individual performance variance, i.e.

where the influence of the socioeconomic background is strong, the average

number of pupils to achieve the basic competencies is not higher than vice

versa. There is thus no evening out effect. This finding also applies to the

other part of the performance spectrum

(→ figure 82)

. Intercantonal com-

parison shows that low socioeconomic influence on school performance

does not mean that a canton has many substandard pupils, nor that it has

fewer very good pupils.

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Primary school level Equity

82 ÜGK

reading competencies in school language and influence of social background on performance

The figures show the proportions (basic competences achieved or pupils belonging to the highest performance quintile in Switzerland)

given the same composition of pupils. Share of performance variance explained by socio-economic background (SES)

Data: FSO (LABB), ÜGK; calculations: SCCRE

Basic competences

98%

Proportion in the highest performance quintile

98%

96%

AchAchid ved the ibacoc competes ces

ieve e the bas c si mpetenc n

96%

94%

92%

90%

88%

86%

86%0.02

0.02

0.06

35%

Highest performance quintile

VS_d

30%

VS_f

25%

VS_d

FR_f

BE_f

GR GL

FR_d

TG GR

VS_f JU

VS_f JU SO

FR_f

SG BE_f

BE_d OW

UR FR_f

FR_d BE_f SZ

BE_d OW

FR_d

0.10

0.14

20%

BE_d

0.18

0.22

0.26

15%

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

Share of variance explained

legend

In the canton of Zug, the proportion of variance in reading achievement explained by SES is above average. Given the same pupil composition,

93% of the pupils in the canton of Zug achieve the basic competencies (figure on the left).

Transfer to a class with extended requirements in Sec 1

Most cantons know the shared model with different requirement profiles

at lower-secondary level. The end of primary school time is therefore a key

point for many children’s educational path, because it leads to a decision as

to whether they will transfer to a class with extended requirements or one

with basic requirements. The ÜGK (school language and first foreign lan-

guage in the eighth school year) enables initial calculations of these factors

that influence this transfer taking account of school performance when the

decision is made

(→ figure 83)

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Equity Primary

school level

83 Transfer

to a class with heightened lower-secondary level

requirements

Estimated probabilities, taking account various control variables

Data: FSO (LABB), ÜGK; calculations: SCCRE

Highest performance quintile

High SES

Girls

Foreign language speaking

Delayed start to schooling

Repeaters

-20

-10

Percentage Points

legend

Girls have a 3.2 percentage point higher probability than boys of transferring to a class with

heightened requirements. Whoever repeats a class, on the other hand, has a 14.9 percentage

point lower likelihood of such a transfer.

long baccalaureate cycle and socioeconomic background

In ten German-speaking cantons (Appenzell Innerrhoden, Glarus,

Graubünden, Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden, St. Gallen, Uri, Zug and

Zurich) pupils can join a long baccalaureate cycle straight from primary

level

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools, page 155).

About 3000 pupils

per year (4.7 %) make use of this opportunity in the cantons named. Unsur-

prisingly, children of the highest-performing group are more likely to join a

long baccalaureate cycle. The prospect of joining a long baccalaureate cycle,

however, also varies greatly among the best performing children depend-

ing on their parents’ socioeconomic background

(→ figure 84)

84 Transfer

to long baccalaure-

ate cycle by social background

Likelihood of transferring to a long bacca-

laureate cycle (LZG); social background:

socioeconomic background and parents’

education considered; only pupils in the best

performance quintile considered (ÜGK 2017,

school year, school language)

Data: FSO (LABB), ÜGK; calculations: SCCRE

0.30

Estimated probability of transfer to LGZ

0.25

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00

Total

Low

High

Social background of children in

highest performance quintile

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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LOWER-SECONDARY

EDUCATION

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lower-secondary education Context

Context

Forming part of compulsory schooling, lower-secondary education is the

continuation of basic primary level education and prepares students for

upper-secondary education once compulsory schooling has been com-

pleted. The growth in pupil numbers that has been observed at primary

level in recent years subsequently became apparent at lower-secondary

level as well after a delay of a couple of years. In school year 2020/21, the

number of pupils was around 264,800, an increase of 6% since 2016 (low-

est level most recently). According to the forecast of the Federal Statistical

Office (FSO), this growth will continue. At lower-secondary level, demo-

graphic developments led not only to an increase in the number of pupils

but also to a change in the composition of the pupil population, particularly

in terms of sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

Development of and forecast for pupil numbers

A glance at past years shows that pupil numbers at lower-secondary level

reached a minimum in the 2016/17 school year. At that point, the number

was 17 % lower than in 2005 (highest value since 1999). Under the influence

of the demographic trend that had previously had an impact at the lower

levels, pupil numbers also began to rise again at lower-secondary level from

2017/18. This is mainly attributable to the increase in birth rates since 2004.

According to the FSO’s forecast, pupil numbers will continue to grow at all

levels of compulsory schooling in the coming years up to 2031

(FSO, 2021k).

85 Development

of pupil numbers and forecast for Sec I

Deviations from the historic peak since 1999 and from the 2020 figures until 2031

on the basis of the reference scenario

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

35%

30%

25%

Deviation, 2020–2031

20%

15%

10%

-5%

-10%

-15%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

10%

20%

30%

Deviation from historic peak (since 1999)

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Context lower-secondary

education

As the dynamics of population growth differ across cantons, the develop-

ment in pupil numbers will also vary considerably from canton to canton

(→ figure 85)

. In comparison with the highest value since 1999, cantons such

as Aargau, Basel-Stadt, Geneva and Zurich will see higher pupil numbers

than ever before (see chart

figure 85

at top right). Even though these can-

tons temporarily had falling numbers in recent years and can therefore “fill

up” schools in some places, higher investments are nevertheless likely to

be required due to the high growth in pupil numbers.

Composition of pupil population at lower-secondary level

The important exogenous parameters for schools and their teaching

include the migration background of pupils and their first language,

i.e. the language they learnt at home first. Around 20 years ago, 82% of

pupils spoke the language of instruction at home

(→ figure 86)

. Between

2000 and 2020, this proportion fell to 68%. This decline occurred dur-

ing a period in which the share of foreign-language-speaking pupils in the

group of foreign nationals remained unchanged. The proportion of for-

eign-language-speaking children among pupils with Swiss citizenship

increased. This development is attributable not to immigration of fami-

lies from another language region in Switzerland but to naturalisations

of foreign-language-speaking pupils. This indicates that the influence of

migration flows on Swiss schools will be underestimated if only pupil

nationality is considered

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools, page 155).

Anyone who wishes to apply for Swiss citizenship must meet numer-

ous requirements and overcome several hurdles

(FSO, 2020c).

Naturalisa-

tions therefore indicate a certain willingness to integrate. Recent analyses

of the causal effect of naturalisations with a quasi-experimental research

design

suggest that naturalised individuals do subsequently integrate bet-

ter at a social level and earn a higher income in the long term than com-

parable individuals who did not acquire Swiss citizenship

(Hainmüller et

al., 2017, 2019; Street, 2017).

In connection with these research results, the

increase in the number of foreign-language-speaking pupils at lower-sec-

ondary level should not be interpreted merely as a complicating factor for

schools but also as a positive development. In Switzerland, almost twice as

many adolescents over the age of 15 became naturalised as children under

(FSO, 2020c).

The reason for this is that older children are more likely

to have parents who have lived in Switzerland for at least 10 years, which

is a requirement for obtaining Swiss citizenship. This is also evident in the

analysis of a pupil cohort of foreign 10-year-olds. Five years later, around a

quarter of these children had Swiss citizenship.

86 Pupils

in lower-secondary

education by nationality and

first language, 2000 and 2020

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

2000

2020

Total

Swiss

nationals

Foreign

nationals

Foreign language speaking

Non-foreign language speaking

1 Since it is not a random matter of who applies for citizenship and who eventually becomes

naturalized, naturalized and non-naturalized individuals differ in terms of unobservable char-

acteristics that distort the results. Therefore, analyses of the impact of naturalization require

complex research methods that take a systematic selection bias into account.

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lower-secondary education Context

High-risk schools in Switzerland

Various studies of academic achievement show that pupils who speak a foreign

language at home or come from less educated families have a higher individ-

ual risk of performing worse at school than their fellow pupils

(→ figure 87)

In addition, the performance of these children can be further weak-

ened if there are many foreign-language-speaking children from unedu-

cated families in the same class. It is therefore especially challenging for

schools and teaching when the proportion of pupils with risk factors is

high. Many studies show that there is a tipping point for these effects.

Where the proportions are low, no change is visible. From a certain share

upwards, often around 20% high-risk pupils, the negative effects become

apparent and after that achievement deteriorates not in a linear fashion but

exponentially

(Coradi Vellacott et al., 2003).

A further distinction must be

made between the effects that relate to the high-risk pupils themselves

and those that have an impact on the other children. From a rate of 40 to

50% high-risk pupils in a class, negative effects also become visible in the

academic achievements of the other children. Risk factors that are asso-

ciated with worse school performance include on the one hand the par-

ents’ education and on the other foreign nationality combined with speak-

ing a foreign language. In Switzerland, 12% of pupils at lower-secondary

level come from uneducated families whose parents completed compul-

sory education at most. 17 % are foreign nationals who speak a foreign lan-

guage. Around 6% of adolescents have both risk factors. As no comprehen-

sive data is available about the educational background of the parents of all

children in Switzerland

, only the distribution of pupils with the second

characteristic can be observed. With a proportion of 17 %, an equal distri-

bution of pupils across schools and classes would fundamentally be possi-

ble. Looking at schools, 11% of lower-secondary level schools in Switzerland

have more than 30% foreign-language-speaking foreign nationals among

their pupils (referred to hereafter as high-risk schools). The differences

between cantons are significant, both in terms of the share of these pupils

in the overall pupil population and the proportion of high-risk schools

(→ figure 88)

. Overall, it is apparent that the distribution of high-risk pupils

is less equal at school level than at class level; in other words, the con-

centration at school level is more pronounced

(→ chapter Primary school

level, page 53).

87 PISA

scores in reading

by risk factors, 2018

Deviation from the average PISA reading

score of 15-year-olds in Switzerland, taking

into account individual characteristics

Data: OECD; calculations: SCCRE

Migration

background

Parents' education:

mandatory schooling

Foreign-language

speaking

All three risk factors

-60

-40

-20

PISA points

legend

Foreign-language-speaking school pupils

who did not differ from average adolescents

in Switzerland in any other characteristics

achieved an average PISA score that was

30 points lower than the average of 15-year-

olds across Switzerland. This deviation is

statistically significant.

2 The educational background of the students is recorded only nationally for a sample. With

regard to the group of foreign language speakers, it should be taken into account that this they

also include young people whose parents have a high level of education (for example, expats).

This is relevant when interpreting the results of those cantons with a large number of well-

educated foreigners.

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Context lower-secondary

education

88 Proportion

of high-risk schools and high-risk pupils

by canton, 2019/2020

High-risk schools are schools with more than 30% foreign-language-speaking foreign nationals;

high-risk pupils are foreign-language-speaking foreign nationals

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

40%

35%

Proportion of high-risk schools

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

legend

In Canton Solothurn, a total of 22% of pupils

are foreign-language-speaking foreign nationals

and 32% of schools are high-risk schools.

In Canton Basel-Landschaft, which has a simi-

lar total percentage of foreign-language-speak-

ing foreign nationals among school pupils as

Canton Solothurn (20%), 9% of schools are

high-risk schools. The foreign-language-speak-

ing foreign nationals are concentrated in a

small number of schools and account for a

higher proportion than they do in the high-risk

schools in Canton Solothurn.

Proportion of foreign-language foreign nationals

Persistent uneven distribution across requirements profiles

As has already been observed in the past

(SCCRE, 2018),

pupils with poten-

tial risk factors are overrepresented in classes with basic requirements.

The latest figures also show that the composition of the pupil population

differs strongly depending on the requirements profile. With the tertiari-

sation process

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193),

the com-

position of the pupil population has also changed at lower-secondary level

over the last two decades

(→ figure 89)

. In 2003, around 30% of children in

the classes with basic requirements had parents who had completed ter-

tiary education. By 2018, this proportion had risen to over 50%. In classes

with advanced requirements, the increase was of a similar magnitude, but

it began from a higher level. The proportion of pupils whose parents had

a tertiary qualification stood at 66% in these classes in 2018. As a result,

schools are teaching more pupils whose parents tend to have higher edu-

cational expectations than was the case 20 years ago.

89 Educational

background

of pupils, 2003 and 2018

Highest qualification of parents according

to PISA 2003 and PISA 2018; pupils in the 11

school year. People who could not be assigned

to a requirements profile were excluded.

Data: OECD

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

Age heterogeneity in lower-secondary education

When pupils enter the lower-secondary school, they already have very dif-

ferent educational careers behind them that took place with or without

delays. On the one hand, there are already differences when pupils start

school, particularly given that many children begin kindergarten one year

later than scheduled. On the other, 7 % of children repeat at least one school

year at primary level

(→ chapter Primary school level, page 53).

This also

has an impact on age heterogeneity among pupils when they transfer to

lower-secondary school. The youngest are 11 years old, while the oldest have

2003

2018

2003

2018

Basic requirements

Extended

requirements

UAS, UTE, university

College of Higher education

Sec II

Compulsory education

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lower-secondary education Institutions

90 Age

distribution

by requirements profile

Only public schools, excl. special needs classes

and special schools; average figures for 2019

and 2020

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

50%

40%

already had their 14

birthdays. A comparison of the age distribution of the

two requirements profiles shows that pupils in classes with basic require-

ments are older on average than those in classes with advanced requirements

(→ figure 90)

. This can be explained by both the higher proportion of pupils

who were late in beginning primary school and the higher rate of children

who repeated a school year at primary level.

30%

20%

10%

Institutions

Since the implementation of the HarmoS Agreement

(EDK, 2007)

, low-

er-secondary level generally takes three years. This is also the case in

cantons which did not sign up to the Agreement. The only exception is

Canton Ticino, where secondary school lasts four years. With the introduc-

tion of

Lehrplan 21,

the term “third cycle” has also become established to

refer to lower-secondary level. In most cantons, the school years are called

the 9

to 11

school years, which is attributable to the integration of the

first two kindergarten years (previously the pre-school stage)

(→ chapter

Compulsory education, page 27).

11.5 12.0 12.5 13.0 13.5 14.0 14.5 15.0

Age in years

Extended requirements

Basic requirements

lower-secondary education models

In the

streamed model,

pupils are allocated to

two or three different requirements profiles on

the basis of an overall assessment. All subjects

are taught separately. The requirements pro-

files are called

Realschule, Sekundarschule

level A, B and C, for example.

The

cooperative model

usually comprises

two streamed core classes. The allocation

process is the same as for the streamed model.

Mathematics, teaching language and in some

cases also foreign languages are taught in

level-based courses that span the core classes.

The

integrated model

does not use perfor-

mance-based selection. The composition of

the primary classes is maintained. Mathe-

matics, teaching language and in some cases

also other subjects are taught in level-based

courses that span classes.

For over 20 years, Switzerland has had three structural models at lower-

secondary level which employ selection to differing extents. In around

half of cantons, only one model is permitted. The other cantons allow the

municipalities to choose between the different models

(

→

margin text,

page 88).

In a slight majority of cantons, either the cooperative model

or the integrated model is most common

(→ figure 91)

91 Most

common model in lower-secondary education

School year 2020/21

Data: EDK-IDES

Model

Streamed (number of profiles)

Cantons

AG (3), AI (2)*, BL (3), BS (3), FR (3), GE(3), GL (3)*, SG (2)*,

SH (2), SO (3), SZ (2), ZH (2, 3)*

BE, GR*, TG, VD, ZG*

AR, JU, LU*, NE, NW*, OW*, TI, UR*, VS

Cooperative

Integrated

* The cantons marked also have long-term and preparatory baccalaureate schools

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Institutions lower-secondary

education

The division into learning environments with homogeneous performance

levels makes the teaching of competencies easier as both content and teach-

ing methods can be better adapted to pupils’ needs. However, competency

development among the less talented or achievement-oriented learners

may suffer when classes have homogeneous performance levels. In addi-

tion, inappropriate allocations may reduce the advantages expected of

selection. Furthermore, separation deprives the weaker pupils in particu-

lar of the opportunity to be guided by their higher-achieving fellow stu-

dents. A current piece of research into the impact of integrated systems on

achievement points to a positive effect on the weaker-performing pupils

(Matthewes, 2018)

and for pupils with lower socioeconomic background

(Canaan, 2019).

The link between the degree of selection used in a school model and

performance and between performance and social origin in relation to the

school model has been studied regularly in the research

(Dustmann, 2004;

Felouzis & Charmillot, 2017).

In most studies, the majority of connections

reported are correlations rather than causal links.

A change in the requirements profiles is permitted in all school mod-

els to correct inappropriate allocations that occur during the selection pro-

cess. Since a change of level is also possible in certain subjects during the

school year in the cooperative and integrated models, these models are

more permeable than the streamed model. In total, only 3.5% of pupils

switched requirements profile in the years 2019 and 2020

(→ figure 92)

. As

expected, more changes occur in cantons in which only the cooperative

or the integrated model is permitted than in those which only allow the

streamed model.

In education statistics, pupils are divided in a simplified manner into

two requirements profiles, irrespective of the model: classes with basic

requirements and classes with advanced requirements (in the cooperative

and integrated models, the allocation is carried out on the basis of the lev-

el-based courses attended). The distribution of pupils across the different

requirements profiles

(→ figure 93)

differs greatly from canton to canton,

even for cantons with similar models. The proportion of pupils in classes

with basic requirements varies from 15% in Canton Lucerne to more than

43% in Canton Glarus. The sociodemographic composition of the pupil

population has a part to play in this, but it is not sufficient to explain the

stark differences between the cantons.

Ten cantons in the German-speaking part of Switzerland also have long-

term baccalaureate schools at lower-secondary level. In the other cantons,

pupils enter baccalaureate school after the 10

or 11

school years. Both are

possible in most German-speaking cantons, although transition after the

school year is the rule. In French and Italian-speaking Switzerland, the

transition to baccalaureate school takes place after completion of compul-

sory education, except in Canton Valais

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools,

page 155).

92 Change

of profile

in lower-secondary education

Public schools, excl. special needs classes and

special schools; excl. repetitions; by profile:

upwards from a class with basic requirements

to a class with advanced requirements and vice

versa; average value for the years 2019 and

2020

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Cooperative/

integrated

Streamed

By profile

Total

Upwards

Downwards

legend

By profile: 4.8% of pupils switched from a

class with basic requirements to a class

with advanced requirements without repeat-

ing the school year (upwards). In classes

with advanced requirements, 2.9% of pupils

switched to a class with less advanced

requirements (downwards).

3 In research, there is a distinction between within-school tracking (different requirement

profiles at the same school) and between-school tracking (allocation of students to different

schools or school buildings). The research results refer to the allocation among the various

schools.

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Lower-secondary education Institutions

93 School

pupils by requirements profile, 2020/2021

Public schools, excl. special needs classes and special schools; individual cantons which use

the integrated model assign pupils to the category “No selection”, other cantons allocate these

students to the different requirements profiles on the basis of the level-based courses.

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

94 Teaching

time at Sec I,

2021/22

Deviation from the average annual teaching

time in Switzerland (9

to 11

school year)

Data: EDK-IDES; calculations: SCCRE

Basic requirements

Extended requirements

Long baccalaureate cycle

Without selection

FR-f

FR-d

BE-f

BE-d

VS-f

VS-d

-100

-50

Hours (h)

Basic requirements

Extended requirements

100

teaching time

The average annual teaching time at lower-secondary level is around 982

hours in Switzerland. Cantonal deviations from the Swiss average are

substantial, ranging from 6% more to 10% fewer hours of teaching time

(→ figure 94)

. Even where the weekly number of periods remains the same,

there are still large differences due to the duration of the periods and

the number of school weeks. The most important contributory factor to

this is the duration of the periods. Individual cantons have adjusted their

timetables in connection with the harmonisation of structures and tar-

gets

(→ chapter Compulsory education, page 27),

but average cantonal

teaching times have not converged to a noticeable extent as a result

(SCCRE,

2018).

A convergence has been observed between the requirements pro-

files, however: classes with basic requirements only have shorter teach-

ing times than classes with advanced requirements in a small number of

cantons (Aargau, Appenzell-Innerrhoden; the opposite is true in Canton

Schwyz). This is relevant not only because the amount of teaching time

has a causal effect on school performance but also because teaching time

does not have the same impact on all pupils. In comparison with a low

requirements profile, an additional hour of teaching has double the effect

on school performance in classes with the highest requirements profile

(Cattaneo et al., 2017).

Consequently, pupils in classes with basic require-

ments would need more and not less teaching time to achieve similar

results to their fellow pupils in classes with advanced requirements. As a

real input factor in education, teaching time is a relevant parameter when it

compuL sory education

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Institutions lower-secondary

education

comes to drawing conclusions about the technical efficiency

of the use of

resources. Even if there is a causal relationship between teaching time and

individual school performance, the very low correlation between teach-

ing time and the proportion of pupils who achieve the basic competencies

(Consortium ÜGK, 2019a)

at cantonal level suggests that there is potential

to improve efficiency in most cantons.

Special needs education at lower-secondary level

The proportions of pupils with individual learning goals and pupils

educated separately in special schools varies strongly from canton to

canton

(→ chapter Primary school level, page 53).

However, there are

also significant differences between the educational levels in compulsory

schooling. A comparison of primary with lower-secondary level shows that

the proportion of pupils with one or more individual learning goals is high-

est at lower-secondary level, where it stands at over 5%. This proportion

quadruples between the 1

and 11

school years

(→ figure 95)

. The propor-

tion of pupils in special school classes and special needs classes (introduc-

tory classes, classes for foreign language speakers and other special needs

classes; classes for foreign language speakers mainly contain children and

adolescents who have only recently moved to Switzerland) also increases

with the transition from primary to lower-secondary level. This dispro-

portionate increase in separate schooling means that these pupils will not

return to mainstream classes as their education path progresses. Instead,

the separation is more often permanent

(Kronenberg, 2021; Lanners, 2020)

(→ chapter Compulsory education, page 27).

With the increase in the

number of separately schooled pupils, the initial differences in terms of

gender and migration background also become more pronounced

(Lanners,

2021).

95 Special

needs measures

and separation ratio by level,

2020/21

Proportion of pupils in the following categories:

enhanced measures (e.g. intensive special needs

support), curriculum adjustment (at least one

individually adjusted learning goal), special

needs classes (e.g. classes for foreign language

speakers), special schools (pupils with dis-

abilities in classes with adapted teaching);

separation ratio: total proportion of pupils

taught separately

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Separation rate

Special-needs

school

Special-needs

classes

Adapted curriculum

Strong measures

–2

school year

Sec I

–8

school year

4 For technical efficiency, the real input (school hours in this case) is important. This does not

have to be the same as economic efficiency, which considers the costs of teaching. If a canton

with a favourable input were to use many school hours, technical efficiency but not necessarily

the economic efficiency would be lower than in other cantons.

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lower-secondary education Effectiveness

effectiveness

96 Attainment

of basic

competencies in mathematics

Proportion of pupils who attained the basic

competencies in the overall mathematics scale;

ÜGK in 2016; deviation from average

Source:

Consortium ÜGK (2019a)

FR-f

VS-f

VS-d

FR-d

BE-f

BE-d

-30

-20

-10

To evaluate the effectiveness of lower-secondary education, it would be

necessary to assess the achievement of a wide range of different state school

goals to be attained by the end of compulsory schooling. The attainment

of basic competencies in mathematics, languages and natural sciences is

prioritised at both primary and lower-secondary level in Switzerland. In

addition, goals in the area of digital skills are also becoming increasingly

important. Alongside classic academic skills, the remit of state schools to

train and educate also covers the teaching of inter-disciplinary competen-

cies. As well as political education and education for sustainable devel-

opment

(→ chapter Compulsory education, page 27),

this includes

personal and social skills, which are also known as non-cognitive compe-

tencies

(→ chapter Cumulative effects, page 355).

If the focus is on effec-

tiveness, it is necessary to consider not just the question of whether this

large number of skills are attained (effectively) but also to look at factors

that are conducive or detrimental to the achievement of those goals, such

as school absenteeism or bullying.

The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) for-

mulated national education goals for basic competencies in the areas of

languages, mathematics and natural sciences in 2011 and reviewed them

throughout Switzerland within the verification of the attainment of basic

competencies (ÜGK)

(→ chapter Compulsory education, page 27).

lower-secondary level, the attainment of basic competencies in mathemat-

ics in the 11

school year was assessed in 2016

(→ figure 96)

. There is still

no data available for other areas at lower-secondary level, meaning that a

more comprehensive, Switzerland-wide evaluation of goal achievement

is not possible.

To review the effectiveness of lower-secondary education on both a sys-

temic and an individual level, another criterion must be taken into account

alongside the competence assessments: the successful achievement of the

transition to upper-secondary education

(→ chapter Upper-secondary edu-

cation, page 111).

This question is also crucial because the Confedera-

tion and the cantons have set an education policy objective that 95% of all

25-year-olds should have an upper-secondary level qualification.

Percentage points

Development of PISA results since 2000

The PISA study remains the only way of comparing the performance of

the Swiss education system internationally. Because competencies are

recorded using the multi-level competency framework, the results also

allow various analyses to be performed at a national level which would not

be possible without this data basis. When the verification of the attainment

of basic competencies (ÜGK) commenced, individual cantons stopped tak-

ing part in the PISA tests with additional random samples, meaning that

cantonal comparisons on the basis of the PISA tests are no longer possi-

ble (until 2012, there were representative samples for around ten cantons).

Twenty years after the first PISA measurements, Switzerland’s position in

these comparison tests has not changed significantly. While Switzerland

is still keeping pace with the best countries in mathematics (515 points

in 2018), it is only in the middle of the field of OECD countries when it

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Effectiveness lower-secondary

education

comes to reading (484) and natural sciences (495)

(Erzinger et al., 2019).

Viewed over the full 20 years, Switzerland’s adolescents did at least achieve

better results in most cases than the 15-year-olds in its neighbouring coun-

tries

(→ figure 97)

Its lead has shrunk considerably, however. The latest

PISA assessment, which was scheduled for 2021, was postponed due to

the COVID-19 pandemic and is being conducted in 2022 (focus on math-

ematics). The results will be published after the editorial closing date for

the Swiss Education Report. In 2025, the PISA assessment will focus on

natural sciences.

97 PISA

test scores, 2000–2018

Deviation from Swiss result for 15-year-olds;

from top to bottom: reading, mathematics,

natural sciences

Data: OECD

PISA points,

reading

-10

-20

-30

-40

2012

2006

2003

2000

2009

2018

Italy

2018

2015

effects of a change of canton on academic performance

In the Swiss education system, very few changes of school traditionally

take place that are associated with a change of canton

(→ chapter Compul-

sory education, page 27).

For decades, the low geographic mobility was

attributed not least to parents’ concerns, on account of the unharmonised

school system, that changing to the education system of another canton

would have academic disadvantages for their children and that long com-

mutes were therefore preferable to a change of canton. There have been

no studies of the effects of a change of canton on academic performance

in Switzerland to date. Like the majority of international studies on this

topic, studies on changes of school frequently suffer from the problem that

the results cannot be interpreted causally. Changes of school can also be a

consequence of academic problems rather than their cause. However, when

a change of school is associated with a relocation to a different canton, it

can be assumed that this is an exogenous event. On the basis of the ÜGK

data (2016), an analysis was performed to ascertain what effect a change of

canton before the ÜGK test had had on the pupils. No significant effect on

their test result was identified. It can therefore be assumed that the pupils

would have achieved a similar test result in their canton of origin. However,

the effects are heterogeneous

(→ figure 98)

. A statistically negative effect on

academic performance was identified for the sub-group of boys, but it was

only of a short-term nature: if the change of canton occurred more than

two years prior to the test, no negative effect was registered for this group.

Among girls, no short-term decline in academic performance was observed

either. Psychological research has found indications that girls may be able

to integrate into a new environment more quickly

(von Salisch et al., 2014),

which would explain this difference.

Germany

-10

PISA points,

mathematics

-20

-30

-40

-50

-60

France

Italy

-70

-80

2006

2003

2000

2009

2012

Germany

-10

-20

-30

-40

2006

2003

2000

France

Italy

PISA points,

natural sciences

Germany

Austria changed the sample in 2000, which is why the country is excluded here.

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2009

France

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lower-secondary education Effectiveness

COVID-19 pandemic and school performance

98 Academic

performance

and change of canton by gender

Deviation in academic performance

(ÜGK mathematics 2016) between pupils

who changed cantons and pupils who did

not change cantons (ÜGK mathematics:

performance is reported in logits);

boys: statistically significant deviation (p<0.01)

Source:

Angelone et al. (forthcoming)

0.05

0.00

-0.05

ÜGK logits

-0.10

-0.15

-0.20

-0.25

Total

Girls

Boys

99 Diagnostic

assessments

in the Canton Fribourg,

school year

French-speaking part of the Canton Fribourg;

grade scale of 1 to 6; blue marking: mean

value; green bars: quartile range (performance

range of the middle 50% of the sample); the

assessment was not conducted in 2020.

Data: SEnOF; calculations: SCCRE

5.1

4.9

4.7

Grade scale

Never before has there been a comparable cessation of on-site teaching and

introduction of nationwide remote schooling based on digital technolo-

gies as there was at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020

(→ chap-

ter Compulsory education, page 27).

The very sudden switch to remote

teaching led to a situation in which teaching varied greatly depending

on what equipment the school had and the digital skills of the teaching

staff. The influence of school closures on pupils’ competency acquisi-

tion is also of particular interest in the light of these extraordinary cir-

cumstances. Internationally, the findings on this question are inconsist-

ent, and the robustness of the data they are based on also varies

(Contini et

al., 2021; Engzell et al., 2021).

A single Swiss study covering the initial phase

of the pandemic showed different effects ranging from neutral to negative

depending on the level of education

(Tomasik et al., 2021).

In various can-

tons with regular diagnostic assessments, an important basic requirement

for investigating the influence of school closures on school performance

would fundamentally have been met. However, adjustments to measuring

instruments or postponements of the timing of the survey in a number of

cantons in the 2020 pandemic year made it impossible to compare the data

collected with that of previous years. In addition, the data often does not

contain details of the pupils’ sociodemographic origin, which rules out any

investigation of suspected heterogeneous effects.

At lower-secondary level, results are only available from the French-

speaking part of Canton Fribourg and from Canton Geneva. Although

the comparison of the Fribourg results in the years 2019 and 2021 (e.g. in

French) points to a negative effect of school closures, the inclusion of the

results from 2018 shows that the decline vis-à-vis 2019 does not prove a

negative impact of the pandemic on school performance

(→ figure 99)

. The

reason for this is that the results for 2021 were comparable to those of 2018;

what would actually have to be explained, therefore, is the positive per-

formance in 2019 (before the pandemic). This highlights the fact that, in

addition to extensive background information (sociodemographic data,

information on the measuring instrument and on the implementation of

the survey), long-term observations are also required to be able to correctly

interpret the effects of extraordinary events. The analysis from the Can-

ton Geneva, which covers several cohorts, also does not provide any indi-

cation of a connection between school closures and the school performance

of pupils in the 11

school year (school year 2020/21)

(Prosperi et al., 2022).

4.5

4.3

4.1

3.9

2019

2018

2019

2021

French (L1)

German (L2)

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Effectiveness lower-secondary

education

use of digital technologies in school

Interest in the availability and use of digital aids grew with the outbreak of

the pandemic and the associated use of remote teaching. The same applies

to the level of digital skills required for this among both pupils and teach-

ers. It became clear that Switzerland is lacking important statistics in this

regard.

According to the federal and cantonal education goals for digital skills,

the challenges of digitalisation must be incorporated into the educa-

tion system

(EAER & EDK, 2019).

Furthermore, teachers should be able

to employ suitable digital teaching aids and media and pupils should be

capable of using digital technologies competently

(EDK, 2019c).

To achieve

these goals, it is not sufficient for digital aids simply to be available and

in use; the fact that they are does fulfil an essential basic requirement,

however. In connection with the pandemic, the availability and inten-

sity of use of digital aids in the school context were assessed for the first

time across Switzerland and across the various educational levels in three

survey rounds between 2020 and 2022

(Oggenfuss & Wolter, 2021a, 2021b)

(→ chapter Compulsory education, page 27).

Depending on the type of

aid, the proportion of pupils who used computers and other digital aids in

or for school was between 72 and 93% in 2022

(→ figure 100)

100 Use

of digital aids in or for school in Sec I

Yes-proportions after controlling for individual background variables

Data: Monitoring Digitalisierung; calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

Computer

Word processing

Learning platform

Search engine

Learning app

101 Type

of use of digital aids

in schools

Deviation from proportion of lower-secondary

pupils who reported using digital aids for

the above purposes in 2020 (after controlling

for individual background variables)

Data: Monitoring Digitalisierung; calculations:

SCCRE

Group work

Presentation

Organisational

exchange

2022

2021

2020

Received tasks

digitally

-10

Percentage points

Two years after the school closures, a significantly higher number of pupils

reported using digital aids for presentations and group work than had been

the case in previous surveys

(→ figure 101)

. There are sizeable differences

between language regions, both in relation to the availability and the use

of digital technologies

(→ chapter Compulsory education, page 27).

Although neither the availability nor the intensity of use of digital aids are

a guarantee of their effective use for teaching purposes, a low intensity of

2021

2022

legend

In 2022, the proportion of pupils who reported

using digital aids for group work grew by 26

percentage points in comparison with the first

survey in 2020. The difference is statistically

significant.

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lower-secondary education Effectiveness

102 Use

of digital aids in the

classroom and PISA reading

score, 2018

Deviation from average PISA reading score of

adolescents in Switzerland when considering

individual characteristics; by duration of use

of digital aids in class

Data: OECD; calculations: SCCRE

More than 60 min.

31–60 min.

1– 30 min.

None

-30

-20

-10

PISA points

A lack of data also makes it impos-

sible to assess teachers’ skills in the

use of digital technologies. It can at

least be ascertained from the 2018

PISA study how school management

boards assessed the skills of their

teachers. Although this assessment

was positive overall, it must be as-

sumed that a third of adolescents are

being taught by teachers who mostly

do not have the required application

skills

(Educa, 2021).

use is at least an indication that potential positive effects of digitalisation

are not being exploited.

Numerous studies show a descriptive correlation between intensity of

use and school performance; this does not always have to be linear. How-

ever, such correlations generally cannot be interpreted causally. This is also

true of the available data from Switzerland, which shows a weak negative

correlation between intensity of use in teaching and PISA reading score

(→ figure 102)

. International research literature on the effective use of dig-

ital aids indicates that the type of use and the didactic context are decisive

when it comes to achieving better school performance with these tools

(Educa, 2021; Falck et al., 2018; Hull & Duch, 2019).

Furthermore, it is cru-

cial for pupils’ future education and for numerous professional fields that

they possess skills in the use of digital resources. The curricula for Switzer-

land’s language regions therefore contain corresponding objectives, cov-

ering both the use of information and data and application skills in the

area of digital technologies

(→ chapter Primary school level, page 53).

However, target achievement in relation to these points cannot be evalu-

ated for Switzerland due to a lack of data. Certain data on subjective assess-

ments can be derived from the PISA and ÜGK studies. It is also known

from research literature, however, that there is only a weak connection

between self-assessment and actual competencies in the use of digital

technologies

(Educa, 2021).

Pupils whose application skills are in fact poor

tend to overestimate their abilities

(Aesaert et al., 2017; Palczynska & Rynko,

2021).

During the 2018 PISA study, for example, around 70% of adolescents

stated that they had covered the handling of personal data in school

(Educa,

2021),

which does not necessarily mean that they actually achieved a cor-

responding learning objective. As part of the 2016 ÜGK survey, applica-

tion skills were recorded on the basis of self-assessments. Some 14% of

pupils estimated their ability to be so high that they could help others to

use computers (a further 36% “tended to” agree with this statement).

Absenteeism and school performance

Future educational success after compulsory schooling

(→ chapter

Upper-secondary education, page 111)

depends not only on cognitive

academic skills but also on non-cognitive competencies

(SCCRE, 2014,

2018).

There are numerous non-cognitive competencies. Many of them are

merely approximations of personal characteristics that are important for

educational success. To measure non-cognitive competencies that are of

high predictive value like conscientiousness, punctuality and absenteeism –

i.e. absence from lessons – have proven to be among the suitable parameters

(Almlund et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2021).

During the 2018 PISA study, a total of

a quarter of adolescents reported such unexcused absences from lessons. In

this regard, there is a negative correlation between the PISA test results

and the probability of being absent from lessons. However, this cannot be

interpreted as causal. A comparison of pupils with the same school achieve-

ment shows the following: pupils whose parents had tertiary-level educa-

tion and adolescents who attended a class with basic requirements were

absent significantly more often

(→ figure 103)

. Other individual character-

istics are not statistically significant.

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Effectiveness lower-secondary

education

103 Probability

of being absent from lessons

Adolescents who indicated that they had had unexcused absences from school; after controlling

for 2018 PISA reading score and various background variables; deviations from the respective

reference group: foreign-language-speaking vs. non-foreign-language-speaking, first and second

generation migrants vs. no migration background, girls vs. boys, tertiary vs. non-tertiary educa-

tion of parents, advanced requirements profile at Sec I vs. basic requirements; the proportion of

non-responses was 37%.

Data: OECD; calculations: SCCRE

Percentage points

-2

-4

-6

generation

Women

Tertiary

Foreign-language

speaking

generation

Extended

Bullying among adolescents

Relationships with fellow pupils are an important aspect of education in

terms of social skills and also with regard to the link between bullying and

school performance. The current figures on bullying in the school environ-

ment show that this phenomenon at Swiss schools is a problem that must

be taken seriously

(Erzinger et al., 2019).

According to the 2018 PISA study,

Switzerland has the highest being-bullied index in comparison with its

neighbouring countries. Looking at the individual types of bullying expe-

riences, the picture is quite heterogeneous

(→ figure 104)

. Depending on the

type of bullying, between 17 and 42% of adolescents report having been vic-

tims of bullying. However, the proportion of non-responses was also very

high in Switzerland (38%) and its neighbouring countries. It is unknown

whether the high rate of non-responses indicates a lack of interest because

no bullying took place, or whether the phenomenon is underestimated

because pupils are reluctant to report it.

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lower-secondary education Effectiveness

104 Bullying

experiences in an international comparison

Proportion of adolescents who reported having experienced the mentioned type of bullying

within one year (PISA 2018); deviation from the proportion of adolescents in Switzerland;

proportion of non-responses: Germany 56%, France 24%, Italy 25%, Austria 21%; Switzerland 38%

Data: OECD; calculations: SCCRE

Percentage points

-5

-10

-15

Laughed at

Threatened

Slandered

Excluded

Robbed

Beaten

Austria

Germany

France

Italy

105 Adolescents

who

experienced bullying, based

on their relative position

Proportion of adolescents reporting having

been threatened; by relative position in school

performance distribution; after controlling for

performance and individual characteristics

Data: OECD; calculations: SCCRE

25%

20%

15%

10%

Both adolescents who bully others and those who were victims of bul-

lying perform worse at school than adolescents who have no experience

of bullying . In addition, bullying experiences have a negative effect on

adolescents’ mental health

(OECD, 2019a).

The causality in connection

with school performance has not been established. In addition to absolute

school performance, a pupil’s relative position in the class can also influ-

ence whether that person bullies someone else or is bullied themselves

(Comi et al., 2020).

In the data from the 2018 PISA study, such an effect

is visible at least for bullying victims in Switzerland

(→ figure 105)

. The

probability of being bullied increases when the pupil is at the upper end of

the performance distribution. Since the PISA study only records the vic-

tim’s perspective, it is not possible to investigate whether this applies in

a similar way to adolescents who bully others. An increasing amount of

bullying takes place in the digital domain/on social media

(OECD, 2019a;

SCCRE, 2018).

The latest research results on the COVID-19 pandemic sug-

gest that, although the bullying problem declined substantially for a short

time during the school closures (including cyber-bullying), it had already

returned to pre-pandemic levels by the autumn of 2020

(Bacher-Hicks et

al., 2021).

Low

Medium

High

legend

Adolescents who occupied a high relative

position in the performance distribution

reported having been threatened more often

(21%) than adolescents in a low position

(13.5%); the difference is statistically

significant.

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Efficiency/costs lower-secondary

education

Political education

Like education for sustainable development

(→ chapter Primary school

level, page 53),

political education is one of the areas in which the Con-

federation and the cantons coordinate their activities

(EAER & EDK, 2019).

Corresponding educational objectives are defined in the curricula for the

language regions. Whereas the

Plan d’ études romand

(PER) explicitly

mentions political education, it is incorporated into

Lehrplan 21

on the

one hand as a cross-disciplinary principle and on the other as a component

of the nature, humankind and society

(

Natur, Mensch und Gesellschaft)

subject area

(Thyroff et al., 2020).

In total, there are only a small number

of cantons – for example, Aargau, Geneva and Ticino – which list political

or civic education separately in their timetables

(EDK-IDES, 2021b).

Polit-

ical education does not feature prominently in teacher training. This fact

and the findings on the specialist and didactic competencies of teachers

(Thyroff et al., 2020)

in this field could also indicate why this educational

area receives only limited institutional attention. Over the past 20 years,

Switzerland has taken part in two international studies that investigated

the competencies of 14-year-olds in the field of political education

(Bieder-

mann et al., 2010; Torney-Purta et al., 2001).

Switzerland’s adolescents did

well in the second survey: their results were above international average.

However, the improvement between the two studies was mainly related

to a change in the make-up of the participating countries and should not

be interpreted as an indication that skills have actually improved in this

field. Since the last measurement, no quantitative data has been gathered

that would show the current state of competencies in this area.

efficiency/costs

To be able to adequately assess the efficiency of lower-secondary educa-

tion, comparable data is required on the real inputs, the monetary inputs

and the output indicators. In light of this and the fact that only a few of the

many objectives of compulsory schooling are reviewed quantitatively on

a regular basis, the options for assessing the efficiency of lower-secondary

education are strictly limited. This is the case even though relatively good

data is available on the monetary and non-monetary inputs. As a restric-

tive factor with regard to the data situation, it is necessary to add that data

is not available at all levels of aggregation. While it would still be possi-

ble in some cases with regard to input data to make assertions about effi-

ciency differences between cantons, this would be virtually impossible at

the level of the individual schools. Furthermore, efficiency analyses are

rendered more difficult or even impossible by a lack of competency data

at primary level. If the different (prior) achievements at primary level are

not taken into account, this can lead to incorrect assessments of the effi-

ciency of lower-secondary education

(Wolter et al., 2020).

For that reason,

as with the entire Swiss education system, it is almost impossible to make

any assertions regarding efficiency for lower-secondary level. The differ-

ences between the real inputs (class sizes, student-teacher ratio) and the

costs are therefore outlined below.

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100

lower-secondary education Efficiency/costs

Cantonal comparison of education spending

Like the data on compulsory education as a whole, the statistics on spend-

ing on lower-secondary education are based on calculations that take

account of spending at municipal and cantonal level. Such financial fig-

ures are often subject to compulsory or at least optional referenda. For

that reason, the aggregated data on the individual educational levels will

only be available after a significant delay. As a result, the currently avail-

able figures relate to the year 2019 and cannot be reported by canton for

the individual levels

(→ chapter Primary school level, page 53).

Certain

restrictions are applied to ensure that comparability is as high as possible.

These include, for example, limiting costs to the category of staff remu-

neration, which makes education spending and the overall Swiss data for

lower-secondary level as comparable as possible, and viewing the lower-

secondary level data for the whole of Switzerland. Education spending

(staff remuneration) amounted to CHF 17,700 in 2019

(→ figure 106)

. This

constitutes an increase of 18 percentage points in comparison with the fig-

ures from 2008. Over the same period, pupil numbers at lower-secondary

level fell by around 10 points.

106 Development

in education

expenditure at Sec 1

Staff remuneration; expenditure per pupil

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

18,000

17,500

17,000

16,500

CHF

16,000

15,500

15,000

14,500

14,000

2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019

Cantonal class sizes and municipality-specific differences

Changes in class sizes are a key factor when it comes to the real costs in

the area of compulsory schooling. Across all municipalities in Switzerland,

class sizes range from 6 to 26 pupils per class (the average is 18.7). Classes

are not always smaller in municipalities with very low pupil numbers; in

fact, pupil numbers fluctuate strongly. As pupil numbers increase, class

sizes rise at lower-secondary level before levelling off at around 19 adoles-

cents per class when pupil numbers exceed 300. Part of the divergence in

class sizes in the medium-sized municipalities can be explained by differ-

ences in urbanisation level or topography. However, there are also many

municipalities in this medium-sized group that would have the potential

to enhance efficiency if class sizes were to be increased. Even when demo-

graphic and topographic differences between municipalities are taken into

consideration, there are still sizeable differences in average class size at the

level of the cantons

(→ figure 107)

. If one were to compare the cantons under

the assumption that they were similar in terms of demographic and top-

ographic aspects, the difference between the canton with the highest and

the canton with the lowest average class size would decrease only from six

to five pupils per class. A difference of 5.5 pupils in each individual class

would amount to additional costs of around 30% for the canton with the

smallest classes, assuming identical cost structures. Conversely, pupils’

school performance would have to improve by 30% to achieve the same

efficiency level as the canton with the highest average class size. Given

the known variance in performance tests, it is hard to conceive that this

would be possible.

Until 2010, fluctuations in

class sizes

and student-teacher ratio could be

reported effectively for the cantons.

However, the modernisation of the

education statistics meant that no

data are available for the period from

2010 to 2014. On the other hand,

the new data structure also includes

information on class sizes in the

municipalities. The demographic and

topographic differences between

municipalities can now be taken into

account in the analyses, enabling

assertions to be made about the

differences in class sizes at an inter-

cantonal level.

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Efficiency/costs lower-secondary

education

101

Intercantonal comparison of student-teacher ratio

Class size is not the only decisive factor when it comes to calculating

education costs. In fact, costs depend much more directly on the stu-

dent-teacher ratio. If the student-teacher ratio is good, more teachers are

required per class irrespective of the class size, which causes high costs

(→ chapter Primary school level, page 53).

Furthermore, large classes do

not necessarily mean that the student-teacher ratio is unfavourable. In other

words, class size does not correctly reflect costs and is the wrong measure

for assessing efficiency. The average class size across cantons at lower-sec-

ondary level is 18.7 pupils (only regular classes). The average student-teacher

ratio for the whole of Switzerland is 11.6 pupils per teacher FTE

(→ figure 108)

It is not possible to evaluate whether cantons with small classes and an

adverse student-teacher ratio or cantons with large classes and a signifi-

cantly better student-teacher ratio are more cost-effective.

107 Average

cantonal class size

in Sec I, 2020–2021

Public schools (excl. special education classes

and schools), cantonal deviation in number

of pupils from municipality average; blue bars:

number of pupils, size of the municipality,

urbanisation level considered

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

108 Student-teacher

ratio and class sizes by canton

at lower-secondary level, 2020/21

Regular classes at public schools; the lines mark the overall Swiss average;

data missing for the Canton Solothurn

Data: FSO

Class size (number of pupils)

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

Student-teachear ratio (pupil number per teacher FTE)

Deviating pupil number

Effectively observable

Community characteristics taken into

account

Almost without exception, scientific research literature on the effects

of class sizes on pupil performance uses class sizes rather than stu-

dent-teacher ratios in its calculations. By contrast, there are no studies on

the link between student-teacher ratios and effectiveness, even though

it is conceivable that there are different ways of structuring the relation-

ship between teachers and pupils. As a result, although it is possible make

assertions about whether cantons have higher or lower costs on the basis

of differences in average student-teacher ratios, no conclusions can be

drawn about the efficiency of improved student-teacher ratios without

data on effectiveness. On the other hand, it is clear that the output of the

cantons – measured on the basis of the proportion of pupils who achieve

basic competencies in mathematics – hardly correlates with the cantonal

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102

lower-secondary education Efficiency/costs

student-teacher ratios at all. This does not mean that the latter could not

have an impact on the output, but it does at least signify that individual

cantons are considerably more efficient than others in terms of student-

teacher ratios

(→ figure 109)

109 Maths

score and student-teacher ratio in Sec

Proportion of pupils who had achieved the basic competencies (ÜGK) in 2016; student-teacher

ratio (pupil number per teacher FTE) in the 2015/16 school year; regular classes at public

schools

Data: ÜGK, FSO

85%

80%

Reached basic competencies

75%

70%

65%

60%

55%

50%

45%

40%

Student-teacher ratio (pupil number per teacher FTE)

Student-teacher ratio and costs

Real education costs per pupil have increased in Switzerland over the last

two decades at the same time as both pupil numbers and the number of very

large classes have declined

(→ chapter Primary school level, page 53).

This trend – particularly the improvement in the student-teacher ratio –

has also been observed in many other OECD countries

(OECD, 2019b).

The

reduction in class sizes was partly a reaction to demographic changes and

partly a consequence of political decisions. The plan to cut class sizes was

associated not least with the hope that it would have a positive impact on

pupil performance. Such effects, however, are not generally backed up by

the available data. If they do occur, it is often only for certain pupil groups

under very specific circumstances

(Bach & Sievert, 2019; Filges et al., 2018).

If the student-teacher ratio in the OECD countries improves to the

extent that each class has one pupil fewer per teacher, this causes additional

costs of around USD 300 per pupil per year – assuming no other adjust-

ments are made to offset these costs, such as a change in teaching time of

pupils or teachers, or an adjustment of teacher salaries. On the basis of the

model used by the OECD, it is also possible to calculate for Switzerland

which salary reductions would be necessary to improve the student-teacher

ratio by one pupil

(→ figure 110)

. Conversely, the results also show by what

percentage the average teacher salary could be raised if the student-teacher

ratio were not improved.

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Efficiency/costs lower-secondary

education

103

education paths and repetitions at lower-secondary level

Around 91% of pupils complete lower-secondary school in the regular

three years. The remaining 9% repeat at least one school year. Of the pupils

who attend a class with basic requirements at the start of lower-secondary

school, a total of 10% repeat years, with half subsequently completing a

higher requirements profile. A repetition is worthwhile in the individual

case if the benefits of completing a class with a higher requirements profile

are greater than the costs generated by the additional year of education.

This applies to both the person affected and society. Repetitions are some-

what less frequent (8%) in classes with advanced requirements. Boys, ado-

lescents with migration backgrounds and adolescents from less educated

families are more likely to repeat years

(→ Repetitions and individual char-

acteristics, page 105).

While the number of repetitions is lower in the

first two years of lower-secondary school (9

and 10

school years) among

pupils in classes with advanced requirements or when no distinction is

made between profiles than it is in the profiles with basic requirements

(→ figure 111)

, the former repeat the class more frequently in the final school

year of lower-secondary level. Among other things, the reason for this

increase in the number of repetitions is that the final school year at low-

er-secondary level can be repeated in some cantons, usually with the goal

of then being able to go to a baccalaureate school. In cantons in which the

transition to baccalaureate schools takes place after the 10

or 11

school

year, pupils begin the baccalaureate school in the first year of education

(irrespective of the time of transition). This results in a repetition when

the transition takes place after the 11

school year

(FSO, 2021l).

110 Pay

increase for teachers

if student-teacher ratio is raised

2019/20 school year; increase in teacher salary

per year in percent if an improvement of one

pupil in the student-teacher ratio were to be

waived; due to missing data on teacher salaries,

the cantons of Geneva, Ticino and Vaud have

been omitted.

Data: BKZ, Syndicat des Enseignant/es

Romand/es (SER); calculations: SCCRE

111 Repetitions

at lower-secondary level, 2016–2018

Repetition rates by school year and requirements profile

Data:

FSO (2021l)

school year

Basic requirements

Basic requirements, higher profile

school year

Extended requirement

Without distinction of the profile

FR-f

VS-f

BE-f

BE-d

VS-d

FR-d

10%

The salary calculations are based on infor-

mation from the D-EDK teacher survey and

on data from Syndicat des Enseignant/

es Romand/es (the teachers’ association of

French-speaking Switzerland, SER). The data

contains information on the salary systems,

teachers’ workload and teachers’ salary after

15 years of working in the profession.

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104

lower-secondary education Efficiency/costs

112 Repetition

in lower-second-

ary education, 2020–2021

Data: EDK-IDES

Cantons

Only possible under

special circumstances

–11

school year)

In principle possible

–11

school year)

AG, AR, BS,

NW, ZG, ZH

BE, GE, GL,

GR, JU, LU,

NE, SH, SO,

TG, TI, UR, VD,

AI, BL, FR,

OW, SG, SZ

Rule for the 9

–10

school

year differs from the rule

for the 11

school year

Irrespective of this, the cantons handle repetitions very differently, with

the result that the rates in the cantons vary considerably

(→ figure 112,

→ figure 113)

. To date, these differences in the duration of schooling have

been neglected entirely or given insufficient attention in the interpreta-

tion of the cantonal performance comparisons (additional random samples

as part of PISA) because only the pupil’s age was taken into consideration.

Given the substantial costs of repeated years – they alone cause an

increase in average public education spending of over 300 million francs a

year – it would be advisable to better research the effectiveness of such rep-

etitions. On the one hand, the question arises as to whether the outcome

is so much better after a repetition as to justify the additional public and

private costs. On the other, there is the question of whether these funds

would not be better invested in proactive measures that enable a similar

outcome without a repetition.

AI, Bl:

Repetition is possible in the 9

and

school years but not in the 11

FR:

Repetition is only possible in the 9

and

school years in exceptional cases, in the

school year, repetition is fundamentally

possible

OW, SG, SZ:

Repetition is fundamentally

possible in the 9

and 10

school years; in the

, it is only possible in exceptional cases.

113 Repetition

of the 11

school year by canton, 2018/2019

Public schools, excl. special needs classes and special schools; Canton Bern: language regions

shown separately as the structure of lower-secondary education differs (not the case in the

cantons of Fribourg and Valais); basic requirements: person who attended a class with basic

requirements and repeated the same profile; advanced requirements: person who attended a

class with advanced requirements and repeated the same profile.

Data: FSO

12%

10%

BE-f

BE-d

Repetition possible in principle

Possible under special

circumstances

Basic requirements

Repetition

not possible

Extended requirement, later at a baccalaureate school

Extended requirement, later not at a baccalaureate school

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Efficiency/costs lower-secondary

education

105

Repetitions and individual characteristics

With regard to repetitions, a trend that already becomes apparent in pri-

mary school continues at lower-secondary level

(→ Primary school level,

page 53):

boys, adolescents with migration backgrounds and adoles-

cents from less educated families repeat classes more frequently than other

pupils. However, this pattern only applies if repetition of the 11

school

year is not included in the analysis. This is because it is mainly pupils in

classes with advanced requirements who repeat the 11

school year. This

group contains a significantly higher proportion of children whose par-

ents have a tertiary qualification than parents with a lower qualification.

Of the children whose parents have a tertiary qualification, every twelfth

child

(FSO, 2021l)

repeats the class, with this repetition mostly being

related to the transition to baccalaureate school. This finding naturally

raises questions about the effectiveness and efficiency of such repetitions,

but the factor of equity must also be considered. The fact that more chil-

dren from educated families repeat a school year in connection with the

transition to baccalaureate school poses the question of whether it is right

to enable socioeconomically better-off adolescents to get into baccalau-

reate school by repeating school years. The equity question also arises in

relation to the high repetition rates among children with migration back-

grounds, although there is a significant difference between the first and

second generations of the migrant population in this regard

(→ figure 114)

Could such repetitions, which also generate considerable costs for those

affected, be avoided? Conversely, if repetitions are assumed to be an effec-

tive and efficient means of improving school performance, the question of

why children without migrant backgrounds benefit from this measure less

often also remains unanswered.

114 Repetition

rate at Sec I

by migration background

Average values for 2016–2019; Swiss nationals,

born abroad: also includes naturalised persons;

second- generation: foreign national born in

Switzerland; first generation: foreign national,

born abroad

Data:

FSO (2021l)

16%

14%

12%

10%

Swiss, born in Switzerland

Swiss, born abroad

generation

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106

lower-secondary education Equity

equity

The term equity refers to the question of whether school pupils are given

the opportunity to achieve their full potential in education regardless of

gender and social background. Since the latter is unknown, however, the

question cannot be answered conclusively for individuals. For this reason,

group-specific performance differences or differences in education path are

viewed under the assumption that these groups (e.g. girls and boys) should

theoretically have the potential to perform at similar levels in school. If

persistent, unexplained performance differences emerge between these

groups, this is interpreted as an indication of a potential equity problem.

Previous editions of the Education Report have focused primarily on ana-

lysing performance differences on the basis of the PISA studies between

15-year-olds who are of different genders, who differ according to socio-

economic or sociodemographic criteria or who have different migration

statuses. In a new feature, this report analyses the two questions of

whether changes to the curriculum or the use of digital aids for teaching

have similar effects on pupils.

Socioeconomic background and performance

The influence of socioeconomic background on school performance

is one of the best-documented links between pupils’ membership of a

certain group and their school performance in the research literature. As

was already shown in the 2014 Education Report with the PISA results

from 2009, the cantons differ not just in terms of the average school per-

formance of their pupils but also with regard to the influence that socio-

economic background has on individual performance. In the context of the

PISA study, these differences could only be shown for some of the cantons;

thanks to the ÜGK results from 2016, they can now be demonstrated for all

cantons. In general, the picture was similar to that of 2014

(SCCRE, 2014):

As the data from the PISA study indicates, weak student performance

attributable to social factors is not necessarily offset by above-average per-

formance in a canton

(→ figure 115)

. This applies both in respect of the num-

ber of pupils who achieve the basic competencies and the proportion who

are in the top twenty percent in Switzerland. In other words, this means

that cantons with higher variations in performance that can be explained

on socioeconomic grounds do no better in terms of either excellence or

basic competency attainment than cantons in which socioeconomic ori-

gin has less of an impact on school performance.

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Equity lower-secondary

education

107

115 Mathematics

skills and the influence of social background on performance

The figures show the proportions (basic competences achieved or pupils belonging to the highest performance quintile in Switzerland)

given the same composition of pupils. Share of performance variance explained by socio-economic background (SES)

Data: ÜGK; calculations: SCCRE

Basic competences

85%

80%

Achieved the basic competences

75%

VS-d

70%

65%

60%

VS-f

FR-f

45%

Proportion in the highest performance quintile

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

Highest performance quintile

FR-f

VS-f

VS-d

OW UR

FR-d

BE-f

FR-d

BE-f

BE-d

55%

50%

BE-d

45%

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

Share of variance explained

Attitude towards learning with digital tools by gender

The increased use of digital aids in the school environment leads to an

equity issue when some pupils do not achieve their full performance

potential because of advantages or disadvantages in the learning process

on account of the technology used. If all pupils were affected by the use

of a new learning technology to the same extent, the question of whether

it makes sense to digitalise learning processes could pertain to effective-

ness or efficiency. An equity issue would not necessarily arise in this

scenario. Irrespective of the question of whether digital aids make learning

processes more effective or not, which is difficult to answer causally, low-

er-secondary pupils were very positive overall about learning with digital

aids in the

Monitoring der Digitalisierung in der Bildung aus der Sicht der

Schülerinnen und Schüler

(monitoring of the digitalisation in education

from the perspective of pupils)

(→ Compulsory education, page 27).

the same time, they did not necessarily anticipate that they would enjoy

significant benefits from the use of digital aids. What does stand out,

however, is the differences between genders

(→ figure 116)

. Boys are more

positive about digital aids, almost across the board. They are more moti-

vated when it comes to learning with digital aids and view the benefits

as being higher than girls do. If the use of digital resources in teaching is

increased

(Educa, 2021)

and girls are less motivated in this regard, learn-

ing with digital aids can be expected to have a different effect depend-

ing on gender. However, the question of whether this also leads to worse

performance among girls is difficult to answer. That said, analyses show

that boys taking computer-based PISA tests of their reading skills were

able to cut the achievement gap vis-à-vis girls in comparison with pen and

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108

lower-secondary education Equity

paper tests

(Jerrim et al., 2018; Zehner et al., 2019).

Another question that

is hard to answer is whether learning with digital aids enables boys to bet-

ter achieve their performance potential or prevents girls from making the

most of theirs. The fact that these effects of the survey method (known as

mode effects) only have an impact on boys and have less of an influence on

girls suggests that the first hypothesis is more likely to be true.

116 Attitude

towards learning with digital aids, by gender, 2022

Proportion of lower-secondary pupils agreeing with the above statements; after controlling for

individual background variables; statistically significant differences: ** (p<0.01), * (p<0.05)

Data: Monitoring Digitalisierung; calculations: SCCRE

legend

A total of 61% of girls agreed with the

statement “I’m more motivated when studying”

(in comparison with learning without digital

aids). In boys, this figure was 73%.

The difference between the genders is

statistically significant (5% significance level).

It's fun.

I have more

opportunities to

decide for

myself.

100%

75%

50%

25%

I'm more motivated

when studying.*

I'm easily

distracted.*

I get tired more

quickly.**

I have trouble

remembering what

I've learned.

I learn faster.**

Girls

Boys

I find it hard

because I don't

understand digital

applications.*

earlier and intensified foreign language teaching

Since the introduction of a second foreign language at primary level, the

number of foreign language lessons for pupils during compulsory schooling

has increased significantly

(→ chapter Compulsory education, page 27).

Such curriculum reforms can have an effect on educational inequality if

pupils with certain characteristics (e.g. gender or first language) are at an

advantage or a disadvantage as a result of the reform. When learning a

second foreign language was moved to primary level, this went hand in

hand with the expansion of foreign language teaching during the period of

compulsory education. In this context, the questions arise in particular of

whether girls – who generally have a greater affinity for language – would

be at an advantage due to this development and whether foreign-language-

speaking students would be able to cope, especially given that the lan-

guage of instruction is already a foreign language for them. An analysis

which took advantage of the staggered introduction of foreign language

teaching and therefore allows causal assertions to be made shows that for

most pupils, the aforementioned reform had no significant effects on their

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Equity lower-secondary

education

109

education path after compulsory schooling. Only one clear effect was iden-

tified: the probability that boys in classes with basic requirements would

transition directly to an upper-secondary education course after complet-

ing their compulsory schooling fell by 2.3 percentage points (on average,

73% of the boys in classes with basic educational requirements enter the

upper-secondary level directly). This negative effect is concentrated above

all in foreign-language-speaking boys and is generally less visible in girls

and in adolescents who speak the language of instruction at home. Since no

effects of earlier and intensified foreign language teaching on future edu-

cation path were identified in over 83% of pupils, this reform also did not

give rise to a significant equity problem

(Strazzeri et al., 2022).

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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UPPER-SECONDARY

EDUCATION

CROSS-CUTTING THEMES

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112

upper-secondary education

The upper-secondary level is the start of post-compulsory education and

pupils normally start this phase at 15 to 16 years old. However, not everyone

decides to transfer directly from compulsory to upper-secondary schooling

(→ Immediate transitions and interim solutions, page 114).

The transi-

tion comes with a choice – vocational education and training (VET ) or

general education. General education includes baccalaureate schools and

upper-secondary specialised schools. The decision is determined by aca-

demic ability, personal preferences, social background and cantonal educa-

tional offering. This chapter addresses the different types of transition to

upper-secondary level, the choice of school types available and the success

rates applicable to pupils while going through and completing post-com-

pulsory education. The education policy objective is for 95% of 25-year-

olds to have an upper-secondary level qualification. Current developments,

such as digitalisation in schools and the consequences of the Covid-19 pan-

demic are outlined in this chapter. The chapter concludes with an over-

view of the external evaluation of upper-secondary level schools as well as

of exchange and mobility. More specific issues are addressed in the chap-

ters on vocational education and training, baccalaureate schools and upper-

secondary specialised schools.

Development of pupil numbers

The number of 16-year-olds, i.e., pupils

in Switzerland of an age to transfer to

upper-secondary level will, according

to the FSO reference scenario, rise by

14% between 2019 and 2029.

The expected increase in 16-year-olds

thus more or less corresponds to the

expected increase in pupil numbers.

Rising pupil numbers can mainly be

attributed to population growth, as

most young people in Switzerland

complete upper-secondary education

at some stage in their life.

Most pupils still transition to vocational education and training on complet-

ing compulsory schooling. Over two-thirds of pupils in the first upper-sec-

ondary year opt for vocational education and training

(→ figure 117)

A general increase in pupil numbers is expected over the coming years due

to the rise in birth rates since 2004

(FSO, 2021k).

The increase forecast by

the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) between 2019 and 2029 amounts to 18%

in general education and 14% in vocational education and training.

Regarding vocational education and training, the predicted increase in

pupil numbers is more uncertain than in general education. The low FSO

scenario for VET only forecasts 1.5% growth, while the high scenario is

almost 27 %. In general education, the growth forecast for the low and high

scenarios comes to 11% and 25%, respectively. The forecast for vocational

education and training is more uncertain than with general education

because the VET pupil numbers are a lot more exposed to short-term (e.g.

economy) and long-term developments (e.g. structural change).

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upper-secondary education

113

117 Development

of pupil numbers at upper-secondary level

Effective pupil numbers (first year) 2000–2019 and development scenarios from 2020–2029;

reference scenario as well as high and low scenario

Data: FSO

100,000

90,000

80,000

70,000

No. of pupils

60,000

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

2000

2004

2008

2012

2016

2020

2024

2028

Vocational education and training

General education

Transitions to upper-secondary education and Covid-19

Most young people transition directly to a certified upper-secondary level

course following compulsory schooling. Just under half of school leavers go

on directly to vocational education and training, just under every third per-

son proceeds directly to academic baccalaureate school or upper-secondary

specialised school. 10% undergo a transition course and another 8% do not

transfer directly to upper-secondary level. The majority of both groups

then start vocational education and training.

The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on the transition to

upper-secondary level cannot be conclusively evaluated based on the avail-

able data. Initial results, however, indicate that the pandemic did not lead

to major changes. At the same time, it did not go unnoticed either regard-

ing the transition from compulsory to upper-secondary schooling (transi-

tion I). For example, a fifth of the young people surveyed in the 2020 tran-

sition barometer said the pandemic made it harder to decide which course

to follow at upper-secondary level

(Golder et al., 2020).

In the follow-

ing year (2021), the share of respondents who agreed with that statement

reached one third

(Golder et al., 2021).

Companies often named Covid-19 as

the reason why there are fewer apprenticeships on offer in the coming year

or why they are unsure regarding the apprenticeship offering. At the same

time, the vast majority of companies planned to continue offering appren-

ticeships in spite of the pandemic, so the number of apprenticeships has not

fallen to date

(→ chapter Vocational education and training, page 125).

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114

upper-secondary education

118 Participation

and success

in ZAP for short-term bacca-

laureate school

Data: Canton Zurich

4000

3800

3600

3400

3200

3000

2015

2017

2019

2021

47%

45%

43%

41%

39%

37%

35%

The question also arises as to whether school selection was impacted by the

Covid-19 pandemic. It could be expected that general education

(→ chapter

Upper-secondary specialised school, page 179;

→

chapter Baccalaureate

schools, page 155)

became more popular during the pandemic as pupils

experienced difficulties in finding an apprenticeship. Data from Can-

ton Zurich does not indicate that the Covid-19 pandemic led to a marked

increase in the popularity of baccalaureate school. Although the number

of registrations for the central entrance examination (

Zentrale Aufnahme-

prüfung

ZAP

) for entry to short-term baccalaureate school rose between

2020 and 2021, this is indicative of a trend that has been ongoing for several

years already

(→ figure 118)

. More young people passed the exam in 2020

compared to prior years due to the cancellation of the oral exams.

Number of participants (left scale)

Pass rate (right scale)

Immediate transitions and interim solutions

Independently of economic fluctuations, there is a long-term growing

trend towards interim solutions. While in 2000, for example, 12.4% of all

students in the first year of upper-secondary level completed a transition

course, the figure was 14.9% in 2018. The FSO expects the percentage to

increase further: according to the reference scenario, this percentage will

be 15.6% in 2029

(FSO, 2021k).

The probability of selecting an interim solution varies markedly

between groups of persons. Students who attended the basic require-

ments profile at lower-secondary level, attended a special school or were

taught with a special curriculum, tend to opt for an interim solution. How-

ever, these differences only partially indicate that deferred transition to

upper-secondary level results from inadequate academic performance. A

not insignificant number of young persons defer the transition in the hope

that an interim year will improve their prospects of landing their preferred

apprenticeship

(Jaik & Wolter, 2019).

The consistently high differences among cantonal ratios of interim

solutions

(→ figure 119)

also indicate that supply is an important driver

of demand: the more interim solutions are on offer, the more young peo-

ple will choose them. The ratio fluctuations over the years average out

at 3.5 percentage points between the year with the highest and lowest

participation rates, while the difference between the canton with the larg-

est proportion and the lowest was about 21 percentage points in 2020.

Interim solutions

are activities targeting en-

trance to upper-secondary level. These cover:

•

Transition courses,

i.e. the interim solution

statistically recorded by the FSO, namely:

•

cantonally financed or subsidised

bridge-year courses,

that are prepara-

tion for a transition to upper-secondary

school;

•

special educational bridge-year offers,

vocational preparation classes in spe-

cial or remedial schools;

•

schooling on a par with the 12

school

year;

•

the

motivation semester

financed by the

social insurances;

•

privately financed interim solutions including

language-learning trips and courses, au-pair

assignments and placement years.

•

Indirect transitions

to upper-secondary

level contain not only interim solutions, but

also extra years without (formal) education

as well as gainful employment with subse-

quent entry to upper-secondary level.

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upper-secondary education

115

119 Prevalence

of transitional courses, by canton

Share of cohort transitioning to upper-secondary level; the green bar shows the minimal

and maximum share from 2014 to 2020

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

35%

Proportion of transitional courses

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

Share in 2020

120 Transitional

courses

and indirect transitions

Effects of transitional courses or indirect

transitions on choice of career and success

at upper-secondary level

Data: SEATS; calculations: Centre for Research

in Economics of Education at the University of

Berne

Whether these investments in interim solutions are worthwhile is ques-

tionable, even if interim solutions are well thought of among the young

(Kamm et al., 2020).

Granted, pupils who undertake an interim solution

within the school system tend to fare better at upper-secondary level than

their counterparts who complete an interim year without formal educa-

tion, but they are not more successful than those who transfer directly to

upper-secondary level

(Mueller, 2016; Sacchi & Meyer, 2016).

New assess-

ments on the impact of transition courses and indirect transitions on the

basis of the PISA 2012 cohort

(→ figure 120)

show the following: first of

all young people who defer entry to vocational education and training

(following an interim solution or year out without formal education), tend

to select an apprenticeship with lower requirements than those who tran-

sition directly

(→ chapter Vocational education and training, page 125).

The hope for a better apprenticeship following a transition course thus

fails to materialise for the majority. Secondly, the results confirm that

transition courses increase the likelihood of successfully completing the

upper-secondary level without delay (e.g. through repetitions). The time

to successful completion of upper-secondary level has nevertheless not

diminished for this group through the extra transition year. Third, the

transition courses increase the likelihood of dropping out, albeit only

slightly. Fourth, there is no better prospect for achieving an upper-second-

ary level qualification at the age of 22 to 23. The analyses with the 2012 PISA

cohort thus confirm the results for the 2000 PISA cohort: young people

in an interim solution have better education paths compared to their peers

who delay their transition without any (formal) education, but not com-

pared to those who directly attend the upper-secondary level.

Apprenticeship

requirements*

Graduation by 2019

Education not

completed

Graduation without

delay

-20%

20%

40%

Effects of transition courses

Effects of indirect transitions

* only applies to vocational education and

training, the other effects also apply to general

education

PISA points and other indicators were used

as control variables. In addition, instrumental

variables were included. Matt effects are not

statistically significant at the 5% significance

level.

legend

People who transfer indirectly to upper-

secondary level choose on average an

apprenticeship with 8% lower requirements

than young people who transition directly

to upper-secondary level.

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116

upper-secondary education

Vocational and general education options

Following compulsory schooling or an interim solution, young people also

have to decide which programme to follow, i.e. vocational education and

training or general education. Taking all transitions to upper-secondary

level into account, i.e. not only those following directly from compulsory

schooling, a significant majority of young people still select vocational edu-

cation and training. Only about a quarter transfer to baccalaureate schools

or upper-secondary specialised schools. The differences between cantons

and language regions plus the differences between urban and rural areas

are still of key importance when choosing a course: in French-speaking

Switzerland, Ticino as well as Basel-Stadt and Zug, the proportions of

young people who attend a general education school is significantly higher

than in the other cantons. Generally, the fluctuations over time are far less

noticeable than the intercantonal differences. Moreover, the cantonal dis-

parities have grown even more since 2014: with the exception of Canton

Geneva, the share of young people undergoing vocational education and

training has fallen in those cantons that already had a low participation rate

in 2014

(→ figure 122)

. However, the share of students in vocational educa-

tion and training has grown in some cantons like Solothurn, Schaffhausen,

Grösse

1 Cleanup

Vorlage

Glarus, Uri and Appenzell Innerrhoden. This indicates an increase in het-

erogeneity as opposed to a broad trend towards general education.

#0061A1

How do companies evaluate the

competition from general education

schools?

According to the transition barometer

data

(Golder et al., 2019),

competition

from general education schools is not

seen as very strong by companies in-

volved in VET. This applies especially

to apprenticeships with low or average

academic skill requirements. However,

the higher the requirements of the

apprenticeship

(→ chapter Vocational

education and training, page 125,

text in the margin),

the stronger the

companies perceive the competition

Nr.Grafik

education schools

Grafik

from general

Titel

figure 121).

be (→

Infotext

Daten

Y-Achse

Competition from general education

X-Achse

Requirement level

121 Competition

between VET

(mathematics)

122 Cantonal

shares of vocational education and training

Y-Sekundärachse

and general education

when transitioning to upper-secondary level

#DC3E2A

#F6BC25

#009182

#71297A

#87C

#ED9

#FBD

#8AD

#D9B

Competition from general education

Change in share of vocational education and

training 2014 to 2019, percentage points

Evaluation of the competition from general

Share of pupils who begin vocational education and training in relation to all young people

education

in a cohort entering upper-secondary level

Grösse

schools according to the companies

Masse

Breite inkl.

offering VET; taking account of company size,

klein (Marginalienspalte)

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Breite:

klein: Marginalie

60 mm

language region and municipality type (urban,

mittel

from 1 (very weak)

mittel: Lauftextspalte

117 mm

intermediary or rural); scale

(Textspalte)

to 5 (very strong)

gross (ganze Seitenbreite)

gross: Marginalie und Lauftextspalte

182 mm

Data: SERI (transition barometer);

calculations: SCCRE

without GE = 0.659

UR AR

Datenbereich

4.0

hier Daten einfüllen; Grafik linksbündig platzieren mit 3 Zeilen Abstand zu den Daten

-2

3.5

-4

-6

3.0

-8

2.5

Zugabe

Höhe

50 m

75 m

-10

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

2.0

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Requirement level (mathematics)

Share of vocational education, 2014

The latest available data from 2020 is not used for figure 122 and figure 123. Instead, data from

2019 is used as it was not affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

uPPeR-SeCOnDARy

2.766865

2.758063

2.782942

2.841502

2.933744

3.059667

eDuCATIOn

3.219272

3.412558

0.0712199

0.0399984

0.0281878

0.0293665

0.0298584

0.029191

0.0399545

0.069703

38.85

2.6272

2.906529

68.95

2.679625

2.8365

98.73

2.727665

2.838219

96.76

2.783914

2.899091

98.26

2.875191

2.992297

104.82

3.002423

3.116912

SKBF | CSRE Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education

80.57

3.14092

3.297624

48.96

3.275868

3.549247

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upper-secondary education

117

In some cantons, there are also deferrals between company-organised and

school-based vocational training. In cantons Neuchâtel and Basel-Stadt

especially, a fall in school-based vocational training caused the above-

mentioned reduction in the share of vocational education and training;

the reduction in school-based education programmes was only partially

offset by extra company-based offers

(→ figure 123)

. On the other hand, in

cantons Freiburg and Ticino, for example, there was a shift of company-

organised apprenticeships to school-based programmes.

Skills, environment and personality are important determining factors

for pupils deciding whether to opt for general education or vocational edu-

cation and training on finishing their compulsory schooling. In addition to

personality traits

(Marcionetti & Rossier, 2017)

personal interests and ten-

dencies

(Jüttler et al., 2021)

influence the choice of education programme.

Socioeconomic background

(Zimmermann & Seiler, 2019)

and educational

preferences also

(Cattaneo & Wolter, 2022)

play a part. In addition, par-

ents influence children’s performance at school through the level of sup-

port they provide. However, they also influence teachers’ expectations of

the children, which again has an effect on performance

(Niederbacher &

Neuenschwander, 2020).

123 Cantonal

shares of company-

based vocational training

Shares in relation to all students in vocational

education and training

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Change 2014 to 2019, percentage points

-2

-4

-6

50%

100%

Proportion of students in company-

based vocational training, 2014

Success at upper-secondary level and repetition rates

Repetition is relatively common at upper-secondary level if years repeated

following a change of course are taken into account (as opposed to purely

counting repetitions within the same course). Such a definition of repe-

tition also counts years repeated through students switching to another

apprenticeship or baccalaureate pupils transferring to another special sub-

ject. If all these repetition years are measured against total years, the rep-

etition rate in apprenticeships with a federal VET diploma is higher than

in baccalaureate schools and the same as in upper-secondary specialised

schools (FMS)

(→ figure 124)

. At the same time, language regional dispari-

ties are greater than inter-programme differences, i.e. between general edu-

cation courses and vocational education and training. This in turn indicates

that the institutional backdrop influences the probability of repetition. For

example, in French-speaking Switzerland not only are pupils more likely

to switch between courses, they also tend to transfer more often from a

general education school to vocational education and training and to drop

out of apprenticeships

(FSO, 2021h).

Across all programme types, almost 8% of all upper-secondary level

pupils have already completed their current education year before and are

therefore repeating a school year. Assuming average education costs, the

direct public expenditure for these repetition years amounts to approxi-

mately half a billion francs a year. In addition to the annual public expense,

there are the individual costs as an extra year of education shortens time

spent in gainful employment. This begs the question of how many of these

repetitions could be avoided by early and adequate intervention.

124 Proportion

of repeated school

years, 2018–2020

By programme type and language region

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

All

By education type

VET certificate

VET diploma

FMS

Baccalaureate

By language region

D-CH

F-CH

I-CH

10%

15%

Repetition

in this context means a year of

education where the person has already com-

pleted the same education year of the same

programme type. When someone has complet-

ed the first apprenticeship year, then changes

apprenticeship and repeats the first year, that

also counts as a repetition year. A transfer from

baccalaureate school to vocational training, in

contrast, does not count as repetition.

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118

upper-secondary education

Graduation rates at age 25

In 2006, the Confederation, cantons and social partners agreed on the

education policy goal of 95% of 25-year-olds in Switzerland having an

upper-secondary level qualification. For the cohort that was 15 in 2010, the

completion rate was 91.4% ten years later

(FSO, 2022d).

The ratio differs

between groups of people with different characteristics, especially with

regard to the type of education completed by the pupils at 15 years of age

(→ figure 125)

. At 97.2% the education target was achieved for those who

transitioned directly to upper-secondary level or attended the 11

school

year of lower-secondary level with heightened requirements at the age of 15.

The ratio was slightly below the education target for persons in transitional

education or in the 11

school year of lower-secondary school with basic

requirements. A lower completion rate is also in evidence among appren-

tices with a delayed progression, i.e. who were in their 9

or 10

school year

at the age of 15, as well as for those with special needs. These two groups of

persons, however, only account for a small part of the cohort

(FSO, 2022d).

The likelihood of a successful outcome by the age of 25 also differs

among people of different migration status. The Swiss have a higher gra-

duation rate than foreign nationals. Foreign nationals born in Switzer-

land (2

generation) are in turn more likely to graduate than persons who

immigrated more recently to Switzerland (1

generation). An analysis

based on SEATS data shows that these differences can be explained partly

by the academic skills at the end of compulsory schooling. Taking these

into account, the differences between migration status are significantly

smaller

(→ figure 126).

Second-generation migrants are almost as success-

ful as the Swiss assuming the same level of cognitive skills. This demon-

strates that migration background is much less of a risk factor than lack-

ing academic skills.

Marked differences emerge when looking at graduation rates in the

individual cantons: the ratios vary between 84.0% and 98.6%

(FSO, 2022d).

The cantonal differences may arise due to different characteristics among

the students. For example, more students in rural areas aged 25 have an

upper-secondary level qualification than their urban counterparts, and

the city cantons of Basel-Stadt or Geneva have low graduation rates. At

the same time, these individual characteristics only explain some of the

cantonal variation: gender, migration status, place of residence as well as

the course selected at 15 are equally significant

(→ figure 127)

. The cantonal

graduation rates again correlate with the proportion of students in gen-

eral education: the more people start with general education, the lower

the cantonal graduation rate. This correlation also applies if the probability

of graduating is amended in line with the individual characteristics men-

tioned above. That shows the connection between the proportion of young

people in general education and success at upper-secondary level does not

result from cantonal differences among students, at least not differences

arising from the characteristics mentioned in the

figure 127

125 Graduation

rate at age 24

By education type at the age of 15;

1996 birth cohort; the green line represents

the 95% target

Data:

FSO (2022)

Entire cohorts

(N=82,555)

Education at the

age of 15

High requirements/

upper-secondary

Basic requirements/

transitional course

In 9

/10

school

year

Special needs

40%

70%

100%

Share of persons with an upper-

secondary level qualiﬁcation at 24

126 Graduation

rate

by migration background

The corrected graduation ratios at the age

of 25 are not yet available as the latest data

relates to the cohorts in the 2012 PISA survey

at 22–23 years old.

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Observable

Swiss

generation

With same

competencies

Swiss

generation

85%

90%

95%

100%

Share of individuals with an upper-

secondary level qualiﬁcation at 22–23

legend

The graduation rate is 90.5% for persons of

a 2

generation migration background (if these

persons are 22–23 years of age). If they had

the same academic skills as the Swiss, their

graduation rate would be 92.8%.

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upper-secondary education

119

127 Cantonal

graduation rates at the age of 24

and share of general education

Taking account of gender, migration status, place of residence (urban, intermediary or rural),

course of education at the age of 15; persons born in 1996; excluding people having emigrated

from Switzerland

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Amended graduation rate for cohorts aged 24

Datenbereich

100%

hier

96%

= 0.630

84%

80%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Share of general education as ﬁrst qualiﬁcation

92%

88%

Success and non-cognitive skills

School or cognitive skills are central to the education path following

compulsory schooling. At the same time, international research litera-

ture shows that personal characteristics, known as non-cognitive skills

(Heckman et al., 2006),

must also be taken into account to explain dif-

ferences in educational achievement. Cognitive skills differ markedly

between the education programmes at upper-secondary level, although

there are overlaps in the allocations. The situation regarding non-cogni-

tive skills is less clear for two reasons: first because there are different types

of non-cognitive skills and they are most probably not all equally impor-

tant to achieving success in education and subsequently the labour mar-

ket. Secondly these skills were usually not measured in a representative

way

(→ chapter Cumulative effects, page 355).

One non-cognitive skill measurement seen as closely related to indi-

vidual success is known as grit. The concept of grit involves the ability to

develop a passion for a specific goal and, in addition, to pursue this goal

over years without being thrown off course by setbacks

(Duckworth et al.,

2007; Schmidt et al., 2019).

A comparison of this measure of non-cognitive

skills among pupils at upper-secondary level and those doing transitional

courses against the average PISA points reveals the following: Students

in vocational education and training (federal VET diploma) gain fewer

PISA points on average than their counterparts at baccalaureate school.

The former, however, have more grit

(→ figure 128)

. This difference is also

statistically significant in view of grades, gender and regional differences.

High cognitive skills therefore do not necessarily go hand-in-hand with

high non-cognitive skills.

The term

cognitive skills

describes such

concepts as intelligence and solving abstract

problems

(Brunello & Schlotter, 2011).

Cognitive skills are measured in this chapter

using PISA points and the terms cognitive skills

and academic skills are used interchangeably.

non-cognitive skills

on the other hand are

personality traits, for example the Big Five

(Nyhus & Pons, 2005).

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120

upper-secondary education

128 PISA

points and grit

by education programme

Average PISA points in mathematics, reading

and natural sciences; grit measured from

1 (minimum) to 5 (maximum), measurement

was during lower-secondary level

Data: SERI (transition barometer), SEATS;

calculations: SCCRE

3.8

3.7

3.6

3.5

3.4

3.3

450

500

550

600

PISA points

Transition

FMS

Bac

VET

diploma

VET diploma

Transition

FMS

Bac

Federal VET diploma

Transition course

Upper-secondary specialised

school

Baccalaureate school

Differing levels of non-cognitive skills among types of education does

not invariably mean that they also affect educational choices or vice versa.

Some studies, however, suggest that different education programmes do

in fact influence non-cognitive skills, for example stress management

(Bolli & Hof, 2018)

or conscientiousness

(Birkelund, 2021).

Grit also changes

as a personal trait between the ages of 15 and 22, especially among people

in vocational education and training. However, it is not known whether it

is the education itself that causes this change or other (unobserved) factors

(Hoeschler et al., 2018).

Studies with international data show that non-cognitive skills cor-

relate with educational achievement indicators as well as cognitive ones

(Gutman & Schoon, 2013).

However, it is hard to identify a causal effect.

Studies in Switzerland also show a connection through correlations

between difficulty in selecting an education course and non-cognitive

skills, for example the big five personality traits

(Marcionetti & Rossier,

2017).

A SEATS-data-based analysis shows similar findings

(→ figure 129)

It shows that difficulty in selecting a course of education poses a risk to the

educational achievement of young people with low school skills: young

people who had no specific education targets or plans at the age of 15 are

more likely to have no upper-secondary school leaving certificate at 22.

While the absence of planning among young people with good school

skills does not impact their educational achievement, specific educational

goals do help pupils with weak school skills to successfully complete their

upper-secondary level education. However, indecisiveness does also seem

to have an adverse effect on education and training beyond upper-second-

ary level: high-performing students who were uncertain about how to con-

tinue their education at the age of 15 earned about 11% less aged 25 than

comparable young people with clear career aspirations at the end of their

compulsory schooling

(Covacevich et al., 2021).

Grit

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upper-secondary education

121

129 Probability

of an upper-secondary level qualification,

SEATS cohorts

By cognitive skills (PISA points in mathematics) and training activities; persons aged 22–23

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

Probability of graduation

legend

Among people who achieved about 300 PISA

points in mathematics and intended to do

an apprenticeship at the time of the PISA

survey, 81% had an upper-secondary level

qualification at an age of 22–23 years. Among

people with the same mathematical skills but

who didn’t know what to do after compulsory

schooling, the probability of having obtained an

upper-secondary level qualification is just 48%.

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

650

700

750

PISA points in mathematics

Interim year

General education

Don’t know

Vocational education and training

Other

Digitalisation

The theme of digitalisation in education is anything but new. However, its

profile increased through school closures and remote learning due to the

Covid-19 pandemic. The dissemination and use of digital aids at upper-

secondary level was first recorded in autumn 2020 through regular mon-

itoring

(Oggenfuss & Wolter, 2021a, 2021b).

A second survey followed in

spring 2021 and a third in spring 2022. The survey will continue at reg-

ular intervals going forward. In all three surveys, the majority of upper-

secondary level pupils said they use a computer (desktop, laptop or tablet)

for school. In the second survey, the percentage of users was higher than in

the first, 88% compared to 85%, and it increased slightly again in the third

survey to 89%. In vocational education and training, the frequency of the

different types of use varies less over the three surveys than in general edu-

cation

(→ figure 130)

. The exchange with teaching staff for organisational

matters increased between the second and third surveys in both educa-

tion programmes. Digital applications were also used more frequently for

presentations and group work at the time of the second survey relative to

the first one.

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122

upper-secondary education

130 Frequency

of use of digital applications

from the pupils’ perspective

Share of respondents who use digital applications for the purposes below (difference between

the individual surveys); taking account of gender, migration and socioeconomic background

and language region

Data: Monitoring of digitisation; calculations: SCCRE

Datenbereich

Percentage points

-5

-10

Exchange

with teacher

Presen-

tation

Group work

Exchange

with teacher

Presen-

tation

Group work

Vocational education and training

vs 1

survey

vs 2

survey

General education

131 Use

of digital applications

from the teachers’ perspective

Frequency of use in teaching (1 = almost never,

5 = in almost every lesson); teachers in Canton

Zurich

Data:

Petko et al. (2021)

legend

In vocational education and training, the proportion of respondents who said in the second sur-

vey that they present in a digital format in school was up 6.6 percentage points relative to the

first survey. Matt colours indicate statistically insignificant differences (5% significance level).

Passive

Active

Constructive

Interactive

If digital applications are included in teaching, it doesn’t necessarily mean

that the pupils actively use them. A survey by Canton Zurich shows

that teaching staff mainly use digital applications to impart knowledge

(→ figure 131)

. Pupils use digital applications somewhat less often to prac-

tise learnings delivered by the teacher. It is even more rare for them to

acquire the knowledge individually or independently when working in

groups. Whether and to what extent different types of use of digital appli-

cations influence performance at school is hard to gauge, as there are few

studies on the subject

(Educa, 2021).

Research with international data con-

cludes that school performance increases when digital applications are

used to research information. However, performance falls when they are

used for exercises based on existing knowledge

(Falck et al., 2018).

Vocational schools

General education schools

Passive:

Teachers use digital applications

to impart knowledge to pupils

Active:

Pupils use digital applications

to apply and practise their knowledge

Constructive

and

interactive:

Pupils acquire

knowledge with digital applications either

individually (constructive) or with others

(interactive)

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upper-secondary education

123

external school evaluation

There have been external school evaluations in recent years spanning

all upper-secondary level school typ es. There is no national legal frame-

work making it obligatory to participate in evaluations. As a result, they

have only been conducted in 15 cantons

to date. School participation is

mandatory in many of these cantons. Many schools have since undergone

several evaluation cycles meaning they have been evaluated several times.

While only first cycle evaluations were held for school years 2004/05 to

2010/11, two thirds of all evaluations were second evaluations in school

years 2011/12 to 2016/17

(→ figure 132)

. In school years 2017/18 to 2021/22,

just under half of the school evaluations were for the third time. There have

been over 300 evaluations in total at about 160 general education and voca-

tional schools up to the 2021/22 school year under the aegis of the Institute

for External School Evaluations at Upper-Secondary Level (IFES) man-

aging body. In the cantons that conducted the evaluations, about half of

the general education schools and a third of the vocational schools were

assessed at least once.

IFES was changed to the Swiss Centre

for Secondary Schools and for School

Evaluations at Upper-Secondary Level

(ZEM-CES) at the start of 2022. It has

been operating under that name since

then. The institutional change makes

no difference to the continuation of

the external school evaluation offering.

132 Number

of external school

evaluations by cycle

Data: ZEM-CES (previously IFES)

School years 2011/12–2016/17

exchange and mobility

The promotion of exchange and mobility is anchored in Swiss law (Art. 14

LangA

). The national agency for exchange and mobility (Movetia) is

responsible for promoting mobility both within Switzerland as well

as between Switzerland and other countries. Movetia also gathers and

publishes annual statistics on exchange and mobility activities. In the

school year of 2018/19

, approximately 10,000 pupils at upper-secondary

level participated in exchange activities

(Movetia, 2020).

That equates to

an exchange rate of just 3%. Exchange activities are more widespread in

general education than in vocational education and training: the exchange

rate in general education is almost 8%, against a mere 1% for VET. Move-

tia says this discrepancy is due to VET students having an apprentice-

ship as well as their school education, which complicates organising an

exchange. In contrast to compulsory schooling

(Albiez & Wolter, 2021)

most of the exchanges were outside Switzerland at upper-secondary level.

Nonetheless, 42% of all exchanges for pupils in general education were in

Switzerland, twice as many as in vocational education and training where

only 19% of exchange activities were within the country. That may be

another reason why the VET activities lasted longer on average. Half of

the VET exchanges took more than two weeks, compared to just a third in

general education.

cycle

School years 2017/18–2021/22

cycle

1 The schools in the following cantons were evaluated: AG, AR, BE, BL, BS, GR, LU, OW, SG,

SO, SZ, TG, UR, ZG und ZH.

2 Federal Act on the National Languages and Understanding between the Linguistic Commu-

nities (Languages Act, LangA) of 5 October 2007.

3 Covid-19 led to an extraordinary decrease in exchange and mobility in 2020 and 2021.

Therefore, in this section, reference is made to the school year of 2018/19. The corresponding

data was provided by Movetia.

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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VOCATIONAL

EDUCATION

AND

TRAINING

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126

Vocational education and training Context

Context

Vocational education and training (VET ), and company-based VET pro-

grammes in particular, are more subject to external factors than general

education. As a market-driven form of education, the number of dual

apprenticeship places is determined by corporate demand and by the sup-

ply of school-leavers interested in vocational training. The number of stu-

dents that make up the supply is subject to demographic factors and the

interests and preferences of young people. Demand for apprentices or the

availability of apprenticeship places are influenced by structural changes,

economic cycles, and the willingness of companies to provide training, not

to mention by the options within the economy to develop the required

skills through hiring graduates from other educational tracks.

Structural change

133 Proportion

of people in

occupations with above-average

demand for professionals

Proportion of all those who completed the

federal vocational education and training (VET)

programme in 2014 or 2015; by activity within

4.5 years after completion of VET

Data:

FSO (2020a)

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

On completion

5.5 years after

completion

No further training

Second qualif. upper-sec. level

Admission to tertiary level

legend

Of those who enrolled in a tertiary education

programme 4.5 years after completing their

VET, 28% worked in a field with above-average

demand for skilled workers on completion of

the apprenticeship. 5.5 years after graduation,

this group already had grown to 56%.

Occupations with above-average demand

for skilled worker are defined based on the

“Index of Skilled Labour Demand” of the State

Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), which

is calculated for each occupation type based

on the Swiss occupational nomenclature (SBN).

Those with a tertiary qualification (e.g. 31,108

forestry engineers) mostly work in another

profession than those without a tertiary qualifi-

cation (e.g. 11,501 foresters).

VET programmes must constantly adapt to structural and technological

changes to remain attractive and profitable for companies, and it requires a

persistent effort to convince such companies to provide this type of train-

ing. This happens through adjustments in the skills associated with the

occupations, the creation of new occupations, and changes in the number

of training places in an occupation. Young people’s career preferences do

not always dovetail with current demand for skilled workers, which often

leads them to change their field after finishing an apprenticeship. In addi-

tion to a direct occupational change without further education, young peo-

ple often also switch by getting a second qualification at the upper-second-

ary level or by enrolling in a tertiary-level programme. While a shortage of

skilled workers affects many fields, it is most pronounced in occupations

that require tertiary education, either vocational or academic. Therefore,

people who finish a tertiary programme after their VET are twice as likely

to work in a field with an above-average shortage of skilled workers than

before they started the tertiary programme

(→ figure 133)

. Interestingly,

however, people who do a tertiary programme later are significantly more

likely to work in an occupation with a skills shortage while still in VET

than those who either continue in an upper-secondary programme or do

not choose any further education at all in the 4.5 years after completing

their apprenticeship

(FSO, 2020a).

Overall, the selection by the VET system

plus the strong mobility within occupations and educational programmes

(→ Mobility by occupation and company, page 144)

ultimately leads to

a relatively good match between supply and demand in the labour market.

As a result, the skills that people in Switzerland with a VET qualification

have match closely with those that companies require

(Aepli et al., 2017).

The trend in the number of apprenticeship places in the various occupa-

tional fields does not indicate any major change over time in most of them

(→ figure 134)

. Apprenticeships in information technology experienced

strong growth in the 1990s, which has steadily tapered off since then. Given

the continuously growing demand for information and communication

technology (ICT ) specialists, the shortage of experts in this field is likely

to continue

(Braun-Dubler et al., 2020).

The construction industry on the

other hand shows a different trend: Due to the real estate crisis in the early

1990s, the industry experienced a decline, which has since reversed slightly.

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Context Vocational

education and training

127

134 Annual

change in new admissions by occupational field

Annual change between 2000 and 2020

Data: FSO (SBG-SFPI, SDL); calculations: SCCRE

Education, social aspects

Health

Culture, media

Information Technology

Traffic, logistics, safety

Economics, admin., tourism

Sales, procurement

Planning, construction

Chemistry, physics

Metal, machines, watches

Electrical engineering

Vehicles

Wood, interior fittings

Building services

Construction

Design, arts and crafts

Beauty, sport

Textiles, fashion

Catering, hospitality

Nutrition

Nature

-100

100

200

300

400

500

600

legend

The number of people admitted to VET pro-

grammes in the “Education, social aspects”

field increased by 228 annually between

2000 and 2020. In addition, the number of

admissions to social work, pedagogy and

health programmes of upper-secondary

specialised schools increased by 310 annually.

The individual occupations were assigned to

the occupational fields of the Swiss Service

Centre for Vocational Education and Training

(SDBB, berufsberatung.ch), whereby one

occupation can fall within several occupational

fields. The sum of the changes therefore does

not correspond to the absolute change in the

number of persons.

Vocational education and training

Upper-secondary specialised schools

The major exception in this mostly stable trend in relative shares of appren-

ticeship fields are occupations in the health and social services sector. They

indicate an annual growth of about 200 – 300 apprenticeships, which comes

to about 3.7 % of the new apprenticeships in this field. This is largely due

to the creation of new training occupations such as Healthcare Assistant

or Certified Social Care Worker. However, vocational training is not the

only relevant factor when it comes to educating and training specialists

in the health sector: More and more people choose upper-secondary spe-

cialised schooling as a means of entering the labour market, which fur-

ther boosts growth in this field

(→ chapter Upper-secondary specialised

school, page 179).

In the health sector, major differences across language regions in-

fluence the choice of upper-secondary level programme, thus affecting

the number of entries and transfers to tertiary-level programmes

(FSO, 2021d).

In French-speaking Switzerland, young people tend to opt

for upper-secondary specialised schools and then switch to a university

of applied sciences. In German-speaking Switzerland, on the other hand,

young people more often complete a VET programme and then enrol

in a PET college. In addition, young people are more likely to enter the

labour market directly after VET than after graduating from a specialised

secondary school

(Esposito, 2022).

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Vocational education and training Context

economic cycles and the COVID-19 pandemic

In the past, economic cycles had a weak but still noticeable effect on the

number of apprenticeships

(Lüthi & Wolter, 2020; Muehlemann & Wolter,

2021):

Rising unemployment figures during recessions also meant fewer

new apprenticeship contracts

(→ figure 135)

. There are several reasons

why the number of apprenticeship places only loosely relates to economic

cycles; the important factor, however, is that company-based VET in

Switzerland is widespread across all sectors. This means that apprentice-

ships lost in sectors strongly affected by a crisis could often be compensated

for elsewhere, especially by companies whose sectors were less affected by

the crisis or that had more difficulties in finding suitable applicants.

In the wake of the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pan-

demic in 2020, however, there were concerns that the number of appren-

ticeships could decline significantly more than in previous crises, not least

because of the relatively large 6% decline in GDP that was forecast in spring.

The economic slump, however, turned out to be only half as severe as had

been assumed. In neighbouring countries, about 10% fewer training places

were actually offered in the first year of the pandemic

(Muehlemann, 2021).

Switzerland, on the other hand, saw no crisis in the apprenticeship market

(FSO, 2021c).

Young people who were looking for an apprenticeship dur-

ing the pandemic were able to adjust their efforts quickly after the lock-

down

(Goller & Wolter, 2021).

For example, during the third wave of the

pandemic in 2021, LENA, the national platform for apprenticeship ads,

logged a similar number of queries for apprenticeship ads as before the

pandemic

(→ figure 136)

However, there are also other reasons for this positive trend during a

GDP decline of around 3% in 2020, such as an exceptionally short economic

crisis for one thing. Analyses of past economic cyclical swings indicate that

companies change their training strategies only when such crises persist

over longer periods

(Lüthi & Wolter, 2020).

The timing of the pandemic

was also favourable in this regard, as more than half of apprenticeship con-

tracts for the coming year had already been signed by the spring of 2020.

Furthermore, the federal government’s measures had a positive effect on

apprenticeship places, such as bridging loans and partial unemployment

benefits, which were heavily used. Contrary to previous crises, measures

to prevent bankruptcies, such as a temporary ban on debt collection, also

helped to prevent a decline in apprenticeship places

(→ figure 135)

. Last but

not least, the relatively strong backlog in apprenticeships in Switzerland

had a positive effect

(→ Demographics, page 129):

Despite the decline

in demand for apprenticeships, there were still enough training and edu-

cation positions available.

135 New

admissions to vocational

education and training during

recessions

Data: FSO, SECO

15%

Change from previous year

10%

-5%

-10%

1991

2003

2009

2020

Recession year

New admissions (VET)

GDP

Bankruptcy proceedings

136 Search

history on the LENA

apprenticeship platform

Comparison of 2020 and 2021

Data: Centre for Research in Economics of

Education at the University of Berne

Restrictiveness of the lockdown

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0

Calendar week

Search queries 2020 (left scale)

Search queries 2021 (left scale)

Stringency index 2020 (right scale)

Stringency index 2021 (right scale)

Requests per day in 1000

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Context Vocational

education and training

129

Demographics

The apprenticeship market is more exposed to demographic trends and

fluctuations than to cyclical economic effects. For example, the back-

ber of school-leavers

(SCCRE, 2018).

While the decline in the graduating

cohort size in compulsory education ended in the school year 2017 – 2018,

the number of school-leavers has again started to increase. As a result,

the number of filled apprenticeship positions will increase again in the

medium term, which should ease the situation for companies that experi-

enced difficulties finding apprentices in the past. Whether and, if so, when

a demographically induced shortage of apprenticeship places may set in is

hard to predict, as unforeseeable economic and structural factors also play

a role in determining the number of such places.

The scenarios put forward by the

FSO (2021k)

indicate a 14% increase

in apprentice numbers in the first year of VET by 2029, a relatively steep

increase vis-à-vis 2000. However, the uncertainties – shown by the dotted

lines in

figure 137

– are considerable: Thus, the “high” scenario forecasts

an increase of 25%, whereas the “low” scenario sees an increase of just 3%.

While estimates of the prospective number of apprentices at the end of

lower-secondary school are reliable, estimates of first-year apprentice num-

bers are less accurate because they are mainly based on transfer rates among

institutions and on unknown factors affecting economic cycles. The inac-

curacy in transfer rate figures is mainly due to fluctuations in transfers

to other upper-secondary level VET programmes at certificate level, or to

interim programmes.

137 Anticipated

trend

in apprenticeships

Data: FSO

130

120

Persons in 1000

110

100

Forecast

2000

2007

2014

2021

2028

Apprenticeship market

Unlike in the case of general education, many young people in VET do not start

in the programme directly after their compulsory schooling

(→ figure 138)

Depending on the profession, school-leavers who transfer directly fill the

minority of new apprenticeships, while the majority first completes an

intermediate programme or has already discontinued or completed another

apprenticeship, for example. The share of direct programme admissions

even decreases slightly when including second-year apprentices, since

many young people who change their field or company or who start in

a second programme after the apprenticeship contract ends can skip the

first or even the second year of the apprenticeship. However, to evaluate

how well the apprenticeship market works, it is important to know which

educational track apprentices choose. Strong competition from indirect

entrants can make it hard to find an apprenticeship, especially for young

people with weak grades in their school. Those who do not start an appren-

ticeship directly after compulsory schooling quite often start vocational

training at the certificate level.

Apprenticeship transitions differ not only by training type (VET

Certificate vs. VET Diploma, see

figure 145

) but also by occupation. As can

be seen from the duration of the apprenticeship, education and training

in the more demanding fields

(

→

margin text, page 130)

tends to follow

compulsory schooling directly and less often involves a change of training

profession or follow an interim year

(→ figure 139)

First year apprentices

New pensioners

Number of 65-year-olds

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130

Vocational education and training Context

138 Education

background of admitted or graduating cohorts

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Admission 2019/20 in first

apprenticeship year

Admission 2019/20 in all

apprenticeship years

Completion 2020

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Direct: Direct start after compulsory schooling

Indirect: Interim year or bridge

Switch: Started education at upper-secondary level already earlier but did not complete it

Secondary education: Already completed an education programme at upper-secondary level

Adults: Older than 25 years when starting

Other

Direct QP: Direct qualification procedure without apprenticeship

139 Probability

of the various

education backgrounds

By requirements profiles of the professions

Data: FSO (LABB), anforderungsprofile.ch;

calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

20 30 40 50 60

Requirements profile

Direct

Indirect

Switch

Second qualification

70 80

This indicates that students rarely take a year off or change their train-

ing profession with the aim of acquiring missing skills so as to do a more

challenging apprenticeship, or that those with such an intention will

not reach their goal. Furthermore, access also differs by language region

(

→

Efficiency/costs, page 146),

while the differences between the occu-

pational fields are mostly small.

Occupation-specific competencies

Compared to general upper-secondary education, VET imparts more occu-

pation-specific skills and fewer generic competencies. Such specific com-

petences make it easier to start a career, which tends to go hand in hand

with higher incomes on completion of an apprenticeship. International lit-

erature, however, raises concerns that specific competences can also have

disadvantages. This can be the case when structural changes bring about

major shifts in competency requirements, causing job-specific skills to

become obsolete more quickly than generic ones. Therefore, a horizon-

tal mismatch between individual competences and the skills needed in

the labour market is more likely in VET, a situation that can lead to lower

wages in the long term than for general education graduates

(Hanushek

et al., 2017).

Empirical studies of the vocational education and training system in

Switzerland indicate that people in jobs with very specific skills are less

likely to change their field and are indeed more at risk of not finding work

for longer periods if they become unemployed. At the same time, how-

ever, they earn higher incomes at the beginning of their careers com-

pared to those in jobs with more generic skills

(Eggenberger et al., 2018;

Rinawi & Backes-Gellner, 2021).

Moreover, there is an empirical link

between low wages and the horizontal mismatch in Switzerland. On

the other hand, when considering only changes in this discrepancy over

time, the resulting wage effects are very small. This suggests that other

(unobserved) factors are causing the observed wage differences. The wage

legend

The probability of direct admission is 48% in

the case of occupations with a requirements

profile of 20, after accounting for the gender,

apprenticeship type and occupational field.

With a requirements profile of 70, it is about

86%.

The

requirements profiles

define the

basic prerequisites for an apprenticeship

in terms of the competences applicant

must have in mathematics, science, the

language of instruction, and foreign

languages (www.anforderungsprofile.ch).

The precise figures of all requirements

profiles were provided by Walter Goetze

(bfb, Büro für Bildungsfragen AG).

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Context Vocational

education and training

131

losses actually attributable to more job-specific skills, on the other hand,

are rather small

(Schweri et al., 2020).

Overall, the negative consequences

of specific competencies are therefore likely to be comparatively low in

Switzerland.

Vocational or general education?

It is generally difficult to establish

the causal effects of training. A new

Finnish study

(Silliman & Virtanen,

2022)

addresses these problems by

analysing only comparable individ-

Digital transformation

Besides technological change, the digitalisation of the economy and soci-

ety also specifically influences VET in many ways. The fact that digital

skills are becoming more and more relevant – both during education and

training and in the labour market

(→ Labour market entry and income,

page 142)

– leads to new occupational fields and professions, while at

the same time forcing current professions to change in terms of their con-

tent. Digitalisation plays a greater role in the acquisition of skills while a

person is in an education and training programme, a trend that further

gained momentum with school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic,

and that could lead to more widespread use of blended learning

(Aeschli-

mann et al., 2020; Rauseo et al., 2021).

In addition to the changes in the form

of instructions at formal learning institutions, new technologies also ena-

ble new forms of informal learning and thus create new opportunities to

link the different learning venues in VET

(Educa, 2021).

However, tech-

nological change is also relevant in terms of equity, as access to the rele-

vant technologies can vary by place of work, profession or education back-

ground. At the same time, it must be noted that new technologies can also

make it easier for people with disabilities to access to education and can

thus reduce inequality.

In VET, digital competences have long been anchored in the frame-

work curricula of general secondary education. The State Secretariat for

Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and its partners are cur-

rently reviewing an amendment to these decrees

(Feller et al., 2021).

The

SERI (2022)

has also published guidelines for the digital transformation

“Orientierungshilfe Digitale Transformation”

to support professional

organisations providing VET programmes. However, it is currently dif-

ficult to gain a reliable overview of the degree and trend of digitalisation

in VET and its effects, as little data exists. With regard to the digital skills

of apprentices, only survey data based on self-assessments are available,

which is representative neither for all of Switzerland nor for all occupations.

Surveys indicate that VET is relatively effective when it comes to teach-

ing the skills for using digital technologies: Compared to other types of

upper-secondary education, apprentices at vocational baccalaureate schools

usually rate their own digital skills higher

(→ figure 140)

Apprentices at vocational baccalaureate schools also more frequently

claim to have learned how to use IT applications at school than appren-

tices in general education programmes. Such comparisons between school

types could, however, be distorted because the survey is not representa-

tive (Educa, 2021). Moreover, the survey covers only vocational baccalau-

reate schools and omits students in vocational schools.

uals who apply for both general and

vocational education programmes,

which is common in Finland. The

study concludes that VET is associ-

ated with wage benefits not only at

the beginning of a career but also in

the longer term, making the lifelong

returns to education of VET compa-

rable to that of general education,

especially for individuals with low

and medium cognitive abilities. There

is no visible long-term benefit from

general education due to the generic

skills such programmes require. The

authors argue that a split into specific

and generic skills makes little sense,

especially when it comes to meeting

the increased demand for manual and

cognitive non-routine skills as well as

social skills, and that VET is therefore

still well suited as a means of provid-

ing the skills in demand in the labour

market.

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Vocational education and training Context

140 Self-assessed

digital skills by school type

Applicable proportion

Data:

Educa (2021)

I am good at

obtaining and compiling information

from media sources.

using IT applications.

At school I learned how to

obtain and compile information

from media sources.

use IT applications.

Baccalaureate school

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Upper-secondary specialised school

Vocational baccalaureate

141 Apprentices

who use digital

learning apps

Use at school, by region and school type

Data: Monitoring Digitalisierung; calculations:

SCCRE

80%

60%

40%

20%

D-CH

F-CH

I-CH

Vocational Education and Training

Baccalaureate school / upper-

secondary specialised school

A representative survey on the digitalisation of schools in Switzerland

(→ figure 141)

shows that VET learners use digital tools at school slightly

less frequently. One exception is Canton Ticino, where the use of digital

tools is generally rare. A large part of such aids are tools for language learn-

ing. Therefore, the differences among education types may also be related

to the fact that jobs with a lower need for language skills have a smaller

need for digital aids

Institutions

Vocational education and training in Switzerland is provided by the federal

government, the cantons and professional organisations, which cooper-

ate as partners. The federal government has a central, national coordinat-

ing role, with a view to enabling programmes to train young people who

remain mobile throughout the Swiss labour market and even beyond, if

possible. Learners therefore depend on the highest possible standardisa-

tion of their qualifications. Cantonal implementation not only ensures

alignment with regional job markets (industries, occupations, etc.) but

plays a decisive role for interaction with state schools and other upper-level

secondary education typ es.

Vocational education and training, 2030

In 2016, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation

(SERI) launched a process with its partners to develop a long-term strat-

egy for vocational education and training, which led to the “Vocational

education and training, 2030” initiative one year later. The latter now com-

prises the mission statement for the longer-term strategy and develops

and supports measures for further developing vocational education and

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Context Vocational

education and training

133

training and improving the surrounding framework, without aiming for

a fundamental change of direction.

The initiative also focuses on optimising governance and strength-

ening partnerships. Based on two expert reports

(Caves et al., 2019;

Emmenegger & Seitzl, 2019),

a concept for implementing and systematis-

ing the committee structure in VET was drafted, which has been devel-

oped only based on needs because the Vocational Training Act came into

force in 2004. The new structure (in force since 2021) is intended to bet-

ter coordinate the work of the various committees and allow for roles and

decision-making to become more transparent, enabling strategic deci-

sions to be more efficient and inclusive of all stakeholders. In addition to

the national VET summit, the Tripartite Conference on Vocational Edu-

cation and Training was created to ensure strategic VET management in

partnership with the federal government and to establish dialogue forums,

expert groups and project groups at the operational level

(Steuergremium

“Berufsbildung 2030”, 2020).

In another project of the “Vocational Educa-

tion and Training, 2030” initiative, general VET programmes are reviewed

in terms of future societal needs and aligned with labour market require-

ments. For this purpose, the status quo was analysed and evaluated in

a report

(Feller et al., 2021),

followed by a discussion of future scenarios.

This provides the basis for the current revision of general education, where

there is a need for optimisation, for example in “language and commu-

nication”, an area in which learners are often weak, and in writing skills

(Hoefele & Madlener-Charpentier, 2021).

Reforms

After practically all training and exam regulations were reformed and

replaced by training ordinances with the introduction of the Vocational

and Professional Education and Training Act (VPETA) in 2016, the focus

is now on revisions

(→ figure 142)

. The often increased demands on peda-

gogy that arose from the reforms were a challenge especially for professions

with few learners

(Baumeler et al., 2018)

as well as for instructors in gen-

eral

(Boldrini et al., 2019).

At the same time, however, it must be noted that

reforms also often spur innovation within companies

(Rupietta & Back-

es-Gellner, 2019; Schultheiss & Backes-Gellner, 2021).

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Vocational education and training Context

Since the adoption of the

Sustainable

Development Strategy 2016 – 2019,

education for sustainable develop-

ment (ESD) has also been a priority

and skills for taking action are

continuously reviewed in profession-

al development so that all relevant

aspects of sustainability are duly

taken into account and supplement-

ed in line with the needs of applied

fields. For this, the

SERI (2020b)

has developed a guideline that aims

to clarify the terms and serve as an

instrument for reviewing and develop-

ing the sustainability aspects of the

professions.

No. of reforms/amendments

142 Distribution

of reforms and revisions since 2005

Data: SERI

in VET. With this strategy, job profiles

2011

2016

2015

2006

2013

2014

2017

2009

2007

2008

2005

2010

2018

2019

2012

2020

2022

2021

2023

Revisions VET Certificate

Amendments VET Certificate

Revisions VET Diploma

Amendments VET Diploma

Vocational education and training with certificate

The two-year training courses leading to a certificate (vetC) have replaced

both basic apprenticeships and the previous two-year diploma courses.

They enable trainees to enter the labour market on completion of the pro-

gramme or to transfer to a three- or four-year apprenticeship with a VET

diploma. Since the introduction, the share of VET certificates in all voca-

tional qualifications has risen steadily, although growth rates have been

tapering off continuously. Today, roughly every tenth VET qualification

is a certificate

(→ figure 143)

. The proportions of certificates in the can-

tons have varied greatly since their introduction

(→ figure 144)

. While

the increase in the first few years after the introduction was mainly at the

expense of three-year apprenticeships, the proportion of the latter has

remained relatively constant since 2008, while the number of four-year

apprenticeships has decreased. This relative decrease in four-year VET

diplomas is due to (at least) two factors: Firstly, the strong increase in

the number of apprentices in the specialist health care and personal sup-

port field offsets the decrease in the share of three-year apprenticeships.

Secondly, some apprentices in the two-year vetC programs continue their

training for another year after graduation and thus complete a three-year

apprenticeship

(→ Labour market entry with the two-years VET certifi-

cate, page 143),

which in turn increases their respective share. The rel-

ative decline in four-year apprenticeships therefore exaggerates the trend,

while the number of four-year apprenticeships has only declined slightly

in absolute terms.

143 Trend

in the share

of the three apprenticeship

types (new admissions)

Data: FSO

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

VET Certificate

3-year VET Diploma

4-year VET Diploma

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Context Vocational

education and training

135

144 Proportion

of VET certificates by canton, 2010 and 2020

Measured against all apprenticeships

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

16.6%

VET Certificate proportion in 2020

13.6%

7.6%

CHE

10.6%

4.6%

0.1%

3.3%

6.5%

VET Certificate proportion in 2010

9.7%

12.9%

Although certificate apprenticeships have increased steadily in number,

they are often not the first choice of apprentices. Fewer than one in four

vetC apprentices comes directly from the lower-secondary level, compared

to around 45% in three-year VET apprenticeships and 63% in four-year

VET apprenticeships

(→ figure 145)

. Roughly every fourth young person

starting a certificate apprenticeship was previously in another upper-sec-

ondary programme before switching, and 32% had previously completed a

bridging or interim year. This again shows that bridging programmes and

interim years often fail to help learners acquire the skills that are lacking

for the more demanding professions. Even if a vetC apprenticeship is not

the first choice for most young people, it is interesting to note that such

apprentices are more often satisfied with their decision – especially when

it comes to their teachers, compared to apprentices in the VET diploma

tracks

(Müller & Schorn, 2021).

However, this could also be because the lat-

ter have higher expectations on their teachers.

145 Education

background

of new admissions 2020 – 2021,

by apprenticeship type

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

4-year VET

Diploma

3-year VET

Diploma

VET

Certificate

Direct

Switch

Adults

VET Certificate

50%

Indirect

Second qualification

Other

100%

Vocational baccalaureate and Passerelle

Learners can qualify for the vocational baccalaureate firstly in parallel

with a VET programme (vBac1), secondly by training for at least one year

after completing the VET programme (vBac2), or thirdly by passing the

Federal Vocational Baccalaureate Examination. In the latter case, they can

take the exam without having attended classes in a recognised educational

programme. The vocational baccalaureate entitles the holder to enrol in a

university of applied sciences without an entrance examination – except

in cases where aptitude tests or competence checks are required – and in

some cases also to universities of teacher education. The supplementary

“federal vocational baccalaureate – university” examination (also known

as the “Passerelle Dubs”) also provides access to universities.

Direct:

Direct start after compulsory schooling

Indirect:

Interim year or bridge

Switch:

Started education and training at

upper-secondary level already earlier but did

not complete it

Secondary education:

Already completed

an education and training programme at

upper-secondary level

Adults:

Older than 25 years when starting

VeT Certificate:

Transition from VET Certificate

to VET Diploma

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Vocational education and training Context

146 Skills

of vocational

baccalaureate holders

Cantonal averages of PISA points (mathematics)

and cantonal vocational baccalaureate shares,

2015; R

without GE and VD is 0.609

Data: SEATS, FSO; calculations: SCCRE

620

PISA scores of voc. bacc.

students

600

580

560

540

520

500

10%

15%

20%

25%

Vocational baccalaureate share 2015

BE-d

VS-d

VS-f

BE-f

The vocational baccalaureate share has steadily increased slightly in recent

decades

(SCCRE, 2018).

At the same time, vBac1 holders tend to concentrate

on a few apprenticeship fields: 75% of them consider only eight occupations,

but ones that require a strong performance in school

(Trede et al., 2020).

Although vBac1 holders generate a lower net benefit for the training com-

pany due to their longer absence than learners without a vocational bacca-

laureate, occupations with a high proportion of vocational bacca laureate

holders are often those that already have a low net benefit

(→ Efficiency/

costs, page 146).

These findings indicate that the work-study vocational

baccalaureate is a valuable selection criterion for apprenticeship compa-

nies: Those who do not meet the conditions of the vocational baccalaure-

ate are less likely to be considered for demanding apprenticeship compa-

nies and occupations. Moreover, for many young people the work-study

vocational baccalaureate is also a prerequisite for an apprenticeship in the

first place rather than attending a baccalaureate or an upper-secondary spe-

cialised school.

The vocational baccalaureate shares differ strongly among learners in

the various occupations as well as among cantons

(SCCRE, 2018; Trede

et al., 2020).

At the individual level, the vocational baccalaureate com-

petes with the gymnasium baccalaureate because a young person must

choose either of the two. At the systems level, however, the two bacca-

laureate shares do not correlate: Cantons with a high vocational baccalau-

reate share do not also have a low academic share, and vice versa, whereby

regional differences in the such shares are at least partly due to cantonal

admission regulations

(Hänni et al., 2022).

In cantons with mandatory

exams as an admission requirement, the probability of someone entering

a vocational baccalaureate programme is significantly lower than in can-

tons where grade averages or teacher recommendations determine admis-

sion. This is especially true for vBac2 students and socio-economically dis-

advantaged people.

Such institutional factors lead to large differences in how cantons

assess the cognitive skills of vocational baccalaureate holders

(→ figure 146)

Graduates from a vocational baccalaureate school in cantons Ticino, Neu-

châtel or Geneva on average have around 90 PISA points less than those

with the same educational background in Canton St. Gallen. Except in the

cases of cantons Geneva and Vaud, a strong negative correlation exists

among cantons’ vocational baccalaureate share and vocational baccalaure-

ate learners’ average skill levels before entering the upper-secondary level,

as measured by PISA scores: In cantons with a high vocational baccalaure-

ate share, the skills of the holders tend to be significantly lower.

Vocational qualification for adults

A main aspect of the vocational training policy is the provision of voca-

tional training for adults. In response to the shortage of skilled workers

and the acceptance of the mass immigration initiative in 2014, the fed-

eral government made vocational qualifications for adults a priority. At

the same time, technological and economic structural shifts have made it

increasingly difficult for those with weak qualifications to prevail in the

Swiss labour market as a whole. Thus, acquiring an upper-secondary level

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Effectiveness Vocational

education and training

137

qualification at a later stage has become significantly more important at

the individual level.

The efforts of those responsible seem to be paying off. For example, the

proportion of gainfully employed persons aged 25 and above with a low-

er-secondary education as the highest qualification has been declining

since 2011

(→ figure 147)

. On the one hand, this is due to many people with-

out post-compulsory education retiring or no longer being employed; on

the other hand, it is because younger generations with better education are

taking their place. Moreover, the share of adults without post-compulsory

education who are doing an apprenticeship has also been rising since 2016.

Adults who participate in the qualification process directly or are in a vali-

dation procedure have not yet been factored into the count. Roughly half of

all adults choose one of these two options for gaining access to post-com-

pulsory education.

Most gainfully employed persons without an upper-secondary quali-

fication are of foreign nationality. A quarter of all gainfully employed for-

eigners have only a compulsory educational qualification; for Swiss nation-

als, this share is 7 %

(Schmid et al., 2017).

At the same time, the probability

of starting an adult apprenticeship (regular or short) is lower among for-

eigners without post-compulsory education than among Swiss nation-

als. For first-generation migrants, this probability is only about 7 %, while

for the second generation the share is roughly one third. Among Swiss

nationals without an upper-secondary qualification, roughly half complete

an adult apprenticeship

(→ figure 148)

. The probability of an adult doing

an apprenticeship is about the same when taking into account gender, age,

language region and the family situation (children). For first-generation

migrants, the stronger preference for general education is likely to play a

role

(Abrassart et al., 2020).

However, it cannot be ruled out that differences

in information, personal characteristics, language skills, and discrimina-

tion play a role in determining these disparities. It is also conceivable that

some employed persons, especially migrant workers, simply have little

interest in further education.

147 Adults

without post-

compulsory education in an

apprenticeship programme

Data: FSO (SAKE); calculations: SCCRE

16%

12%

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

Proportion of gainfully employed

persons without post-compulsory

qualification

Proportion of persons without

post-compulsory degree in an

apprenticeship programme

148 Probability

of doing

an apprenticeship

For adults without post-compulsory education

Data: FSO (SAKE), calculations: SCCRE

Swiss

Migrant

gen.

effectiveness

The effectiveness of vocational education and training can be viewed

from a systems and an individual level. The systems level involves issues

relating to the overall effect of the VET system, for example in terms of

growth, competitiveness and innovation

(Backes-Gellner & Lehnert, 2021;

Backes-Gellner & Pfister, 2019; Rupietta et al., 2021).

The individual level,

on the one hand, considers effectiveness from the perspective of learners,

primarily in terms of the impact VET has on cognitive skills and labour

market success

(→ Labour market entry and income, page 142)

, as well

as on the acquisition of non-cognitive skills

(Birkelund, 2021; Bolli & Hof,

2018; Hoeschler et al., 2018; Schumann et al., 2017).

The latter are significant

not only for success in the labour market but also for personal satisfaction.

On the other hand, the view of companies must be considered as well, as

they must be convinced that VET is at least as effective a means for recruit-

ing skilled workers as other education programmes.

Migrant

gen.

20%

40%

60%

legend

The probability that an adult Swiss national

without post-compulsory education will do an

apprenticeship is just under 51%.

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Vocational education and training Effectiveness

Matching demand and supply

The vast majority of prospective VET students are very satisfied with their

education and training programme. For 91% of the 2021 entry cohort, the

apprenticeship they found matches their skills and interests, while 84%

of them regard it as the ideal solution

(Golder et al., 2021).

But this also

indicates that roughly one in six did not find the apprenticeship they were

looking for – in other words, he or she had to change the occupation or

opt for a different company than originally intended. Success in finding

an apprenticeship in the desired field (or company) strongly relates to per-

sonal skills and the requirements of the occupation and company. At the

same time, apprenticeship fields differ in the level of interest they spark

among learners and in how frequently they are in demand. As a result, the

challenge of finding the right apprenticeship can vary

(Jaik & Wolter, 2019).

The diverging interest in individual apprenticeship fields can also be

seen in the data obtained from LENA, the national apprenticeship platform.

On the one hand, the data covers all ads posted on the platform by appren-

ticeship profession; on the other hand, it shows how often young prospects

query the various professions. The subsequently calculated index shows

the averages and frequencies of queries for a specific apprenticeship profes-

sion per month in relation to the total number of apprenticeships in that

profession. Thus, the index becomes a proxy indicator of demand for the

individual apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships across all occupations are queried on average just under

40 times per month and ad, and the index value 1 has been assigned to this

average. In relation to this index, it is now possible to see that most appren-

ticeships have a low number of queries, while a few have a very high relative

number

(→ figure 149)

. Among the 40 occupations with the most ads, the

following have the highest number of queries: Drafting, dental assistant,

information technologist, and commercial employee. At the other end of

the spectrum are ads for jobs such as plant and apparatus engineer, licensed

electrician and tinsmith. Across all apprenticeships, occupations with the

highest number of queries per ad mostly have only a few ad postings, for

example in fields such as photographer, architectural model maker, inter-

active media designer, veterinary practice assistant, and veterinary nurse,

which are not shown in the figure here.

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Effectiveness Vocational

education and training

139

149 Queries

per LENA apprenticeship ad

Index of the 40 most frequent occupations

Data: Centre for Research in Economics of Education at the University of Berne; calculations: SCCRE

2.5

Index of queries on LENA

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

Chef

Bricklayer

Drafting

Construction Engineer

Electronics Technician

Commercial Employee

Sanitation Technician

Pharmacy Assistant

Hairdresser

Production Mechanic

Logistics Professional

Healthcare Assistant

Network Electrician

Carpenter

Dental Assistant

Polymechanic

Road Builder

Butcher

Painter

Gardener

Baker-Patissier-Confectioner

Metalbuilder

Laboratory Technician

Automotive Technician

Specialist in Hotel Housekeeping

Autom. Mechatronics Technic.

Information Technologist

Certified Social Care Worker

Automation Engineer

Licensed Construction Electrician

Hospitality Services Professional

Building and Grounds Custodian

Plant and Apparatus Engineer

Restaurant Service Employee

Licensed Electrician

Retail Professional

Carpenter (joiner)

Heating Technician

Tinsmith

Farmer

2.5

Index of queries on LENA

= 0.574

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

Applications from apprenticeship

seekers

Strong interest or a high index value for apprenticeships advertised online

does not necessarily mean that it is more difficult to find an apprenticeship

in that field. However, the strong likelihood of such a correlation becomes

apparent when comparing the index value with the number of applications

that apprenticeship seekers submit on average for a specific apprenticeship

position

(→ figure 150)

. The higher the index value, the larger the number

of applications tends to be. It is also worth noting that those looking for

apprenticeships in fields with a very low index value only (have to) write

between two to five applications on average.

150 LENA

ad index

and application numbers

By occupation

Data: Centre for Research in Economics of

Education at the University of Berne, SERI

(transition barometer); calculations: SCCRE

Termination of apprenticeship contracts

Approximately one in five apprentices in the VET system terminates the

apprenticeship contract early at least once, with men and foreigners doing

so slightly more often than women and Swiss nationals. Most of them

(80%) start another apprenticeship afterwards and thus remain in VET.

Slightly more than half of such re-entrants change their profession, while

46% merely look for another employer

(FSO, 2021h).

Many factors influence whether someone terminates the apprentice-

ship contract early, whereby personal skills, gender, and conditions in the

apprenticeship market and at the workplace play an important role

(SCCRE,

2018).

Personal disasters increase the risk of dropping out of a VET pro-

gramme, although self-confidence and support from others can lower

this risk

(Samuel & Burger, 2019).

Self-confidence, i.e. trust in one’s own

abilities to successfully acquire the necessary skills at the workplace, com-

bined with a subjectively good fit with the occupation can boost motiva-

tion to complete the apprenticeship

(Findeisen et al., 2022).

In addition,

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Vocational education and training Effectiveness

non-cognitive abilities, personality traits, as well as time preferences also

influence the decision to terminate the apprenticeship contract: Indi-

viduals to whom the long-term benefits of current decisions are of lit-

tle or no concern are more likely to face apprenticeship contract termi-

nations

(Backes-Gellner et al., 2021).

Furthermore, the risk factors differ

based on gender: While men in urban areas who tend to overestimate

their own abilities are strongly affected by terminations, risk factors for

women include competitive behaviour, external locus of control, and for-

eign nationality, although these factors do not necessarily feature as causal

reasons

(Lüthi & Wolter, 2021).

The exact circumstances of contract termi-

nations are also important when analysing the causes of contract termina-

tions, as they may vary. For example, apprenticeship contract terminations

due to cyclical economic shifts may not be significantly related to learn-

ers’ overestimating their abilities, but they may be significantly related to

poor performance in school. This aspect has been given insufficient atten-

tion in research so far, as the data often is based only on information that

the affected, terminated learners themself provide and that may not always

be accurate.

Apprenticeship completion and qualification procedure

There are no formal entry requirements for vocational education and train-

ing: Anyone who has completed compulsory education can apply for an

apprenticeship offered by a company. For the apprenticeship companies,

however, offering such places is worthwhile only if apprentices meet the

prerequisites for the profession. Consequently, apprenticeship places are

always filled with those who best meet the company’s requirements. This

leads to the situation where companies in regions with many academic

baccalaureate holders often have to choose applicants with comparatively

low skills, as the higher skilled learners usually opt for a baccalaureate

school

(Jaik, 2020).

The connection between the academic baccalaureate share and the

VET learners’ skills leads to a large range of average skills within the same

apprenticeship profession. The fact that small firms – unlike large, well-

known ones – usually face disadvantages when it comes to recruitment

contributes further to this effect. On the other hand, the VET system aims

to create diversity in entry skills among learners in the various apprentice-

ship fields as a way to better satisfy the range of skills called for in require-

ments profiles. The strong correlation between the average skills – based

on the PISA survey – and the requirements profiles as defined by experts

indicates that such profiles play explicit and implicit roles in recruitment

(→ figure 151)

. This shows that employers and students use these require-

ments profiles in recruitment as a basis for making decisions.

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Effectiveness Vocational

education and training

141

151 Competencies

and requirements profiles by occupation

PISA Cohort 2012; the light green dots are ISCO occupational groups with fewer than

30 observations per occupation

Data: SEATS, anforderungsprofile.ch; calculations: SCCRE

Maths requirements

EBA

350

400

450

500

PISA points maths

550

600

650

Hairdresser

= 0.526

Polymechanic

Commercial

Employee

Construction

Engineer

Electronics

Technician

Information

Technologist

Retail Professional

Logistics Professional

Healthcare Assistant

Cognitive skills influence not only who gets which apprenticeship and how

well it matches the requirements of the occupation, but also whether the

apprenticeship can be completed successfully

(→ figure 152)

. Weak cogni-

tive and academic skills among learners often lead to problems at vocational

schools and subsequently to termination of an apprenticeship contract. In

rarer instances, a learner may even fail the final apprenticeship exam. In

addition to the importance of absolute skills for success in an apprentice-

ship, relative skills play a crucial role as well, i.e. skills a learner has in rela-

tion to those of other cohort members in the same apprenticeship profes-

sion. Under-qualified learners with skills at least one level ( 73 PISA points)

below the average of other learners in the same profession are significantly

less likely to succeed in the education and training programme. They would

therefore be better off if they had chosen a profession with less demanding

requirements. No statistically significant effect can be observed for over-

qualified learners compared to suitably qualified ones.

The pass rate of the final apprenticeship examination is relatively high

with an average of 92% in the years 2016 – 2020, but lower than, for exam-

ple, in the case of candidates for the academic baccalaureate examina-

tion

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools, page 155).

However, there are

large differences based on profession, apprenticeship duration, and can-

ton. Apprentices in a two-year VET certificate program are particularly

successful, while those in three- and four-year apprenticeships have a

slightly lower examination pass rate

(→ figure 153)

. In this respect, how-

ever, it must be noted that the number of early terminations of appren-

ticeship contracts is higher in the case of certificates, whereby a selective

group of apprentices takes the final apprenticeship examination. During

the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the pass rate increased significantly

across all apprenticeship typ es. This is probably because no final exams

were administered for vocational and general skills due to the pandemic.

152 Success

and suitability

of occupational choice

Probability (with 95% confidence interval) of

completing an apprenticeship without switching

Data: SEATS, calculations: SCCRE

«Over-

qualified»

«Under-

qualified»

-15%

-10%

-5%

Probability of success

legend

“Underqualified” apprentices (defined as

students with competencies at least 73 PISA

points below the average of the job) are

8.2 percentage points less likely to succeed,

after accounting for other personal, family

and occupational factors.

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Vocational education and training Effectiveness

153 Pass

rate of exam candidates

Data: FSO (SBG, SFPI); calculations: SCCRE

Success rate qualification procedure

The final grades were calculated based on the past grades and the individ-

ual practical project, so that the risk of someone failing the final examina-

tion and thus the programme was eliminated.

Datenbereich

96%

github->Erfolg.do

94%

92%

90%

88%

86%

2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020

VET Certiﬁcate

3-year VET Diploma

4-year VET Diploma

labour market entry and income

Those with a VET qualification can enter the labour market relatively easily,

especially if they have completed an apprenticeship in the dual, compa-

ny-based system

(Bolli et al., 2021).

The vast majority of learners find a job

once they have completed their apprenticeship. In addition to the final

apprenticeship examination result, personality traits also play a role in the

person’s ability to enter the labour market. Learners with a present bias –

i.e. a stronger focus on present rather than future events – tend to have

no job or plan for training shortly before completing their apprenticeship

(Backes- Gellner et al., 2021).

VET graduates have significant income differences shortly after they

enter the labour market

(→ figure 154)

. These differences depend on the

type of training (VET certificate, diploma, or vocational baccalaureate)

and tend to increase over the years

(FSO, 2021e).

Part of the income dif-

ferences can be explained by divergent requirements for cognitive skills

among the vocational qualification typ es. In addition, the nature of the

training and education programmes for the various occupations also plays

a role in what the person earns. For example, individuals in fields with a

large share of job-specific skills and who spend more time in the training

company tend to have higher initial incomes, whereas those in occupations

with a large share of general education skills tend to earn higher incomes

over the course of their career in that labour market

(Grønning et al., 2020a).

However, individual income differences, i.e. among those who have

completed the same apprenticeship, are greater than income differences

between occupations. A correlation exists between these differences and

learners’ personal characteristics before starting the apprenticeship. While

cognitive abilities influence the occupation choice and training programme

type, and thus indirectly also income, they do not explain the income dif-

ferences among people in the same apprenticeship profession. This is not

the case for non-cognitive skills. Students who rate themselves as punctual

and persistent already during compulsory schooling earn significantly more

than their colleagues after completing their apprenticeship

(→ figure 155)

This clearly indicates the long-term importance of personality traits, as

manifested already during childhood, for success not only in education

but also in the labour market.

Technological development and digitalisation are also increasingly

affecting the occupations and skills the labour market calls for. Trends such

as a decrease in demand for routine, manual work became apparent already

in the 1950s, and they have remained equally relevant in recent decades.

On the other hand, there is stronger demand for occupations requiring

analytical and interactive types of work rather than repetitive tasks

(Aepli

et al., 2017).

The increased demand for such skills in turn affects wages,

with analyses showing that wage effects vary by skill area

(Kiener et al.,

2022).

Skills in the “production and control technology” and the “ICT and

application development” fields have a larger effect on wages than those

in “electrical and systems engineering” and “CNC & CAD programming”

154 Entry-level

income on

completion of an apprenticeship

By apprenticeship type

Data:

FSO (2021e)

6000

Full-time income in CHF

5000

4000

3000

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

5.5

Years after completing VET

Vocational Baccalaureate

VET Diploma

VET Certificate

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Effectiveness Vocational

education and training

143

(→ figure 156)

, although part of these effects can be explained by differences

in the requirements of the occupations. While very specific skills often

come with a wage advantage in a steady employment relationship, they

are not always advantageous if the person changes employers. For exam-

ple, someone with very specific IT skills is more likely to get a lower sal-

ary when changing employers than someone with more genetic IT skills

(Eggenberger & Backes-Gellner, 2020).

155 Income

effects of cognitive

and non-cognitive skills

Effects with 95% confidence interval;

effects shown in light green are statistically

not significantly different from zero

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Cognitive

labour market entry with the two-years VeT certificate

Learners who qualify for a two-year VET certificate usually enter the labour

market directly on completion of their education and training. Slightly less

than half of them continue their education and training at the VET diploma

level. However, there are major differences among the various apprentice-

ship professions with regard to the activities on completion of the pro-

gramme

(→ figure 157)

. For example, a tyre work assistant will spend an

average of only 4 months in education (mostly in a VET diploma program)

in the two years after graduation, while an automotive assistant will spend

13.3 months in education. The likelihood of being employed varies as well,

and demand in the labour market is thus not equally strong for all per-

sons with a vocational certificate. For example, print finisher and kitchen

employees are often unemployed for longer periods after graduation. The

situation in the labour market can also influence the decision to continue

in an education and training programme

(Hofmann et al., 2020).

Explana-

tions of the individual patterns of post-VET certificate activities are very

occupation-specific and subject to a range of factors, such as wage levels in

the industry for skilled and unskilled workers, competition with similar

occupations with VET qualifications, and selection on transfer to a certif-

icate programme.

Maths

Reading

Science

Non-cognitive

Perseverance

School attitude

Punctuality

-200

200

400

Salary effect in CHF

legend

Individuals who report never having been late

to school have an entry-level income 218 CHF

higher than their colleagues of the same gen-

der and with the same skills.

156 Effect

of digital skills

on income

Data:

Kiener et al. (2022)

CNC & CAD

Electrical and

systems engineering

ICT & applications

Production and

control technology

Salary effects

legend

Individuals with a VET qualification in an

occupation whose educational plan includes

the CNC & CAD skill set have 2.7% higher

incomes than those in all other occupations.

For this skill set, the educational plan contains,

for example, skills relating to CNC, production

technology, CAD, manufacturing, documen-

tation, material planning, testing, quality

assurance.

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Vocational education and training Effectiveness

157 Activities

of VET certificate apprentices two years after the final apprenticeship examination,

by occupation

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Months

Kitchen Employee

Print Finisher

Garment Sewer

Mechanics Assistant

Roadworks Assistant

Bricklayer's assistant

Hairdresser

Polisher

Tiler

Alle

Butcher Assistant

Building Services Assistant

Tyre Work Assistant

Painting Assistant

Watchmaking Assistant

Building & Grounds Maint. Assist.

Carpentry Assistant

Logistics Assistant

Food Production Assistant

Baker-Patissier-Confectioner

Shutter Blinds Install. Assist.

Agricultural Assistant

Plastering Assistant

Surface Assistant

Dairy Practitioner

Retail Assistant

ICT Assistant

Office Assistant

Timber Worker

Gardener

Assistant in Hospitality Services

Health and Social Care Worker

Hotel Housekeeping Employee

Building Cleaning Assistant

Restaurant Service Employee

Automotive Assistant

Horse Stable Worker

Plastics Processing Assistant

Industrial Painting Assistant

Metalbuilding Assistant

In education and training

Employed

Unemployed

Other

legend

A Print Finisher spends on average 5.5 months in training and 11.3 months in a job two years after completing the apprenticeship.

The person is registered as unemployed for 2.6 month and works elsewhere for 4.6 months. These are averages for all persons. In reality,

some of those with this profile are likely to be in training for the entire time, e.g. while others are employed full-time.

Mobility by occupation and company

After completing their programme, apprentices are highly mobile within

occupations and among companies. On the one hand, about two thirds,

especially apprentices in small firms, leave the apprenticeship company

one year after completing the programme. On the other hand, many also

change their occupation, whereby those in a company-based VET pro-

gramme in particular are most likely to stay in the field immediately after

completing their apprenticeship and to switch only in the following years

(Buchs & Müller, 2016).

Barely half of those who completed an appren-

ticeship still work in their original profession five and a half years later.

Depending on the industry, some graduates are even more mobile: Among

office workers and related occupations, just over one third stay in their

original apprenticeship profession

(→ figure 158)

. Such changes may also be

involuntary, as the data makes it impossible to distinguish between mobil-

ity that is voluntary and mobility imposed by labour market conditions. In

general, however, differences in mobility reflect the requirements of the

labour market: The likelihood of someone changing his or her occupation

is higher when demand for such work is weaker

(Buchs & Helbling, 2016).

Similarly, mobility could also be driven by career intentions. Especially

those at age 21 in occupations with low or medium requirements will look

for occupations with a higher socio-economic status

than those at age 15

(Basler & Kriesi, 2019).

1 In the study, the status was derived from the “International socio-economic index of occu-

pational status” (ISEI) of the desired occupation.

158 Proportion

of people who

remain in the apprenticeship

profession

5.5 years after completion; the population

for the analysis includes those who completed

their VET apprenticeship in 2014 or 2015

Data:

FSO (2020a)

Technician and

equivalent

occupations

Office workers and

related occupations

Service occupations

and salespersons

Crafts and related

occupations

20%

40%

60%

Remain in occupation

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Effectiveness Vocational

education and training

145

Transfer to tertiary education and training

Approximately three out of four learners with a vocational baccalaureate

start in a tertiary education and training programme within five years of

graduation. 57 % of them study at a university of applied sciences, 10% start

in a professional education – mostly at a college of higher education, and

just under 5% enrol in a tier-one university or a university of teacher educa-

tion

(Trede et al., 2020).

Unlike in the case of academic baccalaureates, those

with a vocational baccalaureate more often enrol in tertiary programmes

only several years later. However, in terms of labour market integration,

they are more often employed and less often unemployed on completion

of a tertiary education and training programme than those who enter a

tertiary programme from a general education track

(Aepli et al., 2021).

The

wages, resources, and job satisfaction of those integrated into the labour

market are comparable between the two education and training types

(Stalder & Lüthi, 2020).

A range of factors determine simultaneously whether someone switches

to a tertiary programme. For example, the field, gender, socio-economic

background, and demands of the apprenticeship occupation play a role.

But institutional factors of the occupation also need to be considered: For

people who have completed a non-specialised apprenticeship, who com-

pleted a large proportion of their programme in school, or who passed

a highly standardised final examinations, the likelihood of transferring

to professional education and training (PET ) programme is somewhat

higher

(Sander & Kriesi, 2020).

At the individual level, lacking or wrong

information is also likely to influence the decision of starting a tertiary

education and training programme. For example, some young people are

wrongly informed about the admission requirements for tertiary education

and training programmes and thus overestimate their chances of being

admitted. At the same time, many others underestimate the monetary

benefit of tertiary education, i.e. the wage difference between those with

and those without a tertiary qualification. Such misconceptions became

especially apparent in responses to questions about PET programmes

(Bolli

et al., 2020).

Whether someone starts, postpones or forgoes tertiary education

usually depends not least on the economic situation at the time of the deci-

sion

(Hampf et al., 2020; SCCRE, 2018).

In buoyant labour markets, men

in particular are more likely to decide against tertiary education. Compe-

tition in the labour market also plays a role. When there is strong com-

petition, VET graduates more often try to exploit the situation through

tertiary education and training. For example, during the expansion of the

free movement of persons, those with basic vocational training living in

border regions enrolled in universities of applied sciences more frequently

than those from regions further away from a border

(Bächli & Tsankova,

2020).

Passing the additional “federal vocational baccalaureate – university”

exam (Passerelle Dubs) enables those with a vocational baccalaureate qual-

ification to enrol in a university directly. The number of these additional

exams has increased significantly in recent years. Young people with par-

ents without a university degree choose this path more often, while those

with parents with a tertiary qualification more often transfer to the ter-

tiary level via the (academic) baccalaureate. Students who enter by passing

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146

Vocational education and training Efficiency/costs

the additional exam are similarly successful in their studies as the other

students

(Eberle, 2022).

While their success rate is somewhat lower than

that of students with an academic baccalaureate, they are on average also

older than academic baccalaureates, which in turn can explain their lower

likelihood of success.

In contrast to the enrolments of academic baccalaureates during pre-

vious times of crisis, the economic crisis resulting from the pandemic has

so far had no significant effect on vocational baccalaureates who trans-

fer to universities of applied sciences: The rate of direct transfers to all

universities in 2020 was similar to that in previous years. Only vBac2

learners in the “Business and Services” programme went on to a univer-

sity at a slightly higher rate

(FSO, 2021f ).

The situation in the labour market

probably helped this steady trend in transfers: Thanks to temporary work

and other measures, the unemployment rate remained fairly low despite

the sharp drop in GDP, which ensured that most VET graduates were able

to find a job even in the first year of the pandemic.

efficiency/costs

159 Development

of efficiency

in vocational education and

training

Data: FSO; calculations: Centre for Research

in Economics of Education at the University of

Berne

115

Efficiency index (2002=100)

110

105

100

2010

2004

2008

2006

2002

2014

2016

2012

How efficiently resources are used can be assessed from the perspective

of the learners, training companies, or the public. For an unbiased assess-

ment and a comparison of efficiency, however, essential data is missing

for practically all education levels and types

(Wolter et al., 2020).

In VET,

there is a particular lack of data on the quality and level of skills and knowl-

edge among learners entering and leaving a programme. Without such data,

schools whose learners are less competent on entry are deemed to be less

efficient than those with initially more competent learners.

However, based on available data and when considering inputs and out-

puts at the cantonal level, an efficiency comparison over time does not indi-

cate a decline in the use of public expenditures in VET today compared to

earlier times

(→ figure 159)

. The analysis considers the number of learners

and teachers, the education expenditure as the input, and the number of

apprenticeship qualifications as the output. Accordingly, the comparison

over time is valid only when assuming that education quality has remained

constant. Analyses of contextual factors show that cantons with a high

proportion of school-based VET programmes are less efficient, as compa-

nies do not contribute to the costs here. Such contextual factors explain a

significant part of the differences among cantons.

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Efficiency/costs Vocational

education and training

147

Costs and benefits among apprenticeship companies

In 2020, the federal government and cantons paid approximately CHF 3.6

billion for vocational education and training expenses, most of which was

spent on vocational schools

(SERI, 2021).

These costs have been relatively

stable in nominal terms over the past decade. In addition, companies offer-

ing training invest approximately CHF 5.0 billion annually in VET pro-

grammes. Such company investments are offset by a slightly higher bene-

fit, resulting in a net gain, on average, as shown in the fourth cost-benefit

study for the 2016 – 2017 education and training year

(Gehret et al., 2019).

Not only do costs and benefits vary between companies and apprentice-

ship occupations, but also in their ratio: Around 40% of training compa-

nies incur net costs (rather than net benefits)

(→ figure 160)

Compared to the previous cost-benefit analysis

(Strupler Leiser & Wolter,

2012),

the results have changed only slightly. Even if the figures for some

occupations differ slightly, the changes are largely statistically insignifi-

cant

(→ figure 161)

160 Distribution

of net

benefits among apprenticeship

companies

Data:

Gehret et al. (2019)

25%

Apprenticeships

20%

15%

10%

-110

-90

-70

-50

-30

-10

110

Net benefit in CHF 1,000

4-year VET Diploma

Chef

Healthcare Assistant

Bricklayer

Drafting

Specialist in Hotel Housekeeping

Autom. Mechatronics Technic.

Licensed Electrician

Carpenter (joiner)

Other four-year VET Diploma

Polymechanic

Hospitality Services Professional

161 Average

net benefit by occupation

Comparison of 2009 and 2017; the light-coloured figures of the 2009 survey do not differ statistically from those of 2017.

Data:

Gehret et al. (2019); Strupler Leiser & Wolter (2012)

VET Certificate

Net benefit in CHF 1,000

-10

-20

-30

-40

Sanitation Technician

Health and Social Care Worker

Commercial Employee

Logistics Professional

Other VET Certificate

Pharmacy Assistant

Kitchen Employee

Retail Assistant

Painter

Office Assistant

Dental Assistant

Hairdresser

Carpenter

Assistant in Hospitality Services

Automotive Technician

Automotive Assistant

Gardener

Certified Social Care Worker

Building and Grounds Custodian

Licensed Construction Electrician

Other three-year VET Diploma

Medical Secretary and Assist.

Restaurant Service Employee

Information Technologist

Retail Professional

3-year VET Diploma

2017

2009

The most significant changes occurred in the productive performance of

learners while on the job. Learners are now increasingly doing the work

of otherwise unskilled employees and less frequently that of skilled

employees.

In the past, various studies identified the importance of a company’s

cost-benefit ratio as key to its willingness to offer training positions

(SCCRE, 2014).

However, net benefits and costs by themselves do not

play a role alone, but also the costs of alternate ways of recruiting skilled

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148

Vocational education and training Efficiency/costs

employees. In this regard, recent studies have clearly shown that lower

costs of recruiting foreign skilled workers during the expansion of the free

movement of persons tended to lead to a decline in training activity among

companies located close to the border

(Aepli & Kuhn, 2021).

However, since

the free movement of persons also promotes stronger growth in compa-

nies close to the border and thus leads to a stronger need for employees, the

overall effect on training activity remains negligible

(Oswald-Egg & Siegen-

thaler, 2021).

large regional differences in reorientations

From the perspective of learners, switching the apprenticeship company

or occupation can make a lot of sense – depending on the new situation,

and such a switch can also be seen as a need for flexibility. From the per-

spective of apprenticeship companies and the public sector, however, such

a change is inefficient if it could have been prevented by means of more

effective vocational guidance counselling in the first place. Especially

for apprenticeship companies where training expenses at the start of the

apprenticeship exceed the benefits, such contract terminations are costly.

However, since most companies in Switzerland employ apprentices pro-

ductively right from the start – mostly for unskilled tasks –, the overall cost

that companies incur from those who quit their apprenticeship is still low

(Kriesi et al., 2016).

Another form of inefficiency – both for the individuals concerned and

the economy and society – arises when someone switches between edu-

cation types at the upper-secondary level. On the one hand, longer edu-

cation and training periods shorten the potential employment duration,

which leads to negative effects for the person in the form of lower income

and for the company in the form of a diminished staff. On the other hand,

the public sector also incurs higher education costs. Looking at the propor-

tion of those who start an apprenticeship after previously having started

another type of upper-secondary level education and training programme

indicates major differences among the language regions

(→ figure 162)

. In

French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, the current apprenticeship of

over 20% of first-year apprentices is not their first post-compulsory choice.

While most learners previously entered and dropped out of another VET

apprenticeship, about 8% of all apprenticeship starters have a general edu-

cation background. This share is higher in cantons with a high academic

baccalaureate share

(→ figure 163)

162 Changes

in education

and training by language region,

2020

Proportion of learners who entered in 2020 –

2021 and previously had started an upper-

secondary programme

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

D-CH

F-CH

I-CH

Switch from general education

Switch from VET

163 Change

from general

education, 2020

Compared to the gymnasium baccalaureate

share 2019

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

20%

Proportion of persons in VET who

switch from general education

= 0.565

16%

12%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Bacc. share by canton of residence

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Equity Vocational

education and training

149

equity

Occupation choice and gender

Education and training as well as occupational choices in Switzerland are

and remain subject to gender-specific factors. Not only do females start in

general education programmes more often than males

(→ chapter Bacca-

laureate schools, page 155),

but apprenticeship choices within VEt also

vary strongly by gender. Learners choose a profession in VET earlier than

in general education, i.e. at a time when gender identity still plays a greater

role for young people. Moreover, the perceived occupational choices in

general education are less gender-stereotypical than in VET. These factors

can thus explain gender-stereotypical occupational choices in VET

(Basler

et al., 2021; Imdorf et al., 2014).

Inequalities within VET, i.e. the gender-stereotyped choice of occu-

pation, have nevertheless decreased significantly in the last decade, as

indicated by the trend shown in the segregation index

(→ figure 164)

. This

indicates the differences in gender-specific occupational choices, whereby

all women choosing a different occupation than men would result in 1 as

the value. If men and women are equally distributed in 50% of all occupa-

tions, the index would show 0 as the value. In Switzerland, gender-spe-

cific occupational choices remained relatively stable for decades, until

the trend changed course starting at around 2010. Since then, the index

value has been declining. At the same time, large differences among the

cantons can be seen in the segregation index

(→ figure 165)

. In French-

and Italian-speaking Switzerland and the two cantons of Basel-City and

Basel-Country, occupation choices have always been less linked to gender,

while learners in the cantons of Central Switzerland and both cantons of

Appenzell choose gender-typical occupations more often. But here, too, the

differences have decreased. However, there is no explanation yet for the

shift towards more gender-neutral occupations that occurred around 2010.

Recent studies show that gender-specific occupational choices are more

due to gender-specific preferences among learners and less due to the pref-

erences of companies offering training. This is proven, among other things,

by an experimental study in which fictitious apprenticeship applications

were sent out and in which researchers had randomly varied the applicant’s

gender. Differences in companies’ responses to female and male applicants

could not be established. The former were not systematically invited less

often to interviews than men, and vice versa

(Fernandes et al., 2020).

One reason for different preferences of women and men are the diver-

ging forms and content of the work in the various professions. Women

tend to choose professions that often involve working with others, while

men tend to prefer work involving the use of physical objects

(→ figure 166)

Consequently, a change in the gender ratio of the various occupations

would have to originate in the job profiles, either communicatively or

through actual changes in the occupational activities. Labour market

realities, however, tend to constrain such changes, which means that

gender-typical occupational choices based on the variety of preferences

cannot be eliminated completely.

164 Trend

in the segregation

index

Data: FSO (SBG-SFPI); calculations: SCCRE

0.70

0.68

0.66

0.64

0.62

0.60

0.58

0.56

0.54

1984

1993

2002

2011

2020

Segregation index, occupational choice

165 Segregation

index by canton,

2016 – 2020

Data: FSO (SBG-SFPI), calculations: SCCRE

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

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150

Vocational education and training Equity

166 Women’s

share and the “People vs. things” index in career

choice

Data:

Kuhn & Wolter (2022)

The index divides apprenticeship occupations

into a latent dimension of “People vs. things”

that is based on the requirements profiles.

The index was then validated against actual

tasks mentioned in job ads.

Proportion of women

110%

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

-10%

-4

-3

-2

-1

People vs. things

Farmer

Information

Technologist

Chef

Commercial

Employee

Healthcare

Assistant

Polymechanic

Gender-specific pay gaps

Immediately after completing their vocational apprenticeship, women earn

on average around 130 francs less than men, as indicated in an analysis of

the income of the 2012 PISA cohort

(→ figure 167)

. The analysis includes

only the incomes of those who start working directly and do not start a

tertiary programme in the apprenticeship completion year or the follow-

ing year. The lower wage for women at the beginning of their career is due

to their choice of occupation. For example, men more often choose occu-

pations with very specific skills, while women tend to choose ones that

require a large share of general education. This gives men a pay advantage

at the time when they start their career but not in the medium to long term

(Grønning et al., 2020b).

When including the mathematical skills required

for the occupation in the pay comparison, the pay difference becomes neg-

ligible

(→ figure 168)

. Consequently, the initial pay disadvantage is mainly

due to women choosing occupations with significantly lower requirements

in mathematics. When considering specifically selected occupations –

whereby only gender-specific pay differences within the same occupations

are compared – women actually earn more than their male counterparts

directly on completion of the apprenticeship.

Calculations by the FSO

(2021e),

which consider the percentage of

weekly working hours, occupational field and other characteristics, also

do not indicate any pay differences 1.5 years after completion of the appren-

ticeship. Five and a half years after completing an apprenticeship, on the

other hand, men earn just under CHF 200 more on average. Such pay dif-

ferences may be due to various income trends in the occupations or to

changes in labour force participation, which is influenced, for example, by

career breaks or part-time work. Unlike the SEATS data, the FSO data does

not consider the requirement profiles for the various occupations; however,

it does consider the percent of weekly working hours.

167 Differences

in pay

on entry in the labour market

The pay of women minus the pay of men

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Observable

For the same maths

requirements

For the same

apprenticeship

-400 -200

200 400

Salary difference by gender in CHF

Pay corresponds to the effective monthly

net amount (not full-time equivalent salaries)

earned by those who did not start tertiary

education in the year of completing their

apprenticeship nor in the following year.

Those earning more than the 99% percentile

were excluded.

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Equity Vocational

education and training

151

lower-secondary school type and socio-economic status

Socioeconomically disadvantaged persons choose an apprenticeship signi-

ficantly more often than a baccalaureate qualification

(Zimmermann &

Seiler, 2019) (→ chapter Upper-secondary education, page 111).

Accord-

ingly, it is important for this group to have access, for example by means

of a vocational baccalaureate, to the tertiary level on completion of a VET

programme. But since vocational baccalaureates tend to cater to those

with a strong record in school, they can compensate for socioeconomic

differences only conditionally

(Imdorf et al., 2017).

The decision of whether to start a VET or a general education pro-

gramme hinges not only on choices and preferences at the end of compul-

sory schooling but also on socioeconomic factors in the person’s educa-

tional background, especially the requirements at the lower-secondary

level. The same applies when choosing the apprenticeship occupation:

Socioeconomically disadvantaged people tend to choose less demanding

apprenticeships than those who are better off. As soon as the compari-

son includes only those with the same requirements at lower-secondary

level, the effect of socioeconomic origin weakens on transition. There is no

evidence that those applying for apprenticeships are disadvantaged due to

their parents’ educational level

(Fernandes et al., 2020).

The more decisive factor, therefore, is the type of the lower-secondary

level, which in turn is based not only on individual skills. People with

direct access to an academic baccalaureate programme (e.g. those from

a preparatory baccalaureate schools) significantly more often choose

demanding vocational apprenticeships than those who do not have direct

access to such a programme (e.g. those in a Sekundarschule), even if they

have the same skills

(→ figure 168)

. The latter, in turn, opt for more demand-

ing apprenticeships than those in a track with basic requirements only,

such as a Realschule. Consequently, even among persons with the same

skills, the school type at the lower-secondary level plays an important role

in the choice of occupation

(Meyer & Sacchi, 2020).

There is no conclusive information about why the choice of apprentice-

ship is so strongly influenced by the lower-secondary school type. On the

one hand, training companies could regard the school type as additional

information, besides grades, about the applicant and use it to gauge whether

he or she is suitable for the apprenticeship

(signalling

). The information

about the school type thus serves as assumed or justified proxy informa-

tion about the person’s skills, in addition to school grades. Such informa-

tion is taken into account especially when other information relevant for

the decision of admitting the person remains very uncertain

(Fossati et al.,

2020).

At the same time, the school type could also correlate with young

people’s preferences, expectations and self-esteem and thus influence their

behaviour when looking and applying for apprenticeships. A structured

approach for selecting apprenticeships based on a range of requirements

and school types would thus allocate talent inefficiently and create equity

problems for the young people involved if the information about the school

type were to omit any further details relevant for success in the apprentice-

ship, besides the skills acquired in school.

168 Requirements

profile

of the occupation choice

Based on skills and lower-secondary

school type

Data: SEATS, anforderungsprofile.ch;

calculations: SCCRE

Career choice requirements profile

250

450

500

400

300

550

700

350

600

PISA points maths

Baccalaureate track

Baccalaureate possible

Baccalaureate not possible

650

750

legend

When considering average skills (500 PISA

points) and by keeping other personal char-

acteristics (gender, socio-economic status,

migration status) constant, those in the aca-

demic baccalaureate track choose on average

an apprenticeship with a requirements profile

of 48.8, while those with the same charac-

teristics but without access to the academic

baccalaureate choose an apprenticeship with a

requirements profile of 41.1.

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152

Vocational education and training Equity

Migration and inclusion

Finding an apprenticeship is not always easy, especially for seekers with

foreign nationality or a migration background. Foreigners send out an

average of 15 applications for an apprenticeship, compared to only 8.5 for

Swiss nationals

(Golder et al., 2021).

Moreover, apprentices with a migra-

tion background are often less successful. The 29% share of contract ter-

minations by foreign-born apprentices with foreign nationality and the

25% share of Swiss-born apprentices of foreign nationality are above the

20% share of apprentices of Swiss origin and nationality

(FSO, 2021h).

Fur-

thermore, the resumption rate is lower for learners of foreign nationality

after their apprenticeship contract has been terminated. To facilitate access

to the labour market, federal and cantonal administrators have enacted

integration measures

(Barabasch et al., 2021),

such as preliminary appren-

ticeships that aim to help learners to integrate.

Yet it remains unclear whether such differences are due to the person’s

migration status, preferences, or performance in school. Those with a

migration background tend to be more optimistic, also with regard to their

career opportunities. This positive attitude is one of the reasons why they

more often opt for a general education track, even if this involves lower

skills

(Tjaden & Scharenberg, 2017).

Young people with a migration back-

ground also tend to choose more demanding vocational apprenticeships

than native Swiss nationals with the same performance in school.

169 Success

rate and requirements profile

of the chosen occupation

By country of birth

Data: FSO (LABB), anforderungsprofile.ch; calculations: SCCRE

The

success rate

refers to the proportion of

learners who have passed the qualification

procedure without interruption or termination

of the apprenticeship contract.

The

basic population

includes all learners

of the cohorts who started an apprenticeship

(directly or via an intermediate year) between

2012 and 2015. Individuals with countries of

birth with fewer than 300 observations were

excluded.

85%

80%

75%

Somalia

Success rate

70%

65%

60%

55%

50%

Portugal

Italy

Brazil

Romania

Cameroon

France

Kosovo

Eritrea

Afghanistan

Syria

Austria

Switzerland

Germany

Spain

United

States

United

Kingdom

Requirement profile, average

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Equity Vocational

education and training

153

It is also important to note that those with a migration background were

never a homogeneous group and that diversity has increased in the wake

of highly qualified foreigners who immigrate to Switzerland. With respect

to completing an education and training programme without interruption,

students from Syria and Eritrea – most of whom came to Switzerland as

asylum seekers – are more likely to succeed in vocational education and

training programmes than Swiss nationals

(→ figure 169)

This high success rate also relates to the choice of occupation. They

usually choose apprenticeships (often with vocational certificate) with

low requirements, but are very successful in them. Their choice is proba-

bly due to their language skills and current knowledge gained at school. In

contrast, young people from Balkan countries and Portugal, for example,

are more likely to opt for more demanding occupations than native Swiss

students with the same skills

(Wolter & Zumbuehl, 2018).

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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BACCALAUREATE

SCHOOLS

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156

Baccalaureate schools Context

Context

Continuing differences between the cantons

The

baccalaureate rate

is the

proportion of young people who have

gained a baccalaureate certificate

by the age of 25 relative to the

reference population of the same age.

The Swiss Federal Statistical Office

(FSO) calculates each year’s rate as

a three-year average. The rate for

2019 therefore corresponds to the

average rates for the years 2018–2020

(FSO, 2021a).

In this chapter, unless

further specified, the terms “bacca-

laureate” and “baccalaureate rate”

refer to the baccalaureate gained at

a baccalaureate school and the

corresponding baccalaureate rate.

In previous editions of the Education Report, it was demonstrated that

there has been practically no convergence between cantonal baccalaureate

rates as baccalaureate rates have increased over time

(SCCRE, 2014, 2018),

with the marked increase between 1980 and 1995 being primarily driven

by the convergence of baccalaureate rates for men and women. Differ-

ences between the cantonal baccalaureate rates therefore persist to this

day. For example, the 2019 baccalaureate rate in Canton Geneva was 33.7 % –

almost three times that in Canton Glarus, where it was 12.2%. This varia-

tion between cantons is seen not only in the probability of achieving a bac-

calaureate but also in the probability of entering baccalaureate school. At

12.8%, Canton Uri has the lowest rate of admission to baccalaureate schools,

with Canton Geneva recording the highest rate, at 48.6%. A more uniform

picture emerges when one considers the distribution of baccalaureate stu-

dents across the cantons. This is because it is primarily the smaller can-

tons that have very high or very low baccalaureate rates, whereas the rates

in the larger cantons tend to be closer to average. If one considers all 15- to

20-year-olds in Switzerland, it is clear that half of them come from cantons

that account for 40% of baccalaureate students in Switzerland

(→ figure 170)

These are the cantons with the lowest baccalaureate rates. The other half of

15- to 20-year-olds come from cantons that are home to the remaining 60%

of baccalaureate students. As with the differences between cantonal bacca-

laureate rates, this ratio is stable over time (2000 until 2021).

170 Distribution

of baccalaureate students and 15- to 20-year-olds

across cantons, 2000 and 2021

Cumulative proportions (by ascending cantonal baccalaureate rate)

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

100%

Proportion of baccalaureate students

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Proportion of 15- to 20-year-olds

2000

2021

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Context Baccalaureate

schools

157

The baccalaureate rates differ not only between the cantons but also within

them. An examination of baccalaureate rates at the district level reveals that

they vary between 8 and 41%, whereas the cantonal baccalaureate rates range

from 12 to 34%. However, with the exception of two cantons, the distribution

of baccalaureate rates within the cantons is less pronounced than that

between them. In addition to the cantonal baccalaureate rate, contributory

factors for higher baccalaureate rates in certain districts appear to include

the proportion of adults with a tertiary-level qualification

(→ figure 171)

The impact of the proportion of people educated to tertiary level on dis-

trict baccalaureate rates can be explained partly by the fact that parents

educated to tertiary level prefer the baccalaureate school system for their

children

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193).

In addition, their

children also perform better at school on average

(Nidegger et al., 2014).

It is also interesting that, at the district level, the baccalaureate rate is not

affected by either the proportion of the population with foreign nation-

ality or the federal vocational baccalaureate rate. One obvious assump-

tion would be that lower baccalaureate rates are offset by higher rates of

vocational baccalaureates, but this hypothesis is contradicted by the fact

that the latter have no significant impact on the baccalaureate rate at the

district level.

171 Contributory

factors

for the baccalaureate rate

at district level

Taking account of cantonal baccalaureate rate

and political orientation; average baccalaureate

rates for 2017–2019

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Proportion of foreign

nationals

Proportion of

population with

tertiary education

Federal vocational

baccalaureate rate

-0.2

0.2

0.4

0.6

Percentage points

Women and baccalaureate schools

Between 1980 and 2019, the baccalaureate rate in Switzerland rose from 11

to 22%. In an initial phase, this increase primarily occurred in a context of

women catching up. This period only saw a slow increase in the baccalaure-

ate rate for men. In 1994, the proportions of women and men at baccalaure-

ate schools were equal

(→ figure 172)

. Until 2004, the proportion of women

at baccalaureate schools continued to rise practically at the same rate as it did

in the phase when it was still approaching the proportion of men. In 2004,

the proportion of women reached 57 % and remained stable at that level since

then. If the growth had continued at the same rate as between 1980 and 2004,

the proportion of women at baccalaureate schools would have reached 67 %

in 2019. Once the proportion of women stopped increasing, the overall bac-

calaureate rate also rose less rapidly. Although processes of this kind can

never be explained by a single factor, it should be noted that this stagnation

in the proportion of women at baccalaureate schools occurred in the period

in which the

Diplommittelschulen

(DMS) were renamed as upper-second-

ary specialised schools (FMS) (2002). The diversification of provision at

these schools that went along with it created an alternative to baccalaure-

ate schools for people with poorer academic performance. As a result, peo-

ple who were seeking a general education but did not meet the requirements

for baccalaureate school could opt to attend an upper-secondary specialised

school. If all students who gain a qualification at an upper-secondary spe-

cialised school – that is, a specialised school certificate or a specialised bacca-

laureate – entered baccalaureate school instead, the baccalaureate rate would

have been 31% in 2019. In that case, the proportion of women at baccalaure-

ate schools would be 62% rather than the actual figure of 57 %. The contin-

ued increase in the proportion of women at baccalaureate schools after parity

was achieved in 1994 can be explained by, among other factors, the fact that

women have a higher preference for general education than men.

Cantons AI, BS, GE, GL, NE, NW, OW, UR and

ZG are not subdivided into districts. For these

cantons, only the cantonal baccalaureate rate

is available and was used for these analyses.

Matt colours indicate statistically insignificant

effects (5% significance level).

legend

If the share of the population with a tertiary-

level qualification increases by one percentage

point in a district, the baccalaureate rate in

that district increases by 0.54 percentage

points.

172 Proportion

of women

at baccalaureate schools and

baccalaureate rate, 1980–2019

Data: FSO

59%

55%

51%

47%

43%

39%

1980

1983

1986

1989

1992

1995

1998

2001

2004

2007

2010

2013

2016

2019

Proportion of women at

baccalaureate school (left scale)

Baccalaureate rate (right scale)

25%

22%

19%

16%

13%

10%

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158

Baccalaureate schools Context

Migration and transition to a baccalaureate school

Recent decades have seen increased migration to Switzerland, reaching a

climax between 2000 and 2015

(→ chapter General context of the swiss edu-

cation system, page 9).

This has led to an increase in the population

with a preference for the baccalaureate school system, as people with a

migrant background – as opposed to Swiss nationals – tend to prefer the aca-

demic route over vocational education and training

(Abrassart et al., 2020).

Based on these preferences, one might assume that migrants are more

likely than average to enter baccalaureate school, provided it is assumed

that they have the same prior academic knowledge on average. However,

the statistics show that only 12% of pupils entering a baccalaureate school

are foreign nationals. Within the population group of 15- to 19-year-olds,

however, the proportion of young people with foreign nationality was 22%

in 2020

(FSO, 2021i).

Young foreign nationals are therefore significantly

underrepresented among entrants to baccalaureate school. This obser-

vation – accompanied by stronger preferences for the general education

route – may have to do with poorer performance at school at the time of

selection for entry to baccalaureate school. Nevertheless, the scale of this

underrepresentation is still surprisingly large given that, if their perfor-

mance at school is the same, migrants tend to opt for a baccalaureate school

(Zumbühl & Wolter, 2017).

Another explanation is that the proportion of

baccalaureate pupils with a migration background is underestimated if

only nationality is considered: many young people who transition to a

bacca laureate school naturalise before doing so. Moreover, migrants that

naturalise at an early stage are more likely than non-naturalised migrants

to transition to a baccalaureate school

(→ figure 173)

On top of the 12% of baccalaureate pupils with foreign nationality, there-

fore, there are a further 5.5% who naturalise before entering baccalaureate

school. In other words, the proportion of pupils with a migration back-

ground is 1.5 times as high if naturalised citizens are taken into account. In

addition, migrants born abroad – i.e. first-generation immigrants – transi-

tion to a baccalaureate school more often than migrants born in Switzer-

land. This may have to do with the fact that first-generation immigrants

exhibit stronger preferences for baccalaureate schooling than those of the

second generation

(Abrassart et al., 2020).

The decision to attend a bacca-

laureate school may also be a consequence of the fact that the free move-

ment of people in the European Union (EU) has brought greater numbers of

highly skilled parents to Switzerland, whose children have better chances

of being accepted into a baccalaureate school. The significance of perfor-

mance at school is also reflected in the fact that young people who speak a

foreign language are less likely to transition to a baccalaureate school than

those who speak the language of instruction at home. School testing invar-

iably shows that, on average, the former perform worse at school regard-

less of their origin.

173 Transition

to a baccalaureate

school by pupils with a migration

background

Estimated probabilities of transition, taking

account of gender, type of community

(urban, rural, intermediate) and canton of

residence

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Naturalised

Not naturalised

Foreign-language

speaking

Not foreign-language

speaking

Born abroad

Born in Switzerland

10%

20%

30%

The sample includes pupils who were attending

the 6

school year (counted according to the

HarmoS Agreement) in 2012 and were foreign

nationals at the time. Of this sample, a total

of 19% entered baccalaureate school (green

line). Pupils who naturalised during compulsory

education are counted as naturalised citizens.

This analysis did not take account of natural-

isations following the transition to upper-sec-

ondary level.

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Institutions Baccalaureate

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159

Cantonal baccalaureate rates and transitions to the universities

The baccalaureate rate in a canton is correlated with the chosen type of

university or the decision not to take a course of study at all. Baccalaureate

pupils from cantons with a low baccalaureate rate therefore have a lower

probability of transitioning to a conventional university (UNI) than those

from cantons with an average baccalaureate rate

(→ figure 174)

. On the other

hand, the probability of starting a course at a university of teacher educa-

tion (UTE) is higher in cantons with low baccalaureate rates than in those

with average rates. One explanation for this may be that, of the twelve can-

tons with a baccalaureate rate of less than 19%, only three are home to a

campus of a conventional university (BE, LU, SG). The distance to the near-

est university certainly influences the choice of its type

(Denzler & Wolter,

2011).

Of the cantons with a baccalaureate rate of less than 19% that lack a

campus of a conventional university, five have a university of teacher edu-

cation

(→ chapter Universities of teacher education, page 285).

In these

cantons, the university of teacher education may represent a more popular

alternative for prospective students given the greater distance to a conven-

tional university. Baccalaureate students from cantons with high baccalau-

reate rates enter a conventional university or a university of applied science

(UAS) just as often as those from cantons with average rates. However, as

fewer of them begin a course of study at a university of teacher education,

significantly fewer of them begin to study at a university at all.

174 Transitions

to the universities

by baccalaureate rate

Estimated probabilities (difference with

respect to cantons with a baccalaureate rate of

19–23%), taking account of age (on completion

of the baccalaureate), gender, nationality and

special subject; 2019 baccalaureate graduation

cohort

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Percentage points

-2

-4

-6

-8

UNI

UAS

UTE

course

of study

Low baccalaureate rate (< 19%)

High baccalaureate rate (> 23%)

Institutions

Individuals with a Swiss baccalaureate are free to choose a conventional

university or university of teacher education. In addition to the free choice

of institution, the baccalaureate provides exam-free access to almost all

study programmes – with just a few exceptions (such as medicine and sport).

Switzerland differs from many other countries in this regard. Moreover,

although it is possible to sit the Swiss baccalaureate examination, Switzer-

land does not have a centralised baccalaureate examination that is obliga-

tory for all. The majority of baccalaureate students gain a cantonal baccalau-

reate. These baccalaureate certificates are recognised by the Confederation,

which means that the requirements of the 1995 Regulation on the Recog-

nition of the Baccalaureate (MAR 95 Regulation) must be met. Neverthe-

less, cantons, schools and/or teaching staff have a high degree of autonomy

with regard to the education programme. This makes it harder to compare

baccalaureate certificates at the national level, and this is one of the issues

being addressed as part of the further development of the bacca laureate,

which also includes the revision of the MAR 95 Regulation

(→ Further

development of the baccalaureate, page 162).

One objective of the MAR

95 Regulation (Art. 5) is that baccalaureate pupils should gain the skills they

need to study at a university (general ability to study) and should reach a

level of personal maturity that allows them to take on demanding functions

in society (deeper social maturity). Basic subject-related study skills are a

key component of the ability to study, whereas deeper social maturity is to

be obtained through broad, general education that also includes skills not

directly required to study at a university

(Eberle et al., 2008).

Baccalaureate rate < 19%

Cantons AG, AR, BE, GL, LU, OW, SG, SH, SO,

SZ, TG, UR

Baccalaureate rate 19–23%

Cantons AI, BL, FR, GR, JU, NW, VS, ZH

Baccalaureate rate > 23%

Cantons BS, GE, NE, VD, TI, ZG

In cantons with a baccalaureate rate of

between 19 and 23% (reference category),

there is a probability of 79.6% of transitioning

to a UNI, 8.0% to a UAS, and 5.6% to a UTE.

The probability of not transitioning by autumn

2021 is 6.8% in the reference category.

Matt colours indicate statistically insignificant

effects (5% significance level).

legend

At a low baccalaureate rate (< 19%), the prob-

ability of transitioning to a UNI is 6 percentage

points lower than at a baccalaureate rate of

between 19 and 23%.

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160

Baccalaureate schools Institutions

Admission requirements and time of transition

In relation to the general ability to study,

the term

basic subject-related skills

refers to

skills that are important prerequisites for most

subjects

(EDK, 2016).

Specifically, these are

skills in the first language and mathematics.

Although not officially defined as such, English

and IT are also referred to as basic skills

(SSC, 2021).

Entry procedures and the time of transition to a baccalaureate school dif-

fer considerably from one canton to another. Basically all pupils from the

type of feeder school with the most stringent requirements are eligible to

take part in the entry procedure. Canton Solothurn and the two Basel can-

tons are an exception, as young people from the type of school with the

second highest attainment level are eligible if they achieve a higher aver-

age grade. In simple terms, cantonal entry procedures can be divided into

three categories

(→ figure 175):

in category A, pupils must sit an entrance

exam for admission to baccalaureate school. Category B characteristically

relies on previous attainment records for admission to baccalaureate school

but does not entail a further entrance exam. Finally, the key feature of cat-

egory C is that it involves carrying out an overall assessment. In addition

to previous attainment records and/or an entrance exam, the decision as

to whether pupils are ready to enter baccalaureate school takes account of

the recommendation of their teacher at the feeder school. The recommen-

dation is also influenced by factors such as social skills, motivation, will-

ingness to learn or meetings with parents.

175 Admission

requirements for baccalaureate school

and times of transition

Cantons were allocated to category A if the

transition to a baccalaureate school is usually

determined by an entrance exam. There are

some cantons in which the entrance exam is

not the norm but can be taken if the conditions

for exam-free access are not met. These can-

tons have not been allocated to category A.

In other cantons, an entrance exam must be

taken in order to transition to a baccalaureate

school, and previous attainment records are

also taken into account. These cantons are

listed in category A. Cantons in which comple-

tion (i.e. a grade of at least 4) of the highest

attainment level of lower-secondary school

is required for admission to a baccalaureate

school have been allocated to category B.

School years counted according to the HarmoS Agreement

Data: EDK-IDES; as at March 2022

Transition after

school year

A Entrance exam

GL, GR, SG, ZH

Transition after

school year

AR, GL, GR, SG, SH,

SZ, ZH

SO, VS

Transition after

school year

AR, GL, GR, SG, SH,

SZ, ZH

AG, BE-f, BL, BS,

FR, GE, JU, NE, SO,

TI, VD, VS

AI, BE-d, LU, NW,

OW, TG, UR, ZG

B Previous attainment

records

C Overall assessment

AI, LU, NW, OW,

UR, ZG

AI, BE-d, LU, OW,

TG, UR, ZG

There are also differences between the cantons when it comes to the dura-

tion of baccalaureate schooling and the school year in which the transition

to a baccalaureate school takes place. A distinction is to be drawn firstly

between the long and short baccalaureate cycle and secondly with regard

to the time of transition to a baccalaureate school. The long baccalaureate

cycle lasts six years, two of which are spent at a preparatory school, whereas

the short baccalaureate cycle generally lasts four years. If pupils receive pre-

paratory baccalaureate schooling at lower-secondary level, then baccalaure-

ate schooling can also be completed in three years. Entry to the long bacca-

laureate cycle takes place immediately after primary school – that is, after

the 8

school year (counted according to the HarmoS Agreement). In the

case of the short baccalaureate cycle, entry takes place at lower-second-

ary level, either following the 10

school year or following the completion

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Institutions Baccalaureate

schools

161

of compulsory education – i.e. after the 11

school year.

The long bacca-

laureate cycle is only offered in the German-speaking cantons of Appen-

zell Innerrhoden, Glarus, Graubünden, Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden,

St. Gallen, Uri, Zug and Zurich, while the other cantons only offer the short

baccalaureate cycle. In all cantons that carry out selection for baccalaure-

ate school based on an entrance exam or overall assessment, it is possible

to transition to baccalaureate school before completing compulsory educa-

tion. In cantons where entry to baccalaureate school is decided solely based

on grades, the transition to a baccalaureate school can – with the excep-

tion of two cantons – only take place following completion of compulsory

education.

Subjects offered and special subjects

The baccalaureate subjects encompass ten regular subjects, one special sub-

ject and a second supplementary option (Art. 9, MAR 95 Regulation). The

regular subjects include the first language, a second national language, a

third language (a third national language, English or a classical language),

mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, geography and creative

art and/or music. In addition, there are also the compulsory school sub-

jects of IT and economics and law. Unlike the regular subjects, compul-

sory subjects are not taken into account when calculating the baccalaure-

ate grade; rather, they only count towards the grade for the corresponding

semester or year. At the end of baccalaureate schooling, all baccalaure-

ate pupils write a baccalaureate essay and sit the baccalaureate examina-

tion, which examines the following subjects: the first language, a second

national language, mathematics, the special subject and a further sub-

ject specified by the canton (Art. 14, MAR 95 Regulation). In terms of the

regular components, 30–40% of the total teaching time is allocated to

languages, 27–37 % to mathematics and natural sciences, 10–20% to the

humanities and social sciences, and 5–10% to arts (Art. 11, MAR 95 Regula-

tion). The special subject, second supplementary option and essay account

for 15–25% of the time. Apart from the national languages that feature as

regular or special subjects, a third Swiss language must be available as an

option (Art. 12, MAR 95 Regulation). Pupils who do not choose English as

one of their baccalaureate subjects must be offered at least a basic course in

English (Art. 17, MAR 95 Regulation). Moreover, all pupils choose one spe-

cial subject from the following eight subjects or subject clusters (Art. 9(3),

MAR 95 Regulation): classical languages (Latin and/or Greek), one mod-

ern language (a third Swiss language, English, Spanish or Russian), phys-

ics and applied mathematics, biology and chemistry, economics and law,

philosophy/education/psychology, creative art, music.

An examination of the proportions of the various special subjects

between 2012 and 2020 reveals that they vary only slightly over this period

(→ figure 176)

. One might therefore assume that baccalaureate pupils have

stable preferences, such that demand for the individual special subjects

remains constant over the years. However, the assumption that prefer-

ences are stable is hard to reconcile with the fact that the proportions of

1 The cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Uri also offer the possibility of transitioning

after the 9

school year.

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162

Baccalaureate schools Institutions

individual special subjects vary very strongly between cantons. This would

mean that the preferences remained stable over time – in other words, that

they were not subject to prevailing trends – but that they simultaneously

differed from one canton to another. It would be more consistent with both

of these observations to assume that demand for special subjects is driven

by the range of subjects on offer. This hypothesis is supported by two

observations: firstly, not all of the cantons offer all of the special subjects in

the first place and, secondly, not all of the baccalaureate schools within the

cantons offer all of the special subjects. Baccalaureate pupils therefore have

a limited choice, as it is often only possible to attend a baccalaureate school

outside of the canton if additional conditions are met and, even within the

canton, not all baccalaureate schools are located in close proximity. It there-

fore makes sense for the distribution of baccalaureate pupils across special

subjects to depend on the subjects offered. At the same time, this would

also explain why the proportion of special subjects hardly varies over time.

Changes to the range of subjects offered always result in changes to the

demand for specialist teachers, and there may not be sufficient scope for

adjustments of this kind in the short term.

176 Distribution

of special subjects across cantons and over time

Proportions of baccalaureate certificates awarded in the individual special subjects

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

legend

At just 0.6%, the special subject “classical

languages” was chosen by the lowest propor-

tion of baccalaureate students. In the canton

with the highest proportion, the subject was

chosen by 12.5% of pupils. In the year in which

the subject recorded its lowest share, it was

chosen by 3.2% of baccalaureate students

in Switzerland; in the year with the highest

proportion, this figure was 4.9%. This chart

does not show zero values, which occur when

a special subject is not offered in a canton or

was not chosen by anyone.

Classical languages

Philosophy/education/psychology

Creative art

Music

Physics and applied mathematics

One modern language

Biology and chemistry

Economics and law

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Range of cantonal proportions, 2021

Range of national proportions, 2012–2021

Further development of the baccalaureate

As part of the project to further develop the baccalaureate (WEGM), work

is underway on revising the Regulation on the Recognition of the Bacca-

laureate (MAR) and the Ordinance on the Recognition of the Baccalaure-

ate (MAV ) of 1995 as well as the national core curricula for baccalaureate

schools of 1994. This refinement is intended to ensure exam-free access

to conventional universities in the long term

(EDK & SERI, 2020b).

behalf of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)

and the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

(EAER), three project groups and several working groups have developed

the following four subject areas

(EDK & SERI, 2020a):

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163

updating of the national core curricula of 1994

harmonisation of the minimum duration of baccalaureate schooling

revision of further stipulations of the MAR and MAV

clarification of responsibilities and competencies of actors responsi-

ble for quality assurance and management of baccalaureate schooling

(governance).

The aim of the first project group is to revise the baccalaureate curricula in

order to improve the comparability of baccalaureate certificates between

baccalaureate schools and between cantons

(EDK & SERI, 2020c).

The new

national core curricula are to contain minimum requirements for basic sub-

ject-related study skills in mathematics and in the language of instruction,

as well as for transversal areas of instruction

(Swiss Confederation, 2022).

The latter encompass transversal subjects such as political education and

education for sustainable development or digitalisation, as well as trans-

versal skills such as scientific propaedeutics.

Basic and transversal skills

are both seen as important prerequisites for earning the bacca laureate

certificate and therefore for achieving the ability to study and deeper social

maturity.

Within the framework of the second project group, the minimum

duration of baccalaureate schooling is to be set at four years. Until now, it

has been possible for pupils to undertake just three years of baccalaureate

schooling, provided they have completed preparatory baccalaureate school-

ing at lower-secondary level. The period of education to achieve the bacca-

laureate would continue to be 14 or 15 years

(EDK & SERI, 2021; Swiss Con-

federation, 2022).

The third project group examines – with regard to future requirements

for the baccalaureate – whether it is necessary to review further stipula-

tions of the MAR/MAV. This includes expanding the range of regular sub-

ject areas to include IT and economics and law, which have been defined

as compulsory subjects until now

(Swiss Confederation, 2022).

Cantons

would also be free to offer philosophy and/or religion as regular subjects.

Another proposal is to adapt the rules on passing the baccalaureate so that

the baccalaureate examination carries greater weight.

The revised provisions of the MAR and MAV were presented to the can-

tons, organisations and other interested groups in summer 2022 as part of

a consultation process. The definitive decisions will be made in the course

of 2023 and could not therefore be taken into account in this report. The

consultation for the review of the national core curricula will take place in

2023, with the corresponding decisions then expected in 2024.

The term scientific propaedeutics refers to the preparation for scientific work and thought.

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164

Baccalaureate schools Institutions

Digitalisation in the baccalaureate school system

Digitalisation has meant that a basic knowledge of IT is essential for many

study programmes. As the baccalaureate school is responsible for ensuring

the general ability to study, it is fundamental that pupils be given a basic

knowledge of IT during their baccalaureate schooling

(SSC, 2021).

In 2018, the

Federal Council and the EDK therefore decided to introduce IT as a compulso-

ry subject. Corresponding amendments to the underlying legislation entered

into force on 1 August 2018, making it compulsory to offer the subject from the

2022/23 school year onwards. According to a survey carried out in 2019, eight

cantons had already introduced IT as a subject by that point in time

(Educa,

2021).

Most of the remaining cantons followed suit in the 2021/22 school year,

with a small number doing so in the 2022/23 school year. To meet the greater

need for IT teaching staff as a result of the subject’s being made compulsory,

it is possible for teaching staff who have previously gained a teaching diploma

for baccalaureate schools to subsequently earn the ability to teach this sub-

ject by acquiring a “supplementary diploma in IT”

(EDK, 2018c).

Assurance of exam-free access to the universities

177 Teaching

staff in public

and private general education

Data: FSO

By age and gender, 2020/21

Public

Private

Public

Private

< 30 years

40–49 years

50%

30–39 years

50–59 years

100%

> 59 years

Proportion of women

By degree of employment, 2020/21

Public

Private

< 50%

50%

50–89%

> 89%

100%

In addition to the reform of the baccalaureate system, the EDK defined fur-

ther projects in 2016 in order to ensure exam-free access to the universities

with the baccalaureate in the long term

(EAER & EDK, 2019).

One such pro-

ject is known as “joint testing” and aims to define joint national require-

ments for assessing performance at baccalaureate schools. Since 2021, the

project’s implementation has been periodically reviewed by the Swiss Cen-

tre for Secondary Schools and for School Evaluations at Upper-Secondary

Level (ZEM CES)

(ZEM CES, 2022).

Another project aims to improve the

transition from baccalaureate school to university. Here, the EDK reached

an agreement with the Rectors’ Conference of the Swiss Universities in

2019 with a view to facilitating the transition from baccalaureate school

to further study

(EDK & swissuniversities, 2019).

The aim is to make it eas-

ier to choose a course of study thanks to vocational, educational and career

guidance. The ZEM CES carries out monitoring activities on behalf of the

Swiss Conference of Secondary Education Authorities (SMAK) in order to

verify the implementation of this counselling service in the cantons and

their baccalaureate schools

(ZEM CES, 2019).

Teaching staff

We see from the age distribution of teaching staff delivering general educa-

tion courses that a slightly higher proportion of younger teaching staff under

the age of 40, as well as a slightly higher proportion of older teaching staff

over the age of 59, teach in private schools than in public ones

(→ figure 177)

The gender ratio is balanced in both types of school. Over 40% of teach-

ing staff at private schools have a degree of employment of less than 50%

(→ figure 177)

. In public schools, this is true of a quarter of teaching staff.

Only a small number of teachers have high degrees of employment of 90%

or more. At public schools, approximately a further quarter of staff have

General education is education at bacca-

laureate schools, upper-secondary specialised

schools and other forms of general educa-

tion schools. Upper-secondary specialised

schools are often integrated into baccalaureate

schools, and the teaching staff often work in

both types of education. For this reason, statis-

tical information on the teaching staff is shown

jointly for all types of general education.

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Institutions Baccalaureate

schools

165

high degrees of employment, while this is true of one in six teachers at

private schools. No detailed information is available on the qualifications

of teaching staff in general education.

effectiveness

Skills and selection for baccalaureate school

In order to assess the effectiveness of a baccalaureate school, it is in the

first place important to know what cognitive abilities the pupils enter the

baccalaureate school with in the first place. This can be analysed using

data on the education pathway of pupils who completed the PISA test in

2012 (data from the Swiss Educational Attainment and Transition Study,

SEATS). Based on the high level of academic requirements at baccalaureate

schools, one might expect the pupils with the best performance at school

in each canton to be those that transition to a baccalaureate school. How-

ever, both the average PISA point score and the baccalaureate rates differ

between the cantons – and both of these factors contribute to the fact that

the cognitive performance of pupils on entering baccalaureate school dif-

fers from one canton to another.

The differences between cantons raise the question of how well can-

tons exploit their performance potential with regard to the baccalaureate

rate. The PISA points of baccalaureate pupils were therefore compared with

the PISA points of the pupils who scored the highest points in the PISA

test within the canton. The percentage share of the latter is determined by

the cantonal baccalaureate rate. For example, if this rate is equal to 20% in

a canton, the mean value is calculated for the 20% with the highest PISA

scores. If the pupils with the highest PISA scores earn more PISA points

than the baccalaureate pupils on average, then the performance potential

has not been fully exploited. A comparison of the various cantons shows

(→ figure 178)

that this is the case in all cantons. However, the differences

between baccalaureate pupils and the pupils with the highest PISA scores

are no greater in the event of high baccalaureate rates than in the event

of low ones. Nevertheless, the lower a canton’s baccalaureate rate is, the

higher the average PISA points. This is a consequence of the fact that, when

baccalaureate rates are higher, less able pupils also transition to a baccalau-

reate school and earn a baccalaureate.

When it comes to assessing the effectiveness of a baccalaureate school,

the key factors include not only the performance potential but also the pro-

portion of pupils in the canton who are admitted to a baccalaureate school.

A comparison of Canton St. Gallen and Geneva reveals that average perfor-

mance at baccalaureate school is influenced by both of these factors. Even

if the best pupils were admitted to baccalaureate school in both cantons in

accordance with the baccalaureate rate, the performance of an average bac-

calaureate pupil would be 77 PISA points higher in Canton St. Gallen than

in Geneva

(→ figure 178)

. The reason for this is that the baccalaureate rate is

more than twice as high in Canton Geneva as in Canton St. Gallen. On top

of this difference come the different attainment levels of all pupils in the

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Baccalaureate schools Effectiveness

178 Differences

in the average PISA points between baccalaureate

pupils and the pupils with the highest PISA points

PISA points in mathematics; pupils from the 2012 PISA cohort who entered baccalaureate

school in 2012–2014; only cantons with a representative sample

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

legend

The pupils in Canton SG who entered bacca-

laureate school in 2012–2014 scored an

average of 634 points in the PISA test. During

the same period, the baccalaureate rate in

Canton SG was 13.4% on average. If the canton

had admitted the 13.4% of pupils with the

most PISA points to baccalaureate school, the

average PISA points of baccalaureate pupils

would be 675. The grey line represents the

difference between the two mean values, which

is equal to 41 PISA points in Canton SG.

700

680

660

PISA points

640

620

600

580

560

540

520

PISA points on entry to baccalaureate school

PISA points of baccalaureate pupils with the highest PISA points

Cantonal baccalaureate rate 2012–2014

30%

26%

24%

22%

20%

18%

16%

14%

12%

Cantonal baccalaureate rate

28%

179 Distribution

of baccalaureate

pupils by PISA points in cantons

St. Gallen and Geneva

PISA points in mathematics; pupils who

entered baccalaureate school in 2012–2014

and all pupils from the 2012 PISA cohort

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

St. Gallen

100

No. of pupils

275 350 425 500 575 650 725 800

PISA points

canton

(→ figure 179)

, such that the actual performance difference between

cantons St. Gallen and Geneva averages 92 PISA points on entry to bacca-

laureate school. For exam-free transition to the universities, however, one

would expect similar performance at the end of baccalaureate school. The

performance differences on entry to baccalaureate school would have to

be offset either by very large differences in selection during baccalaure-

ate schooling (drop-outs, repetitions or failure of the baccalaureate exam-

ination) or by differences in the performance of baccalaureate schools in

terms of teaching academic skills. If this is not the case or if the measures

are insufficient, the differences in skills will persist even on completion of

baccalaureate schooling and may affect the graduation rate. Analyses based

on the PISA cohorts of the year 2000 (TREE data) have already shown this

to be the case

(SCCRE, 2018).

Cantonal selection and success at baccalaureate school

Part of the cantonal difference in performance between pupils entering

baccalaureate school is offset by selection during baccalaureate school-

ing. This is clear from the fact that the higher the average PISA score of

pupils entering baccalaureate school was, the higher the success rate of the

baccalaureate pupils

(→ figure 180)

. In order for the performance of bacca-

laureate students to converge, it must also be ensured that cantons with

initially low average PISA scores selectively remove those pupils who ini-

tially perform badly. Evidence can also be found for this statement. The

lower the average cantonal PISA score on entering baccalaureate school, the

larger the difference in PISA points between entry and graduation cohorts.

Geneva

100

No. of pupils

275 350 425 500 575 650 725 800

PISA points

All pupils

Baccalaureate pupils

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Effectiveness Baccalaureate

schools

167

180 Average

PISA points for entry and graduation cohorts

and baccalaureate success rate

PISA points in mathematics; pupils from the 2012 PISA cohort who entered baccalaureate

school in 2012–2014

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Difference in PISA points

540

560

580

600

620

640

Average PISA points on entry to baccalaureate school

Difference in PISA points between entry and graduation cohort

65%

TI NE

70%

90%

85%

80%

75%

Success rate at baccalaureate school

95%

Success rate at baccalaureate school

legend

Pupils who entered baccalaureate school in Canton GE had scored an average of 542 points

in the PISA test. On average, those of them who successfully completed baccalaureate school

had performed 17 points better in the PISA test than the entry cohort, scoring an average of

559 points. 68% of those entering baccalaureate school in Canton GE earned a baccalaureate.

In other words, it is primarily those with insufficient performance who

fail to complete baccalaureate school. On the other hand, in cantons with

high average PISA scores on entering baccalaureate school, the PISA points

of successful baccalaureate pupils are close to those of the entrants. Here,

the failure to complete baccalaureate school appears to have less to do

with insufficient performance at school and more to do with other fac-

tors, which could be personal in nature or simply down to chance. Despite

this selection effect, however, there are still considerable differences in the

graduation cohorts. Canton St. Gallen has the highest average PISA score in

the graduation cohort, with 638 PISA points. Canton Geneva has the low-

est figure, with the cohort graduating from baccalaureate school scoring

an average of 559 PISA points. Assuming that the quality of baccalaureate

schooling is of a similar level in all cantons, performance differences will

therefore manifest at the time of the baccalaureate. This has already been

demonstrated by evaluations as part of EVAMAR II

(Eberle et al., 2008).

Success at baccalaureate school during the COVID-19 pandemic

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many cantons did not hold the

written and oral baccalaureate examinations as normal in 2020. Some can-

tons held no examinations, whereas others held only parts of the examina-

tion (generally the written and not the oral parts). Examinations were only

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168

Baccalaureate schools Effectiveness

held as normal in three cantons (GL, SH and TG). 2% of baccalaureate can-

didates did not earn a baccalaureate certificate in 2020, which represents

a halving of the failure rate compared with the mean values for the years

2012 to 2019. As the latter had practically always been at the same level in

previous years, this reduction can be described as statistically significant.

Whereas failure rates have remained quite stable over the years as a

national average, they have always been very different between the cantons

(→ figure 181)

. In practically all cantons, however, the failure rate in 2020

was lower than in the years 2012–2019. There was no risk whatsoever of

failing to earn a baccalaureate due to a failed examination in the exam-

free cantons, but the success rates were higher than in previous years even

in the cantons that held the examinations. However, even in the can-

tons where examinations were held, the success rates were higher than in

previous years. In 2021, examinations were once again held as normal in

all cantons, and the failure rates returned to normal levels

(→ figure 182)

Unlike in 2020, the failure rates in 2021 were higher than the long-term

average in around half of the cantons. At the national level, the average

rate was therefore of a similar level to that seen in the years before 2020.

181 Rates

of unsuccessful baccalaureate students, 2020

And as an average for 2012–2019

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

2020

FR CH

BL BE

Average for 2012–2019

No exam

One exam

Both exams

Swiss average

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Effectiveness Baccalaureate

schools

169

Baccalaureate grade, transition to universities and graduation

In terms of the ability to study, the question is to what extent performance

at baccalaureate school influences the subsequent graduation rate. Nation-

al-level data on the grades of baccalaureate students is not currently avail-

able. However, data for Canton Aargau

(Diem, 2021)

shows that the bac-

calaureate grade is linked with the chosen type of university, the time of

transition, and success in the course of study. The higher the baccalaure-

ate grades, the sooner the transition to a university occurs in the year of

completing the baccalaureate

(→ figure 183)

. With higher grades, the prob-

ability of not entering a university at all decreases. Baccalaureate students

with higher grades are therefore also more likely to begin a course of study

at a conventional university and less likely to begin one at a university of

applied sciences or a university of teacher education

(→ figure 184)

. If stu-

dents have already achieved higher grades at baccalaureate school, they

have a higher probability of earning a Bachelor’s degree within six years

of beginning their studies – be it at a university in general or specifically

at a conventional university. The fact that good grades more often lead to

a direct transition to a university as well as to a transition to a conven-

tional university doesn’t necessarily mean that baccalaureate students

with good grades are better prepared for a course of study. It may also be

the case that grades affect baccalaureate students’ expectations. However,

the correlation between baccalaureate grades and graduation rate suggests

that the grades contain relevant information regarding the ability to study.

Nevertheless, it is important to emphasise that this is a correlation and not

a causal relationship. This is because the grades could also correlate with

factors that are non-cognitive in nature (e.g. perseverance) and that are also

decisive in determining the graduation rate

(Karlen et al., 2018).

182 Rates

of unsuccessful

baccalaureate students, 2021

And as an average for 2012–2019

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

12%

10%

2021

8% 10% 12%

Average for 2012–2019

Cantons

Swiss average

183 Times

of transition to the

universities by grade category

Estimated probabilities (difference with respect

to baccalaureate grades between 4.0 and 4.49);

2013–2018 graduation cohorts from baccalau-

reate schools

Data: Canton Aargau, FSO (LABB);

calculations: SCCRE

Percentage points

Influence of individual baccalaureate schools on graduation rate

Data from Canton Zurich shows that the graduation rate of baccalaureate

pupils varies between 63 and 85% depending on the baccalaureate school

(Gerhard & Bayard, 2020).

This wide variance raises the question of

whether the graduation rate might not also be an indicator of the quality

of education at baccalaureate schools. Based on this assumption, there have

been calls by politicians at the national level to publish the graduation

rate of baccalaureate pupils by baccalaureate school

(The Swiss Parliament,

2016).

The corresponding legislative proposal was ultimately rejected on

the grounds that the quality of baccalaureate schools cannot be assessed

solely based on the graduation rate. Indeed, studies have found

(Diem, 2019,

2021; Gerhard & Bayard, 2020)

that the graduation rate depends on factors

that can barely be influenced by baccalaureate schools: these include, for

example, the chosen baccalaureate profile, the chosen type of university

(UNI, UAS or UTE) and the field of study chosen at that institution, as

well as other factors such as the age of baccalaureate pupils or their par-

ents’ level of education. In a nationwide comparison, this would be com-

pounded by the fact that the very different cantonal baccalaureate rates

are influenced by politics. This means that – depending on the transition

rate to baccalaureate schools – baccalaureate schools are required to edu-

cate pupils with different levels of prior attainment. A comparison based

-4

-8

-12

4.5–4.99

5.0–5.49

5.5–6.0

Grade category

In the same year

After 1 year

After 2 or more years

No entry to university

legend

Pupils with baccalaureate grades between 4.5

and 4.99 are 2.5 percentage points less likely

not to begin a course of study at a university

than those with baccalaureate grades between

4.0 and 4.49 (reference category).

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170

Baccalaureate schools Effectiveness

184 Transition

to conventional

universities and graduation rate

by grade category

Estimated probabilities (difference with respect

to baccalaureate grades between 4.0 and 4.49);

samples: 2013–2018 graduation cohorts from

baccalaureate schools (transition to UNI) and

2010–2014 entry cohorts to UNIs (Bachelor’s

degrees)

Data: Canton Aargau, FSO (LABB);

calculations: SCCRE

on the subsequent graduation rate would therefore only be permissible if

baccalaureate schools were free to correct high transition rates to baccalau-

reate school through stronger selection. The finding that pupils complet-

ing long baccalaureate cycles also have a higher graduation rate than those

completing short baccalaureate cycles

(Gerhard & Bayard, 2020)

is proba-

bly more of an indication that selection effects at the time of entry to bac-

calaureate school influence the graduation rate just as much as the skills

acquired at a baccalaureate school.

efficiency/costs

Transition to UNI

Bachelor’s degree

from UNI

Bachelor’s degree

Percentage points

4.5–4.99

5.0–5.49

5.5–6.0

As with any stage of education, it is difficult to assess efficiency at bacca-

laureate schools

(Wolter et al., 2020)

– with the added complication that

there are no nationally comparable skill measurements either during or at

the end of this period of education, i.e. there is a lack of output measure-

ments for this type of education. The only exception was the evaluation

as part of EVAMAR II, which was carried out on a one-off basis in 2007

based on a sample; this would not therefore have allowed all baccalaure-

ate schools to be compared. Given the stark differences both between can-

tons and between individual schools at the time of entry to baccalaureate

school, a reliable efficiency analysis is only possible if it also takes account

of the skills at that point in time. The PISA surveys carried out at the end

of compulsory schooling are, in principle, suitable for this task, but there is

also a lack of such data for all cantons or schools at the nationwide level. As

already remarked upon in the section on effectiveness, not only the output

measurements for the baccalaureate schools but also the measurements of

academic success – that is, outcomes – are limited in term of their availa-

bility and scope of interpretation. As in all previous editions of the Educa-

tion Report, the focus is therefore placed on the input side.

education spending and pupil-teacher ratio

Education spending differs widely between the cantons in a manner sim-

ilar to that at other stages of education. The reasons for this include the

duration and intensity of education, with the latter referring to the num-

ber of lessons for baccalaureate pupils relative to the number of lessons

for teaching staff in a full-time position. Other influencing factors include

the different pupil-teacher ratios and the salary level of teaching staff at

baccalaureate schools. The pupil-teacher ratios explain around 40% of the

cantonal differences in spending on teaching staff per pupil

(→ figure 185)

Higher costs due to lower pupil-teacher ratios can improve performance

and should not therefore be equated with a decrease in efficiency. However,

there is no empirical proof of such a relationship in Switzerland. At the

international level, too, studies tend to point to limited increases in effec-

tiveness with lower pupil-teacher ratios

(Filges et al., 2018).

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Efficiency/costs Baccalaureate

schools

171

entry to baccalaureate school

Although it is not possible to analyse the efficiency of baccalaureate school-

ing, it is still possible to analyse aspects that may point to inefficiencies.

One such aspect is the number of repetitions and drop-outs at baccalaure-

ate schools, which lead to inefficiencies at the systemic level as they entail

higher spending on education. However, they also result in inefficiencies

for those affected – unless the resulting extension of their period of edu-

cation can be offset by a better educational outcome. This would be the

case, for example, if the extended period of education at a baccalaureate

school due to a repetition led to an improved educational output or out-

come, thanks to the baccalaureate, than if the pupil were to embark on a

different education route because of the risk of repetition.

For the first time, individual data from education statistics (LABB data)

from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) now allows deeper insights into

the education paths of baccalaureate pupils at the national level. It is now

therefore possible to answer the question of whether educational quali-

fications are earned directly or whether detours are required. Only some

80% of pupils transition seamlessly to a baccalaureate school

(→ figure 186)

One in five pupils enters baccalaureate school after repeating a year of

compulsory schooling, after completing a bridge-year course, after a

gap year, or after beginning or completing another form of education at

upper-secondary level. The proportion of pupils who needed additional

school years to enter baccalaureate school at all is small in comparison with

the corresponding proportion for professional education and upper-sec-

ondary specialised schools. The efficiency of the transition to a baccalau-

reate school is therefore relatively high. In addition, the delayed transi-

tions to baccalaureate schools do not lead to further inefficiencies, as the

likelihood of success does not differ considerably between direct and

delayed entry. This is clear from the fact that the proportion of direct entry

is similar among both the entry and graduation cohorts.

185 Spending

on teachers’

salaries per pupil and pupil-

teacher ratios at general

education schools

Spending by the cantons and their communi-

ties in 2019 (including pupils in preparatory

classes for baccalaureate study); pupil-teacher

ratios at public schools (average for school

years 2019/20 and 2020/21)

Data: FSO, EFV; calculations: SCCRE

Pupil-teacher ratio

7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27

Spending on teachers’ salaries

(in CHF 1000)

= 0.438

The

pupil-teacher ratio

is the number of

pupils per full-time equivalent in the teaching

staff. Lower pupil-teacher ratios are therefore

associated with smaller class sizes.

Canton SO is missing from this chart because

the pupil-teacher ratio is not available for this

canton.

186 Education

path of entry and graduation cohorts

Pupils who transitioned to a baccalaureate school in the school year 2020/21 (entry cohort)

and those who completed baccalaureate school in summer 2021 (graduation cohort)

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Entry cohort

Graduation cohort

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Seamless transition

Following a repetition of the last school year at lower-secondary level

Following a bridge-year course or a gap year

Transfer from another form of upper-secondary level education

Second education or over the age of 25 on entry to upper-secondary level

Other (e.g. lower-secondary level abroad)

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172

Baccalaureate schools Efficiency/costs

Repetition and premature exit from baccalaureate school

If we now look back at the education paths during baccalaureate schooling, it

is clear that less than three quarters of pupils complete baccalaureate school

by a direct route. 17 % of pupils repeat a year during the course of their bac-

calaureate schooling, of whom more than two thirds nevertheless go on to

complete baccalaureate school successfully. 14% of pupils do not complete

baccalaureate school, of whom just over a third have previously repeated a

year. An analysis using data from the 2012 PISA cohort (SEATS data) reveals

that lower skill levels

on entry to baccalaureate school are correlated with

a greater risk of repetition or drop-out. This finding suggests that at least

some of the repetitions and drop-outs could have been avoided by better

selection at the time of entry to baccalaureate school, which would equate to

an increase in efficiency. In addition to individual performance, this is also

explained by the cantonal transition rate to a baccalaureate school. A larger

cantonal proportion of pupils who transition to a baccalaureate school is

accompanied by higher probabilities of drop-out and repetition

(→ figure 187)

Only about half of the influence of cantonal transition rates is accounted for

by the differences in young people’s performance. This means that a large

part of the higher probability of repetition and drop-out in cantons with

high transition rates cannot be explained by the admission of insufficiently

prepared pupils, and that other explanations are needed. One explanation

may be that PISA scores are a good, but not a complete measure of all the

skills that are important for success at baccalaureate school. This is exempli-

fied by foreign language skills. Furthermore, although PISA points provide a

snapshot of the skills shortly before the transition to upper-secondary level

and are therefore also an indication of further performance development,

they are not capable of reflecting all of the processes that occur during bacca-

laureate schooling. Ultimately, the question is whether the higher repetition

and drop-out rates are not the direct result of low or high transition rates – in

other words, whether this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. In cantons with low

transition rates, stricter selection on entry to baccalaureate school can lead to

less-strict selection during baccalaureate schooling. Conversely, in cantons

with higher transition rates, it can lead to stronger selection – which can also

affect pupils who actually arrived with a good foundation for baccalaureate

schooling but did not withstand the pressure of selection. As highlighted

earlier in this chapter, the performance differences on entry to baccalaure-

ate school are at least partly offset by differences in the strictness of selec-

tion

(→ Cantonal selection and success at baccalaureate school, page 166).

Just as important as the performance itself is the means by which it was

achieved. If, within a group of pupils with comparable performance, those

who received tutoring at lower-secondary level are compared with those

who did not, it is clear that the latter achieve greater success at baccalau-

reate school

(→ figure 188)

. One possible explanation for this is that pupils

who only achieved the performance demonstrated in the PISA test with

the help of tutoring were already closer to the limits of their performance

than fellow pupils who performed comparably without receiving tutoring.

However, there are also other conceivable explanations for this disparity

(Zumbühl et al., 2022).

3 PISA points in mathematics and reading (language of instruction) were considered in order

to measure skills.

187 Repetitions

and drop-outs

at baccalaureate schools with

transition rates of 20 and 40%

Estimated probabilities, taking account of PISA

points in mathematics and reading,

gender, socio-economic status, migration back-

ground and other control variables;

pupils from the 2012 PISA cohort who entered

baccalaureate school in 2012–2014

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Repetition

Drop-out

10%

20%

30%

20% transition rate

40% transition rate

The 20 and 40% rates of transition to a bac-

calaureate school correspond to the first and

third quartiles of the cantonal distribution.

A quarter of cantons have a transition rate of

less than 20%, and a further quarter have a

rate exceeding 40%.

188 Repetitions

and drop-outs

of pupils with and without tutor-

ing

Estimated probabilities, taking account of PISA

points in mathematics and reading, gender,

socio-economic status, migration background

and other control variables; pupils from the

2012 PISA cohort who entered baccalaureate

school in 2012–2014

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Repetition

Drop-out

10%

20%

30%

Without tutoring

With tutoring

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Equity Baccalaureate

schools

173

equity

When it comes to the concept of equity, the question is essentially as

follows: do pupils with the same performance at school have the same

opportunities regardless of their socio-demographic and socio-economic

background, gender and place of residence? Specifically, in the case of bac-

calaureate schools, the question is whether the probability of entering bac-

calaureate school and completing it successfully depends only on perfor-

mance or also on the above factors. If disparities are identified, then they are

to be interpreted as equity problems, especially when they are conditioned

by the system and its participants (e.g., the teaching staff ) and not by dif-

ferences in pupils’ or parents’ preferences. For Switzerland, there are indi-

cations that preferences for baccalaureate school vary depending on lan-

guage region, gender and socio-economic background

(Cattaneo & Wolter,

2022).

These different preferences are likely to have an impact on whether

pupils opt for baccalaureate school at all.

Cantonal disparities for pupils with the same performance

The cantonal disparities in transition rates to a baccalaureate school and

in baccalaureate rates could constitute an equity problem if the probabil-

ity of entering a baccalaureate school or earning a baccalaureate depends on

the canton of residence. However, a simple comparison of the transition

and baccalaureate rates between the cantons does not provide sufficient

evidence that opportunities are unevenly distributed, as it does not take

account of performance at school. A comparison of cantons St. Gallen and

Geneva shows that inequalities exist even when performance is taken into

account. For individuals who achieved an average score in the PISA mathe-

matics test, the probability of transitioning to a baccalaureate school is sig-

nificantly higher in Canton Geneva than in Canton St. Gallen

(→ figure 189)

189 Probability

of entering baccalaureate school and completing

it successfully with comparable performance

Pupils who scored between 480 and 580 PISA points in mathematics and entered baccalaureate

school in 2012–2014; the mean score for all pupils in Switzerland is 531 PISA points

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Canton

Probability

of entry

Proportion

in relation to

all entrants

Success rate

of all baccalau-

reate pupils

St. Gallen

Geneva

29%

16%

54%

74%

72%

91%

71%

Over half of pupils from Canton Geneva who transition to a bacca laureate

school achieved an average score in the PISA test. In Canton St. Gallen,

on the other hand, this figure is just under a sixth. These pupils, who

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174

Baccalaureate schools Equity

originally exhibited similar capabilities, have an equal probability of suc-

cessfully completing baccalaureate school in both cantons. This suggests

that the pupils are subject to similar benchmarks when moving up into

the next class and when completing baccalaureate schooling. Baccalaure-

ate pupils whose performance is around the Swiss average are some of the

worst-performing pupils in Canton St. Gallen, whereas in Canton Geneva

they are in the mid-range. Accordingly, the success rate of this group in

St. Gallen is lower than the success rate of all baccalaureate pupils, whereas

the two rates are similar in Canton Geneva.

equality of opportunity in terms of education path and success

The probabilities of success at baccalaureate school vary depending on gen-

der, socio-economic status and migration background. Without informa-

tion on performance at school, however, it is impossible to say whether

the different education paths are linked to these characteristics or whether

the difference is not instead caused by performance differences within the

stated groups. From the PISA points, it’s clear that the differences in the

probability of success between these groups are partly down to differences

in performance. Women have a significantly lower probability of dropping

out of baccalaureate school or having to repeat a year than men

(→ figure 190)

This disparity persists even when performance differences are controlled

for and is therefore most likely due to behavioural differences during the

period of baccalaureate schooling.

When it comes to the influence of socio-economic status on education

path, there are also differences that cannot be explained by observable per-

formance differences at the start of baccalaureate schooling. The probabil-

ity of repetition does not differ between individuals with high and low

socio-economic status, even when performance differences are taken

into account. However, even when performance differences are taken

into account, the two groups differ in terms of their risk of dropping out

(→ figure 191)

. In the absence of empirical analyses, explanations for these

two findings would be merely speculative in nature.

Baccalaureate pupils with a migration background are at signifi-

cantly higher risk of repeating school years or dropping out of baccalau-

reate school without a baccalaureate when compared with those with-

out a migration background. However, these differences can be almost

completely explained by weaker performance at the start of baccalaureate

school. Once this performance, as reflected by the PISA score, is taken into

account, the differences diminish to such an extent that no statistically sig-

nificant difference can be observed between baccalaureate pupils with and

without a migration background.

190 Repetitions

and drop-outs

by gender

Estimated probabilities, taking account of

PISA points in mathematics and reading, socio-

economic status, migration background and

other control variables; pupils from the 2012

PISA cohort who entered baccalaureate school

in 2012–2014

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Repetition

Drop-out

10%

Women

20%

Men

30%

191 Repetitions

and drop-outs

by socio-economic status

Estimated probabilities, taking account of PISA

points in mathematics and reading, gender,

migration background and other control

variables; pupils from the 2012 PISA cohort

who entered baccalaureate school

in 2012–2014

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Repetition

Drop-out

10%

Low

20%

High

30%

The “low” and “high” categories include pupils

whose parents are among the 25% with the

lowest and the 25% with the highest socio-eco-

nomic status. Matt colours indicate statistically

insignificant effects (5% significance level).

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Equity Baccalaureate

schools

175

Gender and choice of STeM special subjects

As previously shown, the proportions of special subjects vary strongly

between the cantons

(→ figure 176)

. The differences in the subjects on

offer in the various cantons may also influence the proportions of men and

women in the various special subjects. This would not constitute an equity

issue if these differences were solely due to differences between the pref-

erences of pupils in the various cantons. However, if the choice of a special

subject is partly determined by the range of subjects offered in the canton

and if pupils’ preferences in turn influence the choice of study and their

future career path, then this is indeed a question of equity. Various evi-

dence suggests that the choice of special subject is influenced by the range

of subjects offered

(→ Subjects offered and special subjects, page 161).

The choice of special subject also influences the chosen course of study

(Oepke, 2017),

as shown in previous editions of the Education Report. This

relationship is also confirmed by the latest education progress data (LABB

data). In other words, a larger cantonal proportion of STEM subjects leads

to a higher probability that pupils will subsequently choose a STEM sub-

ject as their field of study

(SCCRE, 2018).

Lastly, labour market data shows

that subject choice is correlated with expected salaries and employment

prospects. Of particular relevance to the question of equity is whether the

special subjects offered by the canton for baccalaureate pupils has a differ-

ent impact on women and men.

A pronounced gender effect is not seen for the special subject “Biology

and chemistry”, but the opposite is true for the special subject “Physics and

applied mathematics”. The more frequently this special subject is offered

in a canton, the more often it is selected by men, leading to a greater gen-

der difference

(→ figure 192)

. This is an indication that the range of special

subjects offered doesn’t simply have a general impact on subject choice – as

shown here using gender as an example – but rather that it affects differ-

ent groups differently. If a canton adopts measures so that more baccalau-

reate pupils choose physics and applied mathematics as their special sub-

ject, this may well help to reduce the shortage of skilled workers in the

STEM professions – but may potentially come at the price of even greater

gender segregation.

192 Choice

of physics

and applied mathematics

as the special subject

Estimated probabilities by gender and cantonal

proportion of special subject; pupils who

completed compulsory education in summer

2018 and entered baccalaureate school no

later than 2020

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

15% 20% 25%

Cantonal proportion of physics

and applied mathematics

Women

Men

Pupils with disabilities

In accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act (BehiG) 2004, the

integration of people with disabilities into compulsory education is to be

promoted

(Kronenberg, 2021).

Figures from the Federal Social Insurance

Office (FSIO) show that although the proportion of pupils at general edu-

cation schools who have received benefits from disability insurance in con-

nection with school education is low overall, the proportion rose between

2016 and 2019

(→ figure 193)

. This figure is particularly high in the group

of pupils between the ages of 20 and 25. It may be that pupils with disa-

bilities suffer from delays in their education more often, for example as

a result of starting school later, repeating years, or temporary departures

from the education system. This hypothesis is impossible to verify given

the absence of corresponding statistical data.

Probability of selecting

physics and applied mathematics

The dotted lines represent the 95% confidence

interval.

193 Pupils

at general education

schools who receive benefits

from disability insurance

Proportion in relation to all pupils at

general education schools by age category

Data:

Kronenberg (2021),

FSO;

calculations: CSRE

2016

2017

2018

2019

14–19 years

20–25 years

Both age categories

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176

Baccalaureate schools Equity

A survey

by the Intercantonal University for Special Needs Education in

Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts shows that

dyslexia is the most common disability at general education schools, affect-

ing 6.4% of pupils

(Schellenberg et al., 2020).

This is followed by mental

disorders (5.2%), visual impairments (4.9%), physical disabilities (4.4%)

and ADHD (3.2%). These disabilities are also reflected in performance at

school. On average, pupils with learning difficulties or mental disorders

achieve lower grades than pupils without a disability. This relationship

is not apparent for physical disabilities. Common access arrangements

include extra time in exams, changes to the type of examination (e.g. oral

instead of written) or technical assistance (e.g. spellchecking programs).

There are still no studies into the effectiveness of compensatory measures.

Assistance for particularly gifted individuals

In addition to pupils with disabilities, assistance is also to be given to those

with special abilities. In terms of exceptional talent, there are not known

to be any scientific studies relating to general education schools or bacca-

laureate schools. Cantonal support programmes include the option to skip

a class, individual support within a mainstream class, special courses that

supplement the teaching in mainstream classes, and allocation to special

classes

(→ figure 194)

. In many cases, the cantons also offer other educa-

tional support programmes, including special support programmes in the

areas of sport and music, bilingual baccalaureate courses, and the univer-

sity program for baccalaureate pupils, which allows baccalaureate pupils to

attend individual courses at universities. In seven cantons, no specific rules

exist regarding assistance for particularly gifted individuals.

194 Cantonal

rules on assis-

tance for particularly gifted

individuals, 2021/22

Data: EDK-IDES cantonal survey

Skipping a class

Allocation to special

classes

Support within

mainstream class

Supplementary

special courses

Other educational

support programmes

20%

40%

60%

legend

Of the 19 cantons with rules on assistance for

particularly gifted individuals, ten (i.e. 53%)

of them offer the possibility of skipping a class.

4 A survey was carried out for a selective sample in which classes were selected that had at

least one young person in receipt of compensatory measures.

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Equity Baccalaureate

schools

177

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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UPPER-

SECONDARY

SPECIALISED

SCHOOL

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180

upper-secondary specialised school

195 Number

of FMS locations

by canton, 2022

Data: EDK

■

Kein Standort

No location

1 Standort

1 location

2 Standorte

2 locations

3–4 Standorte

3 – 4 locations

> 4 Standorte

> 4 locations

Like baccalaureate schools, specialised schools (FMS) are part of the gen-

eral secondary schooling system at upper-secondary level. Around 20 years

ago, they emerged from the former diploma middle schools

. Today, the

specialised schools offer a high proportion of general education, as well

as a wide range of in-depth occupational field-related training. In particu-

lar, they are feeder schools for tertiary education in the areas of health and

social sciences as well as for universities of teacher education. Students

are admitted once they have completed compulsory education. Gradua-

tion with the specialised school diploma after three years affords access to

higher education. After an additional year the special baccalaureate may be

obtained, which affords access to universities of teacher education and to

occupational field-specific study programmes at the universities of applied

sciences. The significance of the specialised schools in the education land-

scape varies greatly from one canton to another. The reasons for this can

be found in both the supply

(→ figure 195)

as well as in the demand; the

drivers for the differences between the cantons remain unclear. Not least,

the various demands in the cantons reflect the different preferences of the

pupil body and their parents for a general education. The various differ-

ent education and training programmes are often based on traditions or

politics. Accordingly, the specialised school ratios vary between values of

around 2% (Zurich) up to 16% (Geneva)

(→ figure 196)

196 Transition

to a FMS or a baccalaureate school, by canton

Average values for the graduates of the compulsory school system (2017–2019);

FMS or a baccalaureate school as initial education; by school canton

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

60%

50%

Baccalaureate school rate

40%

20%

30%

BE GR

10%

12%

14%

16%

Upper-secondary specialised school rate

1 The Federal Act on Vocational and Professional Education and Training [VPETA] from 2002

requires a name change of the diploma middle schools (only tertiary degrees are designated

as diplomas). The assumption of responsibility for professional education and training in the

areas of health, social studies and art by the Swiss Confederation called for a change in the

training concept of the former diploma middle schools. The SNSF project

Fachmittelschulen

(Upper-secondary specialised schools) examined this transformation process and the associ-

ated issues of legitimacy, image and implementation from a sociological-political perspective

(Leemann et al., 2019).

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upper-secondary specialised school

181

In cantons with high baccalaureate rates, the specialised baccalaureate rates

are also usually high and vice versa. In none of the cantons do the special-

ised schools have a compensatory function for a low academic baccalaure-

ate rate. There are, however, a few cantons which have a low prevalence of

specialised schools, despite an above-average baccalaureate rate.

Pupils at specialised schools

Around 6% of all pupils at upper-secondary level attend a specialised

school. This share was 4% in 2010 and has grown continuously since

(→ figure 197)

. Between 2010 and 2015, the offerings in the cantons, in par-

ticular in the area of the specialised baccalaureates, was further expanded. In

French-speaking Switzerland, the proportion of pupils who attend a spe-

cialised school is still considerably higher than in the rest of Switzerland.

The preference established there for training at full-time vocational schools

at upper-secondary level also reflects the pupil numbers at the baccalaure-

ate schools and at schools which offer a full-time school VET programme

(→ chapter Upper-secondary education, page 111;

→

chapter Baccalau-

reate schools, page 155).

FSO forecasts up to 2029

In view of the increase in numbers

of pupils at lower-secondary level,

rising pupil numbers can also

‑

be expected in the FMS. The Federal

Statistical Office forecasts an

increase of 30% by 2029 for the

FMS

(FSO, 2021k).

197 Proportion

of pupils at upper-secondary level

FMS pupils and graduates with a specialised baccalaureate considered; average values of two

school years shown (for 2020 only the school year 2020/21 is available)

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

14%

12%

10%

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

legend

In 2020, 9% of all women in the upper-

secondary level attended a FMS.

In the same year, 3% of all men in the

upper-secondary level attended a FMS.

Men

Swiss

French-speaking Switzerland

Total

Women

Foreigners

German-speaking Switzerland

In Canton Ticino, only 2% of pupils attended a specialised school in 2020.

At the specialised schools, the proportion of women was 70%, around 5

percentage points lower than five years previously. In recent years, foreign

nationals were slightly overrepresented at the specialised schools in terms

of their proportion of the entire student body at upper-secondary level.

According to current figures (2020/21) the proportion of foreign nation-

als at the specialised schools is 21%; somewhat lower than the proportion

of this group in the entire pupil body of the upper-secondary level (24%).

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182

upper-secondary specialised school

If one considers the student body of the specialised schools according to the

educational background of their parents, it can be seen that 52% of the pupils

have parents without a tertiary educational qualification

(→ figure 198)

Compared to baccalaureate schools, this proportion is twice as high.

Accordingly, the specialised schools are more likely to offer an upper sec-

ondary general education to young people from less educated families. The

educational background of young people in vocational education and train-

ing hardly differs, on the other hand, from that of pupils in the specialised

schools. The proportion of non-foreign language Swiss nationals is some-

what lower here at 61% in comparison with the other two education types

of the upper-secondary level and the proportion of foreign language Swiss

nationals is highest (19%). Based on the naturalisation figures of young

people, the majority of the latter are likely to be naturalised foreigners

of the first migration generation

(→ chapter Lower-secondary education,

page 83;

→

chapter Baccalaureate schools, page 155).

‑

198 Composition

of student body at Sec II by education type

Average values of the years 2019 and 2020 shown; without graduates with a specialised

and vocational baccalaureate

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Education of parents

VET

Bac school

FMS

Migration status

VET

Bac school

FMS

Compulsory education

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Upper-secondary education

Tertiary education

Foreign language-speaking Swiss

Foreign language-speaking foreigners

Non-foreign language-speaking Swiss

Non-foreign language-speaking foreigners

Taking into account the performance and other individual characteristics,

the preference of young people with a migration background whose par-

ents do not have a tertiary education is confirmed for education at a spe-

cialised school. It has already been shown in previous research that foreign

nationals prefer education at a general education school

(Abrassart et al.,

2020).

The probability of continuing education after compulsory schooling

at a specialised school is the highest for young Swiss nationals born abroad

(usually naturalised persons) and whose parents do not have tertiary edu-

cation, at 10%. For comparable young people without a migration back-

ground (Swiss nationals who were born in Switzerland and whose parents

are likewise not educated at tertiary level) the value is considerably lower

at around 6% with the same performance

(→ figure 199)

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upper-secondary specialised school

183

COVID-19 pandemic and admissions to the specialised school

199 Probability

of attending a FMS

The transition from compulsory education to upper-secondary level took

place under special conditions for young people during the COVID-19 pan-

demic. However, altogether no major changes can be observed. The tran-

sition rate was 6.6% in the school year 2020/21. This is in line with the

general upward trend, which could be observed over the last decade even

without the pandemic. In around half of the cantons, access conditions

were eased due to the pandemic (Basel Landschaft, Basel City, Bern, Fri-

bourg, Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel, Obwalden, Solothurn, Uri, Vaud, Valais

and Zurich). However, the stronger growth rate in some cantons cannot

be attributed to this.

Difference from the probability of Swiss

nationals (born in Switzerland) to attend

a FMS; controlled for PISA-performance

and other socio-demographic characteristics;

only direct transitions considered

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Percentage points

-1

-2

Parents with

Parents without

tertiary education tertiary education

education and training programme at specialised schools

22 cantons in Switzerland have specialised schools. They are mainly

attached to baccalaureate schools

. Education is offered in six different

occupational fields and sometimes also combined (such as health/social

work). However, not all cantons cover all occupational fields

(→ figure 200)

In 2018, the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)

revised the recognition rules and the core syllabus and thus took into

account the further development of the specialised schools. Now, at least

50% of the teaching must be devoted to general education and at least 20%

to the occupational field-related education. In addition, the occupational

field health/natural sciences has been introduced as a variant of the occu-

pational field health

(EDK, 2018a, 2018b).

The distribution of the student body over the occupational fields

shows that the specialised schools have focused on training and educa-

tion in the areas of health, pedagogy and social sciences. In 18 of the 22 can-

tons, over 80% of pupils completed specialised school in the occupational

fields health, pedagogy or social work

(→ figure 201)

. The low proportion

of pedagogy in Canton Bern is striking. The occupational field of pedagogy

was until recently only offered in the French-speaking part of the canton.

Swiss nationals born abroad

Foreigners born in Switzerland

Foreigners born abroad

200 FMS

offers of the cantons

by occupational field, 2022

Cantons Appenzell, Innerrhoden, Nidwalden,

Obwalden and Uri do not have any FMS; sports

is not a nationally recognised occupational

field in Switzerland.

Health/Natural

sciences

Pedagogy

Social work

Communication

and Information

Design and Art

All 22 cantons

21 cantons without TI

21 cantons without GL

AG, BS, GE, GL, SH,

TG, VD, ZH

AG, BL, BS, GE, JU,

SG, VD

BS, GE, JU, LU, SG, TI,

VD, ZH

Music and Theatre

Sport

2 The expenditure on education is reported for the general education schools as a whole, which

is why no separate information can be provided on the costs of the upper-secondary special-

ised schools. The expenditure for the pupils corresponds to the information for the baccalau-

reate schools

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools, page 155).

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184

upper-secondary specialised school

201 Pupils

at FMS by occupational field and by canton, 2020/21

Without pupils in the basic year, without specialised baccalaureate graduates; the occupational fields design and art as well as music and theatre

have been combined here.

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

GR SG

Northwestern Switzerland

Health / Natural sciences

Health/Pedagogy

Communication and Information

Central Switzerland

Pedagogy

Social work / Health

Design and Art / Music and Theatre

Eastern Switzerland

Social work

Social work / Pedagogy

Sport

Latin Switzerland

Admission requirements and entrance skills

Despite considerable differences between the admission procedures in the

cantons and the admission procedures between the two general education

types at upper-secondary level within the cantons

(→ chapter Baccalau-

reate schools, page 155)

these can be split up into three broad categories

(→ figure 202)

. Sometimes participation in the expanded requirement pro-

file at lower-secondary level is a condition. In addition, the minimum value

of the preliminary mark and the way in which this is taken into account

also differ. Based on the legal principles, it can in general be established

that the requirement for the baccalaureate school is higher than that of the

specialised school

(EDK, 2022).

202 Admissions

procedure

for baccalaureate schools

and FMS, by canton

Cantons Appenzell Innerrhoden, Nidwalden,

Obwalden and Uri do not have any FMS

Data:

EDK-IDES (2022)

Bac

school

Normally not subject

to an entrance exam

BL, GE,

JU, LU,

NE, VD

AG, BE,

BS, FR,

SO, TI,

VS, ZG

FMS

BL, GE,

JU, NE,

AG, BE,

BS, FR,

SO, TI,

VS, ZG

Entrance exam,

if the conditions an

entrance without

examination are not

met

Normally subject

to an entrance exam

AR, GL,

GR, SG,

SH, SZ,

TG, ZH

AR, GL,

GR, LU,

SG, SH,

SZ, TG,

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upper-secondary specialised school

185

Bac school

VET 4 years

Digitalisation and learning with digital aids

In the core syllabus for specialised schools, dealing with digitalisation at

work and in everyday life is, among other things, defined as a goal in the area

of generic competencies

(EDK, 2018a).

Due to lack of data, it is not possible to

check the achievement of goals. With the monitoring project

Digitalisierung

in der Bildung aus Sicht der Schülerinnen und Schüler

(Digitalisation in

education from the pupils’ perspective)

(Oggenfuss & Wolter, 2021a, 2021b)

the availability and the use of digital tools in schools were recorded in

three surveys between 2020 and 2022 throughout Switzerland, and for

the first time across all levels, from the primary level up to and including

the upper-secondary level

(→ chapter Compulsory education, page 27;

→

chapter Upper-secondary education, page 111).

Even if certain ques-

tions cannot be answered with this data, such as whether learning pro-

cesses can be made more effective by means of digital aids

(→ chapter Low-

er-secondary education, page 83),

the information collected here shows,

amongst other things, the subjective attitude to learning with digital aids.

The pupils are very positive overall regarding learning with comput-

ers and digital applications, even though they do not necessarily expect

higher benefits from them. What is striking with regard to the attitude

about learning using digital aids is that there are significant gender differ-

ences

(→ figure 204)

. If digital resources are being used increasingly in les-

sons

(Educa, 2021)

and the girls are less motivated to learn using these, it

can be assumed that the skills development of the sexes will be different.

This fact is particularly relevant for the specialised schools with a share of

women of 70%.

Achieved basic competencies

Share in the highest performance quintile

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VET 3 years

The verification of the attainment of the basic competencies (ÜGK) at the

end of compulsory education of the year 2016 enables the presentation of

the pupils’ entry level competencies in the area of Mathematics after their

upper-secondary level education: 86% of the pupils who entered the spe-

cialised schools in the school year 2016/17 achieved basic competencies

in Mathematics; one-third belonged to the highest-performing fifth of

all pupils in Switzerland

(→ figure 203)

. In a comparison with the pupils

of other education types, it is taken into consideration that boys achieve

better Mathematics skills on average, and at the same time attend a special-

ised school less frequently, instead opting for a four-year apprenticeship. In

general, the demands in the area of languages are higher in the education

programmes at the specialised schools than in a four-year apprenticeship.

Conversely, the requirements in the area of Mathematics in the four-year

apprenticeships are usually higher, because they are very often connected

with technical professions. Due to the lack of performance data on the lin-

guistic competencies at the end of the compulsory education, it is not pos-

sible to compare the education types based on language competencies.

Cognitive competencies are an important explanatory factor for the

education trajectory following compulsory schooling. At the same time,

non-cognitive competencies must be taken into account, in order to be able

to explain differences in educational success

(→ chapter Upper-secondary

education, page 111).

203 Mathematics

performance

after education at upper-

secondary level

ÜGK mathematics performance at the end of

compulsory schooling (school year 2015/16)

after the first-choice education at upper-sec-

ondary level (only direct transitions); controlled

for gender; highest performance quintile:

Pupils who are in the best fifth on a national

basis

Data: ÜGK, LABB; calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

FMS

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186

upper-secondary specialised school

204 Attitude

towards learning with digital tools by gender, 2022

Attitude to learning with digital aids compared with learning without digital applications;

proportion of pupils in general education schools at upper-secondary level who agree

with the statements made; under control of individual background variables; significant

differences: ** (p < 0.01), * (p < 0.05)

Data: Monitoring Digitalisierung; calculations: SCCRE

It's fun.**

100%

I have more

opportunities to decide

for myself.**

80%

60%

40%

20%

I'm easily distracted.

I get tired more

quickly.**

I'm more motivated

when studying.**

I have trouble

remembering what I've

learned.

Women

Men

I learn faster.

I ﬁnd it hard because I

don't understand digital

applications.**

education trajectories and repetition

Almost three-quarters of the pupils who enter a specialised school do so

directly after completing compulsory education

(→ figure 205)

. The pro-

portion of direct transitions thus lies between the corresponding value

for the VET programme and that of the baccalaureate school

(→ chapter

Vocational education and training, page 125;

→

chapter Baccalaureate

schools, page 155).

A significant portion of the admissions to the first

year of education at the specialised school takes place after an additional

educational year following completion of compulsory education (13%). The

education trajectories of young people at specialised schools are consider-

ably different from those of young people in other types of education at

upper-secondary level: A large number of pupils from other types of edu-

cation institutions (for example after leaving baccalaureate school without

a qualification) do not start their education and training programme with

the first year but join in the second or even last year of the specialised school

(see figure

205

, Admission to all years). Ultimately, the educational path-

ways at the specialised schools are not straightforward for a large propor-

tion of the pupils. They frequently repeat an educational year

(→ figure 206)

and the very large differences in regional languages are striking in this

regard. The reasons for this cannot be explained with the data available.

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Upper-secondary specialised school

187

205 Educational

pathway of the admitted and graduating cohorts

Admitted and graduating cohorts of the FMS, average values for the school years 2019/20

and 2020/21

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

206 Repetitions

at the FMS

by language region

Proportion of pupils who repeat the first school

year of the FMS; average values of the school

years 2018/19 and 2019/20

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Admission to 1

year

Admission to all years

Altogether

Graduation cohort

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

D-CH

Direct transitions

Indirect transitions

Change from a different upper-secondary education

Second education & training / over the age of 25 on entry to upper-sec.

Other

F-CH

Graduations at specialised schools

Most graduations from the specialised schools are in the occupational fields

of health and pedagogy

(→ figure 207)

. This is partly because the special-

ised school diploma and the specialised baccalaureate in the area of health

offers access to the next level of nursing training in the non-academic ter-

tiary sector. The second largest is the number of graduations in the area of

pedagogy, which is also related to the fact that the specialised baccalaure-

ate is also an admission qualification to all universities of teacher education

(→ chapter Universities of teacher education, page 285).

10%

15%

20%

207 Number

of FMS graduations by occupational field, 2021

Data: FSO

Health

Health / Natural sciences

Health/Pedagogy

Health / Social work

Pedagogy

Social work

Social work / Pedagogy

Design and Art

Communication and Information

Music and Theatre

Sport

1 000

1 400

400

800

600

200

1 600

1 800

1 200

2 000

Specialised school certificates

Specialised baccalaureates

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Upper-secondary edUcation

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188

upper-secondary specialised school

Due to the closing of schools after the breakout of the COVID-19 pan-

demic, the examination regulations for the final examinations for all three

education types at upper-secondary level were temporarily adjusted in

various cantons

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools, page 155).

In some

cantons no examinations took place, while in others, either the written

or the oral examinations were held. Only the Cantons of Glarus, Schaff-

hausen and Thurgau held the final examination for the specialised school

diploma. The specialised baccalaureate examination was only held in can-

tons Schwyz and Thurgau. One exception was the specialised baccalaure-

ate in the occupational field of pedagogy, which in all cantons could only

be awarded after the examination had been passed (resolution of EDK of 5

May 2020). In summer 2020, 94% of the examination candidates obtained

the specialised school diploma (national average in the whole of Switzer-

land). Compared with the previous years (2015–2019) this corresponded

to a considerable reduction in the failure rate of 10% to 6%

(→ figure 208)

As there were almost no fluctuations in this rate in previous years, one can

assume an effect caused by the changed examination situation. The can-

tonal failure rates traditionally vary greatly and in the last few years were

between 1% and 26% (cantonal average of the years 2015–2019). Regardless

of this, there was a reduction in the failure rate in practically all cantons

in 2020.

208 Cantonal

rate of failed final examinations, 2015–2019 and 2020

Only specialised school diplomas; legend: Examination modalities in 2020

Data: FSO

18%

15%

12%

2020

3% FR

12%

15%

18%

21%

24%

27%

30%

Average for 2015–2019

No exam

One exam

Both exams

Swiss average

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upper-secondary specialised school

189

Transitions after the specialised school

After obtaining the specialised school diploma, most of the pupils con-

tinue their education at the specialised school and complete the specialised

baccalaureate (80%). Around 8% enter a baccalaureate school. The num-

ber of pupils who continue their education in the education system after

the specialised school diploma is 95%. Around 83% enter the tertiary area

after the specialised baccalaureate

(→ figure 209)

. Since 2017, persons with

a specialised and/or vocational baccalaureate have access to the prepara-

tory course for the University Aptitude Test (UAT ) and can go to univer-

sity after they have passed the UAT. This further expanded the permea-

bility in the education system; the education and training options of the

graduates of the specialised schools were adapted to that of the VET pro-

gramme. In the years 2019 and 2020, a portion of 7 % successfully com-

pleted the preparatory course for UAT after the specialised baccalaureate.

Among persons with a vocational baccalaureate, the share is the same. The

current data also show a similar transition rate to the universities in both

groups

(→ figure 210)

209 Transitions

after the specialised school diploma and after

the specialised baccalaureate

Direct transitions and transitions one year after graduation; average values of graduate cohorts

2018 and 2019

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

210 Preparatory

course for UAT

and entry to university

Persons who completed the specialised

baccalaureate (SB) or the vocational

baccalaureate (VB) in 2018 or 2019;

the results refer to persons who successfully

completed the preparatory course for UAT

between 2018–2020 and were admitted

to a university in 2019 or 2020.

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

College of

Higher education

Universities of

Applied Sciences

Universities of

Teacher Education

«Passerell» (prepa-

ration for university

aptitude test

46%

34%

Vocational

Education & Training

Specialised baccalaureate

Baccalaureate school

80%

Passerelle

completed

sBac

Entry to university

Specialised school

certiﬁcate

vBac

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190

upper-secondary specialised school

The educational goal of the specialised school – to prepare for education

in the non-academic tertiary area and to award the appropriate degrees

for this – is decisive for assessing the effectiveness of education. Whether

the majority of pupils graduate from further education in the non-aca-

demic tertiary area after completing specialised school can be shown for

Switzerland using the longitudinal data of the FSO

(FSO, 2021a).

Consid-

erable regional language differences can be observed here, which are related

to divergent education structures, among other things.

Overall, in the area of health, 80% of the graduates with a special-

ised school diploma enter the tertiary area. Among persons with voca-

tional education and training in the health area, this share is much lower

at 47 %. It should be taken into account that these two groups differ with

regard to the entry qualification. In the group of vocational education

and training, around one-third attended a class with basic requirements

at the lower secondary level, which also explains the low transition rate

to the tertiary level. In addition, persons with a vocational qualification

have more possibilities of gaining a direct foothold in the labour market,

in contrast to graduates with a specialised school diploma

(Esposito, 2022)

Similar to the Swiss national average, 76% to 89% of the graduates of spe-

cialised schools change to the tertiary area in the various language regions

(→ figure 211)

. However, after the vocational qualification, the transition

rates in French-speaking Switzerland are considerably lower. It is impor-

tant to note that in French-speaking Switzerland, in contrast to German-

speaking Switzerland, non-academic tertiary education in health is only

offered at universities of applied sciences and thus require a vocational or

211 Transition

to tertiary education in the health sector

Graduate cohorts 2015 and 2016; specialised school diploma: exclusively occupational field

health; FVD: Specialist Health; admissions to tertiary area up to 2020/21

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

D-CH

F-CH

I-CH

VET

FMS

VET

FMS

VET

FMS

No transition

20%

40%

60%

UAS

80%

Other tertiary education

100%

Professional education

See Esposito (2022) for an in-depth analysis of both courses of education in the field of health.

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upper-secondary specialised school

191

specialised baccalaureate. However, considered nationally, persons with

a vocational qualification tend to remain in the health sector more often

than persons with a specialised school diploma. After obtaining the spe-

cialised school diploma in the occupational field of health, 22% opt for a

tertiary education programme outside of the health area. This proportion

is considerably higher in German-speaking Switzerland than in the other

two language regions.

In the area of pedagogy, the education trajectories of the specialised

baccalaureate graduates in pedagogy can be compared with those of the

graduates from baccalaureate schools with a specialisation in philosophy,

pedagogy and psychology

(→ figure 212)

. Over 95% of pupils transition to

the tertiary area after the specialised baccalaureate, a large majority of them

start education and training at a university of teacher education. As feeder

schools for the universities of teacher education, the specialised schools

are of great significance in two language regions

(Hafner, 2022)

. How-

ever, there are considerable differences between the universities of teacher

education with regard to the admission qualifications

(→ chapter Univer-

sities of teacher education, page 285).

After the academic baccalaureate,

although 95% also change to the tertiary area, of these only just under one-

fifth complete a tertiary education in the area of pedagogy, which can be

explained not least by the broadly oriented focus. The proportion of transi-

tions after the academic baccalaureate to a university of teacher education is

20% in German-speaking Switzerland and 5% in French-speaking Switzer-

land. This difference is partly due to the fact that in Canton Geneva, teach-

ers at all levels are educated at the University. Most of the transitions from

a baccalaureate school to a university of teacher education are made among

persons with the specialist subjects music and design or modern languages

(→ chapter Universities of teacher education, page 285).

212 Transition

to tertiary

education in the pedagogy

sector

Graduate cohorts 2015 and 2016; specialised

baccalaureate (SB): exclusively occupational

field pedagogy; academic baccalaureate (AB):

Special subject philosophy, pedagogy, psycho-

logy; admissions to the tertiary area up to

2020/21

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

D-CH

F-CH

sBac

Bac

sBac

Bac

No transition

UTE

Other tertiary Pedagogy education

Tertiary education (not Pedagogy)

50%

100%

4 See Hafner (2022) for a presentation of education trajectories of pupils with different

upper-secondary specialised school profiles as well as for a comparison of education trajectories

of baccalaureate graduates with a focus on the arts and with a specialisation in philosophy,

pedagogy and psychology.

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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TERTIARY-LEVEL

EDUCATION

CROSS-CUTTING THEMES

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194

Tertiary-level education

effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to strong growth in student admis-

sions, especially to conventional universities (plus 12%) as well as to uni-

versities of teacher education (plus 8%). The increase came about mainly

because students who completed their baccalaureate in 2020 more fre-

quently enrolled in a university directly, which explains why admis-

sions subsequently did not increase further

(FSO, 2021f ).

In the follow-

ing year (2021), institutions which had an above-average number of direct

admissions saw a correction in their admission numbers. This was espe-

cially the case in conventional universities (UNI), whose enrolments fell

sharply. All students who, due to the pandemic, decided to enrol directly

in 2020 instead of taking an interim year off are missing in the 2021 fig-

ures

(→ figure 213)

The pandemic was especially problematic for teaching. Like the rest of

the education system, Swiss tertiary institutions had only a few days to

switch their mode of instruction from in-person to remote in response to

the Federal Council’s measures on 16 March 2020 to combat the COVID-

19 pandemic. This led to an unprecedented situation in which the change

in mode of instruction relied on digital technologies, some of which had

never been used before. They enabled institutions to maintain their teach-

ing schedules as emergency operations until the end of the spring semes-

ter because schools had to close immediately due to the extraordinary sit-

uation. These measures mainly involved a ban on in-person classes and

face-to-face contact, which had a severe effect on teaching. Unlike in the

case of the other educational levels, in-person classes were mostly can-

celled until the autumn semester 2021. At the end of 2021, the government

again required institutions to switch to distance learning.

While large digitalisation projects were launched already years before

the pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic made the strengths and weak-

nesses in universities’ preparations for using digital technologies all the

more apparent. Before the lockdown, the digital transformation at each

university had its own momentum, driven primarily by the strategy of the

respective institution. In the wake of the closure due to the pandemic, all

teaching had to be fully switched to online mode overnight. This switch

involved a range of information and communication technologies, many

of which had not been tried previously

(Farnell et al., 2021; Göbel et al.,

2021; Hänni & Aeschlimann, 2020; Kaqinari et al., 2021; Marek et al., 2021).

Despite support from universities in setting up online learning environ-

ments, lecturers were mostly responsible for making the change quickly

and ensuring the quality of teaching

(Göbel et al., 2021).

Various surveys

at higher education institutions indicate that lecturers used significantly

more synchronous (real-time) forms of communication, such as stream-

ing platforms with audio and video conferences, once in-person teaching

had been banned

(→ figure 214)

(Bachmann et al., 2021; Dilger et al., 2020;

Hänni & Aeschlimann, 2020; Oswald et al., 2020; Sieber et al., 2020).

213 Enrolments

at BA level

by university type

Change in admissions compared

to the previous year

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

Change compared to previous year

15%

10%

-5%

-10%

UNI

2019

UAS

2020

UTE

2021

Besides ramifications for teaching

and learning, the COVID-19 pandemic

also systemically effected study

programmes

(→ chapter Universities,

page 225;

→ chapter

Universities of

applied sciences, page 255;

→ chap-

ter Universities of teacher education,

page 285),

international mobility of

studies (→ figure 221), and entry to

the labour market.

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Tertiary-level education

195

214 Use

of electronic communications during school closures,

April 2020

At the University of Zurich; lecturers’ preferred electronic means of communication;

written survey in April 2020 (N=282)

Data:

Sieber et al., 2020

E-learning platforms

Audio recordings

Video recordings

Text chat forums

Streaming platforms (audio)

Streaming platforms (video)

100

150

200

250

300

Means of communication (mentioned by respondents)

Before the lockdown

During the lockdown (April 2020)

The following factors have been identified as helpful when switching to new

technologies quickly: a positive basic attitude towards digital technologies,

a strong conviction that such technologies are efficacious, and lecturers’

strong willingness to make the change

(Göbel et al., 2021; Kaqinari et al.,

2021).

Besides the effort required on the part of lecturers, online teach-

ing also required students to be highly independent and have well-devel-

oped learning strategies, which was not always the case

(Kovacs et al., 2021;

Ramírez-Hurtado et al., 2021).

Various studies show that negative attitudes

towards digital teaching were widespread in both groups, whereby lectur-

ers generally had a more negative attitude than students. They tended to

believe that the support and infrastructure that universities provide should

be improved

(Dolenc et al., 2021; Kovacs et al., 2021).

Surveys also indicate

that compared to lecturers, students generally thought switching to online

teaching was less effective. Large differences can also be observed in the

quality of the fully digitalised classroom. Students themselves believe that

they learned less during the lockdown and would have wished for more

support and guidance from their lecturers

(Buser, 2020; Dilger et al., 2020;

Oswald et al., 2020; Ramírez-Hurtado et al., 2021; Sieber et al., 2020).

How-

ever, one reason why students indicated a slower acquisition of skills may

be that they saw a sharp decline in the time they had available during the

lockdown

(Grätz & Lipps, 2021; Refle et al., 2020).

How effective distance learning and virtual teaching actually are cannot

yet be evaluated conclusively due to the subjective, qualitative and often not

fully representative nature of the surveys, which do not replace scientific

studies that are based on randomised design and control groups. Although

experimental studies on the effectiveness of digital teaching were con-

ducted abroad already before the COVID-19 period

(Bettinger et al., 2017),

their findings cannot always be applied to other countries, educational sys-

tems and periods. A recent study from Switzerland on the effectiveness

of digital teaching has identified some related effects:

Cacault et al. (2021)

used a random experiment to show that the online classroom (streaming)

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196

Tertiary-level education

leads to a drop in performance among the weaker students while improv-

ing that of the stronger ones. An experiment during the COVID-19 period

indicated that relying on online lectures had consistently negative effects

on academic performance

(Kofoed et al., 2021).

However, it must be noted

that an experiment conducted during the COVID period – i.e. in a time

when students were exposed to multiple stress factors at home and in the

classroom – may produce different results from one conducted in nor-

mal times. Even if no conclusive opinion is possible at this time, it can be

assumed on the one hand that the use of digital aids in tertiary education

was indispensable as an emergency bridging measure. On the other hand,

experience shows that widespread use of digital forms of teaching in nor-

mal times does not come close to the effectiveness of in-person teaching.

This realisation, however, does not mean that there is no potential for using

digital or hybrid forms of teaching.

Tertiary system

Switzerland’s tertiary education system comprises the entire university

sector as well as the professional education sector. The university sector

includes conventional universities – i.e. the cantonal universities and the

federal institutes of technology (ETH) – universities of applied sciences

(UAS) and universities of teacher education (UTE). The professional edu-

cation (PE) sector, on the other hand, consists of colleges of higher edu-

cation as well as various institutions offering federal diplomas of higher

education, i.e. professional examinations and mastership examinations

(federal diploma).

The International Standard Classification of Education and Training

(ISCED 2011) broke tertiary level education and training down into the

following levels

(→ figure 215)

: The BA degrees of universities as well as

federal diplomas of higher education fall under ISCED Level 6; the MA

programmes of universities as well as the advanced federal diplomas of

higher education fall under Level 7. Doctorates and post-doctoral work

fall under Level 8

(FSO, 2015a).

The ISCED classification in force since

2011 no longer distinguishes between tertiary sectors A (academic) and

B (vocational). However, countries do not assign national education pro-

grammes uniformly to the ISCED classification, as can be seen, for exam-

ple, in the range of classifications of professional education and training

among German-speaking countries. While the mastership examination

in Switzerland is classified at ISCED Level 7, its counterpart in Germany

falls either under Level 5 or 6, depending on the duration of the programme.

The range of the tertiary-level programmes that the various univer-

sity types and professional education institutions offer has grown his-

torically and continues the differentiation into a general education sector

and a vocational education sector at secondary level. The two sub-sectors

differ fundamentally in terms of their entry prerequisites, institutional

requirements and funding. The overview chapter, however, treats the ter-

tiary level as a whole. The data available for the university sector is of much

better quality than that for the professional education sector and is there-

fore presented in more detail.

215 Tertiary-level

programmes

Data:

FSO (2015a)

ISCeD

level

Descrip-

tion

Short

tertiary

education

programmes

BA or

equivalent

Swiss education

programmes

PE programmes

not subject to

VPETA regulations

BA programmes

at higher education

institutions;

degrees at Colleges

of higher education;

federal examina-

tions; MAS (Master

of Advanced

Studies); post-

graduate degrees

MA programmes

at higher education

institutions;

advanced federal

diploma of higher

education (federal

diploma or master-

ship examination)

Doctorates;

post-doctoral work

at German-speak-

ing universities and

institutes of

technology

MA or

equivalent

Doctorate

equivalent

VPTEA

Vocational and Professional Education

and Training Act

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197

When considering the distinction between the types of universities, it must

be noted that the following explanations regard teacher training at univer-

sities of applied sciences within the remit of universities of teacher educa-

tion in each case, as it is managed according to the rules that apply to uni-

versities of teacher education, irrespective of any institutional affiliation. In

terms of numbers, the university sector dominates tertiary-level educa-

tion with four-fifths of all students, which can be explained in part by the

longer study periods, especially at conventional universities

(→ figure 216)

The university sector becomes less dominant when the evaluation is

based on the annually awarded number of degrees. For example, the voca-

tional part of the tertiary education system generates about one third of all

tertiary degrees each year.

216 Students

and degrees, 2021

All students and degrees at tertiary level,

excluding continuing education and training

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

Students

11%

50%

24%

International comparison of education status of population

The growth trend in education as stated in previous education reports

continues. The tertiary share of 25- to 34-year-olds has doubled since the

turn of the millennium: Every second person in this age group now has a

tertiary degree. When considering only degrees from universities, the rate

of growth becomes even stronger. The proportion of graduates from all

types of universities has more than tripled among 25- to 34-year-olds over

the past 20 years to around 40% in 2020

(→ figure 217)

. This growth in ter-

tiary education was driven by the conventional universities to some degree,

but mostly by higher education system reforms in the mid-1990s during

which the universities of applied sciences and the universities of teacher

education were established. The growth is also due to the increased ratio

of women in baccalaureate programmes

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools,

page 155),

which has subsequently led to more women in universities in

Switzerland than men.

At 52%, Switzerland has an above-average tertiary education rate among

25- to 34-year-olds compared to OECD countries

(→ figure 217)

. In 2021,

the Swiss tertiary education rate ranked eleventh among OECD countries,

above that of neighbouring countries and well above the OECD average

of 47 %. Taking into account professional education, which accounts for

around a quarter of all tertiary degrees, Switzerland has a high propor-

tion of people with a tertiary degree, despite its relatively low number of

baccalaureates. It makes sense to include professional education in this

ratio because other countries without a separate higher vocational educa-

tion system are more likely to offer such programmes at universities.

Qualifications

21%

40%

11%

21%

Universities

Universities of applied sciences

Universities of teacher education

Colleges of Higher education

Federal examinations

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198

Tertiary-level education

217 International

comparison of education status

of 25- to 34-year-olds, 2021

Tertiary degrees (Universities and professional education)

Data: OECD; calculations: SCCRE

ISCED 5

ISCED 6

ISCED 7

ISCED 8

Short tertiary education programmes

(short cycles)

BA or equivalent degrees

MA or equivalent degrees

Doctorate or post-doctoral degrees

Korea

Canada

Japan

Ireland

Luxembourg

United Kingdom

Lithuania

Netherlands

Norway

Australia

Switzerland

United States

France

OECD average

Austria

Germany

Italy

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Share of the population

ISCED 5

ISCED 6

ISCED 7

ISCED 8

A more precise analysis of the educational level of a population would need

to distinguish among the qualification levels of the various tertiary pro-

grammes. Especially in countries with above-average tertiary rates, BA

degrees or degrees that in Switzerland do not count as tertiary (ISCED 5)

tend to dominate. However, considering the share of MA degrees, doc-

torates and post-doctorates (ISCED 7 and 8) qualifications in the total of

all tertiary degrees puts Switzerland in an even better position: While

in countries with the highest tertiary rates, including Korea and Canada,

less than 20% of the degrees were awarded at the postgraduate level, in

Switzerland almost half of all tertiary degrees are at ISCED Levels 7 or 8.

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Tertiary-level education

199

legal basis for universities

The federal government and the cantons are jointly responsible for coor-

dinating and assuring quality in higher education. The legislative frame-

work enacted by federal government is the Federal Act on Funding and

Coordination of the Higher Education Sector (HEdA)

; for the cantons it is

the Higher Education Concordat. An agreement between the federal gov-

ernment and the cantons on cooperation in higher education defines the

scope for the two elements of the legislative framework, declares the aims

of the HEdA as joint objectives of the federal government and the cantons,

and creates the basis for the joint bodies, namely the Swiss Conference of

Higher Education Institutions (SHK), the Rectors’ Conference (swissuni-

versities), and the Accreditation Council. As Switzerland’s highest body

of higher education policymaking, the SHK is responsible for coordinat-

ing the activities of the federal government and the cantons in the higher

education sector. The Rectors’ Conference (swissuniversities) includes

the rectors of conventional universities, universities of applied sciences

and universities of teacher education. It is responsible for coordination and

cooperation among these institutions. The Swiss Agency of Accreditation

and Quality Assurance (AAQ ) is responsible for the accreditation proce-

dures, which are governed by the Accreditation Council, an independent

body with representatives from higher education and industry. Institu-

tional accreditation is a prerequisite for protection under naming law (i.e.

the law that permits an institution to call itself a “university”, “university

of applied sciences” or “university of teacher education”). It is also neces-

sary for obtaining federal funding (Art. 28, para. 2 HEdA). Accreditation

of programmes (BA and MA) is voluntary.

218 Proportion

of activity types by

university type, 2014 and 2021

In FTE of academic personnel

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

UNI

UAS

UTE

2014

2021

2014

2021

2014

2021

25%

50%

75%

100%

Teaching: Basic education and training

Teaching: Advanced education and training

Profiles of university types

The federal government and the cantons are committed to the shared

educational policy goal of ensuring diversity in the various tertiary pro-

grammes, each with their distinct characteristics

(EAER & EDK 2019),

a commitment that is also explicitly mentioned in the HEdA (Art. 3 lit. c

HEdA). The various profiles of the university types, which play a role in

how federal funding is assessed, also reflect in the different ratios of activ-

ity types of employees

(→ figure 218)

. While the main focus of conventional

university staff is on research, more than two thirds of staff in general

tertiary institutes (UASs and UTEs) are allocated to teaching and contin-

uing education and training

(Böckelmann et al., 2021).

The strong focus on

teaching at universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher edu-

cation has not changed in recent years, even if there has been a slight shift

toward research at the expense of teaching in all three university types

(→ chapter Universities of applied sciences, page 255).

Research and development

Continuing education and training

Services

Activity types according to FSO

Teaching

All activities primarily devoted to teaching

(BA, MA, diploma and doctoral) and related

tasks. A distinction is drawn between regular

teaching (BA and MA programmes) and more

advanced teaching (doctorate).

Research and development (R&D)

The term refers to systematic, creative en-

deavours to expand knowledge and to use it to

discover new applications and/or to repurpose

tried-and-tested scientific achievements.

Continuing education and training

All activities relating to continuous education

and training programmes in the postgraduate

sector.

Services

All academic and non-academic activities of a

predominantly routine nature relating to neither

research and development nor to teaching and

that are primarily directed at audiences outside

of the universities.

1 Federal Act on Funding and Coordination of the Swiss Higher Education Sector (Higher

Education Act, HEdA) of 30 September 2011

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200

Tertiary-level education

The university types differ in terms of the weighting of the types of

services, and the allocation of their personnel varies accordingly: While

assistants and research assistants make up the largest proportion of staff

at conventional universities – even in teaching, lecturers make up the larg-

est proportion of staff at general tertiary institutes. The high proportion of

assistants and researchers at the federal institutes of technology compared

to the cantonal universities results in a significantly better supervision fac-

tor

(→ figure 219)

. In recent years, the personnel resources of the university

types have converged somewhat, in so far as the relative share of academic

management staff (professors at conventional universities; lecturers with

management responsibility at UASs/UTEs) is now approximately the

same in all three institution typ es. Because the title of “professor” refers

to a different function at universities of applied sciences compared to con-

ventional universities, an attempt is now being made to introduce a cate-

gory “lecturers with management responsibility” at universities of applied

sciences and universities of teacher education that is comparable with a

university professor.

During the last few years, the staff numbers at federal institutes of

technology and universities of teacher education have not developed

at the same rate as student numbers. Accordingly, the supervision ratio

has deteriorated somewhat at both types of university, although it is still

higher than that of cantonal universities. At the same time, these ratios

also need to reflect the intensity of the programme

(→ Demand for part-

time programmes, page 212).

219 Personnel

resources for teaching per 100 students,

2014 and 2021

Academic teaching staff (incl. advanced further education and training) in FTE

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

2014

2021

2014

2021

2014

2021

2014

2021

ETH

Professor or lecturer WMR

cant. UNI

Other lecturers

UAS

Research assistants

UTE

Total

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WMR With management responsibility

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201

Because, compared to conventional universities, general tertiary institutes

are less research-oriented, they also require fewer assistants and research

assistants. In addition, universities of applied sciences and universities of

teacher education are not in a position to award doctoral degrees to their

graduates. For this they need to work with universities in Switzerland

and abroad

(→ chapter Universities of applied sciences, page 255).

Many

universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher education have

now adopted this strategy. Such cooperation models raise questions when

it comes to supervising doctoral students, integrating candidates into the

international research network of peers in the subject area, and assuring

the quality of the work.

Finally, the types of universities also differ in terms of academic staff ’s

qualifications

(SCCRE, 2018),

level of employment, and origin. Lecturers

with management functions at general tertiary institutes tend to be fre-

quently in part-time positions with smaller workloads than professors at

conventional universities

(→ figure 220)

. On the other hand, other lectur-

ers at conventional universities often have very small workloads, whereas

40% of lecturers at universities of applied sciences are in full-time or larger

part-time position

(Böckelmann et al., 2021).

220 Employment

of academic staff by category and university type,

2021

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Professors

UNI

Other lecturers

Research assistants

Lecturers WMR

UAS

Other lecturers

Research assistants

Lecturers WMR

UTE

Other lecturers

Research assistants

Less than 50%

20%

40%

50% to 89%

60%

80%

100%

FT (90% and more)

WMR With management responsibility

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202

Tertiary-level education

221 Proportion

of international

students by destination country,

2014–2020

Proportion of international students as a

percentage of total students per country

Data: OECD

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

2014

2016

2018

2020

Switzerland

Australia

New Zealand

Germany

Canada

United Kingdom

USA

The ratio of foreigners among both academic staff as well as among students

is often used as an indicator of the attractiveness of a research centre. In

this respect, the Swiss higher education sector appears highly attractive.

At the same time, a high proportion of international students compared to

other countries does not necessarily indicate research excellence because

countries can recommend themselves as educational centres for interna-

tionally mobile students through their admission requirements, special

programmes (especially the language of instruction), and tuition fees. In

recent years, the rate of international students in Switzerland has remained

constant at 17 %. Australia and New Zealand have a higher proportion of

international students, which has declined markedly due to the COVID-19

pandemic and the associated strict restrictions on entry

(→ figure 221)

Switzerland differs: There was no decline in numbers in 2020

(FSO, 2022n).

Competitiveness is crucial for the reputation of a tertiary education

centre, which also means recruiting the best academic talent. Swiss uni-

versities in the past were quite successful in recruiting highly qualified

foreign academics for teaching and research. According to empirical stud-

ies, the high degree of internationalisation among research staff also has a

positive effect on research results

(Seeber & Lepori, 2014).

However, Swit-

zerland’s participation in the “Horizon Europe” and “Horizon 2020” pro-

grammes of the EU’s Framework Programmes for Research and Innova-

tion has currently been suspended, thus creating significant uncertainty for

all researchers in Switzerland with respect to funding and cooperation in

research. This might hinder the position of Swiss universities when com-

peting for foreign academic staff.

222 Academic

staff: Proportion of foreigners, 2014 and 2021

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Professors

UNI

Other lecturers

Research assistants

Lecturers WMR

UAS

Other lecturers

Research assistants

Lecturers WMR

UTE

Other lecturers

Research assistants

10%

2014

20%

30%

2021

40%

50%

60%

WMR With management responsibility

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Tertiary-level education

203

The range of profiles of university types (especially in terms of orientation

and research intensity) also reflect nationality profiles in university typ es.

While more than half of professors and assistants at conventional universi-

ties are now foreign nationals

(→ figure 222)

, the proportion of foreign staff

at universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher education is

significantly lower, although growing quickly.

Funding of the universities

The Universities are financed from a range of sources by the federal gov-

ernment, cantons, and private funds. While the sources of such funding

potentially increase resources, they also make it difficult to manage the

system of universities in a uniform manner.

Except in the case of the federal institutes of technology, universities

are in the remit of the cantons, which also bear the main burden of funding,

with a share of over 50%. The federal institutes of technology, on the other

hand, are funded by the federal government through lump-sum contribu-

tions. As in the case of cantonal universities, basic financing of universi-

ties of applied sciences and universities of teacher education is provided by

the cantons. In addition, there are inter-cantonal university contributions,

and the universities of applied sciences and the conventional universities

receive basic contributions from the federal government.

The federal government contributes to the operating expenses of the

two types of universities mentioned. At the request of the Federal Coun-

cil, the Swiss parliament approves the basic contribution amount for four-

year periods. Reference costs, which are based on the average cost per per-

son and subject, serve as a basis for the assessment. The federal government

covers 20% of these costs for conventional universities and 30% of these

costs for universities of applied sciences. The total of the basic contribu-

tions is allocated per university type, whereby different ratios apply when

allocating amounts for teaching and research. Funds for conventional uni-

versities are distributed as follows: 70% for teaching and 30% for research.

For universities of applied sciences, the teaching share is 85% and the

research share is 15% of the total (Art. 7 of the HEdA Ordinance). The dis-

tribution of funds among the universities relies on performance-based

assessment criteria, whereby the different university profiles are consid-

ered. This makes it possible to establish benchmarks for comparing the

performance of universities within the same type. Assessment of fund-

ing based on performance in teaching draws on data such as the number of

students and the degrees awarded. Moreover, the federal government pro-

vides funding by means of construction grants and project-specific grants.

The latter are used to promote joint projects among universities that are

significant for all of Switzerland.

The cantons’ contributions are assessed per capita: Based on the Inter-

cantonal University Agreement (IUA)

(EDK, 2019b)

and the Intercantonal

Agreement on Universities of Applied Sciences (ICA-UAS)

(EDK, 2003),

the cantons pay fixed per capita contributions for residents who study at a

university outside their canton of origin. Financing in the university sec-

tor based on the principle of demand-oriented basic funding of universi-

ties – measured by student numbers – tends to create incentives to expand

the number of courses offered. This applies in particular to universities

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Tertiary-level education

223 Funding

of universities

by source, 2020

Proportion of operating revenue by source

Data: FSO

ETH

Cant. UNI

UAS

UTE

25%

50%

75%

100%

Federal government

Cantons

Private persons

of applied sciences, also because they have a higher cost ratio for teaching

compared to conventional universities

(Lepori et al., 2014).

The higher education sector (including research) takes around one

third of the public spending on education. Of the almost CHF 12 billion

in expenditure on higher education in 2020, the federal government

(including the Swiss National Science Foundation) and cantons contrib-

uted around 40% each. The remainder comes from private sources (tui-

tion fees, private research commissions, grants from foundations and

sponsoring). Of the federal government’s share, over half went to the two

federal institutes of technology

(→ figure 223)

, covering 89% of their total

expenses. On average, the universities of teacher education have a simi-

larly large share from one source of funding, with the cantons covering

83% of their expenses.

Total expenditure in the tertiary sector in Switzerland is relatively high

in absolute terms. When seen in relation to GDP, the 1.3% is in line with

that of industrialised countries

(→ figure 224)

. Making such a compari-

son, however, must consider the fact that some countries have more sig-

nificant higher-education rates, resulting in higher GDP shares. The ratio

of total expenditure to GDP is therefore of only limited use in country

comparisons.

224 Total

expenditure in tertiary education, relative to GDP, 2018

Data: OECD; calculations: SCCRE

Norway

Denmark

Sweden

Netherlands

Austria

New Zealand

Finland

Belgium

Switzerland

Germany

USA

France

OECD average

Australia

Poland

Spain

Korea

Portugal

Italy

0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

2.0%

2.5%

3.0%

Proportion of expenditure on GDP

Tertiary sector (excluding R&D)

Research and development

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205

The ratio of teaching expenditure to R&D expenditure is a more meaning-

ful comparison. Here, Switzerland stands out for its above-average research

intensity. It spends 48% of its total tertiary expenditures on research and

development. While the OECD average is 25%, Germany and countries

such as Sweden and Finland have a share of between 36% and 37 %.

Scholarships

In Switzerland, tertiary-level education is largely government funded,

but studying also incurs high private costs, which could be a disincentive

for households with modest budgets. Individuals who receive little or no

financial support from their families may be more likely to work while

enrolled at a university

(FSO, 2021j),

which could prolong their studies and

lower their performance due to the additional burden.

To counteract such effects, most countries provide scholarships and

student loans. Internationally, evidence largely suggests that scholar-

ships and other financial support help to positively influence the study

decisions of individuals with more modest budgets

(de Gendre & Kabátek,

2021; Martini et al., 2021; Nguyen et al., 2019).

Furthermore, it has been

shown that financial aid can shorten the duration of studies and reduce

the drop-out risk

(Bettinger et al., 2019; Denning, 2019; Graziosi et al., 2021;

Nguyen et al., 2019).

International comparisons with Switzerland are only

of limited use, because such studies consider systems that differ greatly

from the situation here, for example with regard to tuition fees borne by

the private sector or in terms of university admission procedures. Such

issues have not yet been addressed in the case of Switzerland. However,

survey results indicate that scholarship recipients work less often or for

fewer hours, which potentially leaves them with more time for their stud-

ies

(FSO, 2021j).

One explanation for the lower employment is that the

scholarships may be reduced or partially converted into loans if a person’s

income is too high. Of those who dropped out of their programmes, 12%

of mentioned financial problems as a reason but only 4% mentioned rejec-

tion of a scholarship application as a reason

(ibid.).

The average of scholarships for tertiary level students in 2020 was just

under CHF 9,000 per year

(FSO, 2022i).

In the years when the Concor-

dat was introduced, scholarship contributions increased slightly while the

number of recipients decreased

(→ figure 225)

. Since 2016, however, both

the amount of scholarship contributions and the number of recipients have

been largely stable. With the increase in student numbers, the scholarship

ratio, which has already had a downward trend for some time, continued

to decrease in recent years for students at universities and in professional

education institutions. Overall, the scholarship rate has almost halved

since 2004: Currently, 8 to 9% of university students and approx. 2.5% of

students in professional education institutions receive scholarships. The

reasons for the marked decrease are unknown. However, survey results

show that the proportion of students who submitted a scholarship applica-

tions dropped significantly from 37 to 27 % between 2005 and 2020, while

the rejection rate decreased at the same time

(FSO, 2021j).

The ratio of

rejection rate to number of students who submitted a request has remained

virtually unchanged. The absence of statistics on the income and financial

circumstances of (potential) students and their parents, combined with

The

Covid 19 pandemic

caused

some students to lose their jobs and

face financial hardship

(FSO, 2022e).

In response, several universities

provided funding to support students

in the short term.

Cantons are responsible for

award-

ing scholarships.

They decide who

is eligible for a scholarship based on

the law that governs how scholarships

are granted. Since 2013, a Concordat

has also been in force to determine

the rules and minimum standards for

awarding training contributions. Can-

tons that do not meet the Concordat’s

provisions for the tertiary level are not

entitled to federal contributions. So far,

22 cantons have joined the Concordat

(as of August 2022). The Concordat

prescribes only minimum standards,

and the rate at which scholarships are

awarded and the amount in contribu-

tions still vary greatly among cantons

(FSO, 2022i).

Many cantons now have

scholarship

calculators

on their websites that can

be used to estimate the chances of

getting a scholarship. This could be a

reason for the decline in the relative

frequency of scholarship applications.

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Tertiary-level education

the limited transparency regarding the criteria for awarding scholarships,

make it impossible to determine the reasons for the significant decline in

the scholarship rate.

225 Trend

in scholarship contributions, scholarship rate

and number of tertiary-level recipients, 2004–2020

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Scholarship rate

Proportion of students who receive scholar-

ships in relation to all students who are Swiss

residents before commencing their studies

and/or Swiss nationals

120

Index value (2004 = 100)

100

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

Average scholarship per recipient

Scholarship rate UNI

Scholarship rate PE

No. of recipients

Scholarship rate UAS/UTE

226 Proportion

of students with

debts from their studies, 2020

Data: FSO (SSEE); calculations: SCCRE

10%

15%

More than CHF 20,000

CHF 5,001–10,000

CHF 10,001–20,000

Up to CHF 5,000

Students can take out a loan if they have insufficient financial means to

cover their school fees and living expenses or do not receive any or only

an insufficient scholarship. Unlike scholarships, these must be repaid

with interest on completion of the programme. In Switzerland, however,

students rarely take out loans. On average, roughly only one in ten stu-

dents reports having debts in connection with studying. Most loans are

granted by public-sector institutions; in rare cases they are granted by the

university, a private organisation (foundation) or an employer. The propor-

tion of students with loans is somewhat lower at the BA level than at the

MA level

(→ figure 226)

. Moreover, only 1% of BA and 3% of MA students

have debts of more than CHF 20,000. The problem of students going into

debt because of their studies is much less prevalent in Switzerland than in

countries such as the USA, where around two-thirds of graduates with a

BA degree have loans averaging USD 30,000

(Thomsen et al., 2020).

Admissions to universities and professional education

Access to tertiary education requires an upper-secondary qualification,

whereby entry to university education additionally requires a baccalaure-

ate or equivalent prior qualification (cf. HEdA). For conventional univer-

sities, the primary admission route is the baccalaureate; for universities of

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Tertiary-level education

207

teacher education, it is the baccalaureate or specialist baccalaureate (with a

pedagogical focus); and for universities of applied sciences, it is the federal

vocational and specialised baccalaureate (in combination with an appren-

ticeship or occupational field in the subject area). In addition to these

admission routes, however, there are also other options, which ensures

that students can switch among programme typ es. Alternative admis-

sion types usually require an additional prior qualification. For example,

admission to a conventional university requires the applicant with a fed-

eral vocational or specialised baccalaureate to pass an additional “federal

vocational baccalaureate – conventional university” or “specialised bacca-

laureate – conventional university” exam (university aptitude test), while

admission to a university of applied sciences with a baccalaureate gener-

ally requires one year of work experience (cf. UAS Admission Ordinance

The rate of baccalaureate students who transferred to a university of the

various types confirms the status quo

(→ figure 227)

. The overall transfer

rate is highest among baccalaureate students (93% up to two years after

graduation) and lowest among holders of a federal vocational baccalaure-

ate (68%). Of those with a federal VET diploma who have not started in

a federal vocational baccalaureate programme, only 11% transfer to a pro-

fessional education programme in the first two years. The very low trans-

fer rate is because professional education qualifications based on federal

examinations are generally possible only after the person has several years

of professional experience

(→ chapter Vocational education and training,

page 125).

227 Transfer

to universities and professional education

Transfers of graduates in 2018 up to two years after completion of upper secondary level; transfer rates of less than 3% are not shown.

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Universities

Fachhochschulen

of applied sciences

Universities

of teacher education

Professional education (PE)

Colleges

of higher education

(Advanced) Federal diploma

of higher education

examinations, non-regulated PE

Universities

77%

58%

48%

30%

10%

14%

10%

Specalised school

certiﬁcates*

Baccalaureates

N = 18 800

Federal vocational

baccalaureates

N = 14 218

Specialised

baccalaureate

N = 2843

Federal VET diplomas*

* Federal VET diplomas and specialised school certificates include only persons without a baccalaureate.

Verordnung des Hochschulrates über die Zulassung zu den Fachhochschulen und den Fach-

hochschulinstituten (Zulassungsverordnung FH)

of 20 May 2021.

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208

Tertiary-level education

A look at BA students entering the programme in continuation of their

previous schooling

(→ figure 228)

confirms that baccalaureate schools

are the main feeder for conventional universities and that federal voca-

tional baccalaureate schools are the main feeder for universities of applied

sciences, whereas the student body of universities of teacher education is

derived from a mix of prior educational institutions.

228 Breakdown

of BA students by university type, 2021

Students starting at a university of the respective type for the first time

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

UNI students

UAS students

UTE students

Baccalaureate

Federal vocational baccalaureate

UNI studies without degree

Foreign qualification

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

University aptitude test

Specialised baccalaureate

Other Swiss qualification

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Tertiary-level education

209

Competencies and choice of tertiary education type

The various tertiary education types require a range of prior skills and

knowledge. It can therefore be expected that the choice of tertiary educa-

tion type also depends on individual competencies. Findings from Can-

ton Aargau show that baccalaureate students with stronger final grades

transfer more frequently to a conventional university and less frequently

to a university of applied sciences or a university of teacher education than

those with weaker final grades

(Diem, 2021).

However, no standardised

data on competencies at the end of the upper-secondary level is available at

the national level. The competencies students have gained on completion

of their compulsory schooling nevertheless give some indication of the

connection between their skills and the programme they choose. Assum-

ing that it also predicts well the differences in competencies on comple-

tion of an upper-secondary qualification

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools,

page 155),

such information helps when analysing decisions on how stu-

dents choose a tertiary programme.

Compared to the overall population, those who started to study at a

university already have above-average reading and mathematical skills that

they acquired during their compulsory schooling

(→ figure 229)

, which can

largely be explained by selection into baccalaureate schools. Young people

who opt for the professional education track tend to have grades at the end

of compulsory schooling that are below the (gender-specific) average of

the general population. Systematic differences are also evident among the

university types: Students at conventional universities have significantly

higher competencies than those that enter a university of applied sciences

or a university of teacher education. The following competencies ranking

therefore applies: 1) conventional universities, 2) universities of applied

sciences and universities of teacher education, and 3) professional educa-

tion; this reflects both genders.

229 PISA

score by education type

Deviations in PISA reading and mathematics

scores from the (gender-specific) average

by education type

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

100

PISA points in maths

UNI

UAS

Other

-50

CollHE

UTE

-50

100

PISA points in reading

Women

Men

Both genders

legend

The points shown indicate the difference

between the PISA points of the respective

group (e.g. men at conventional universities)

and the gender-specific average (based on

the national sample, PISA 2012). The latter is

526 points in reading and 524 points in math-

ematics for women, and 490 points in reading

and 540 points in mathematics for men.

No gender-specific indication is possible for

UTE graduates due to the small sample size.

Transfers and accessibility among university types

The modularisation of courses under the Bologna system was intended

to make it easier for students to switch among universities and university

typ es. This proves to be especially useful to those looking to switch from

a BA to an MA programme. Transfer to a different university type is pos-

sible within a specialised field, in which case the student must complete

a maximum of 60 additional credits

(CRUS et al., 2010).

In the case of BA

degrees, universities can also set minimum quality standards for curricula

and content and specify minimum grades that students must have obtained

while at another university type. Within one university type, all BA grad-

uates can start in the subsequent MA programme in the corresponding

field without having to meet additional requirements.

For admission to

specialised MA programmes, on the other hand, universities can define

additional knowledge and skills as prerequisite.

The

Bologna system

structures

university education into three cycles:

cycle: BA

cycle: MA

cycle: Doctorate (PhD)

Previously legally valid university

qualifications at the

Lizenziat

and

Diplom

levels correspond to the sec-

ond cycle. Only conventional univer-

sities can confer doctoral degrees.

However, cooperative arrangements

in the form of jointly-run doctoral

programmes exist between universi-

ties of applied sciences or universities

of teacher education and conventional

Verordnung des Hochschulrates über die Koordination der Lehre an den Schweizer Hochschulen

of 29 november 2019.

universities

(→ chapter Universities of

applied sciences, page 255).

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Tertiary-level education

The proportion of BA graduates who continue with MA studies at a differ-

ent university type is nevertheless small

(→ figure 230)

. Likewise, students

rarely use the option of switching from one university to another of the

same type.

230 Rate

of transfer to MA level

Up to two years after completing the BA degree, 2019

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Transfer to an MA programme after

a BA degree from a uTe

Unlike in the case of teacher training for the

pre-school and primary levels, students looking

to become lower secondary level teachers

must complete an MA programme to obtain

a teaching license. BA graduates in the lower

secondary field usually switch to an MA pro-

gramme by an university of the same type.

MA at

same UNI

another UNI

MA at UAS

MA at UTE

71%

13%

<1%

BA at UNI (86%)

17%

16%

BA at UAS (21%)

<1%

BA at UTE (19%)

International mobility

231 Mobility

rates by education

type and level

Graduates in 2018; survey one year after

graduation

Data: FSO (EHA, eHBB); calculations: SCCRE

UNI

CollHE

FDHE

aFDHE

10%

20%

30%

Mobility studies

Mobility studies and internship

Mobility internship

CollHE

FDHE

aFDHE

Bachelor

Master

College of higher education

Federal diploma of HE examinations

Advanced federal diploma of

HE examinations

The federal government’s international cooperation activities include

measures to promote international cooperation in education as a way of

developing the quality and competitiveness of institutions as well as the

competencies of individuals. Such activities also include support for inter-

national mobility of students and academic staff. The EU’s education pro-

grammes, such as Erasmus+, are particularly important for Switzerland

due to its close economic and cultural ties with Europe. In 2014, however,

Switzerland lost its affiliation with the current Erasmus+ programmes

and now can participate in them only with third-country status. Since

then, student mobility has been promoted as part of the Swiss-European

Mobility Programme (SEMP), an interim solution for funding outbound

and inbound mobility

directly. However, universities now must negotiate

bilateral agreements with each foreign university, which is not always pos-

sible. In contrast to full affiliation, strategic partnerships and cooperation

projects as well as political participation also remain significantly reduced

or in some cases impossible altogether. As of 2022, however, Switzerland

will participate as an associate member in the “European Universities”

initiative, which promotes cross-border cooperation projects in teaching,

research, innovation and services.

A look at the mobility rates shows that, depending on the type of uni-

versity and level, between 11% and 27 % of students at a university complete

a semester or an internship abroad (pure programme mobility: 7–18%)

(→ figure 231)

. In contrast, international mobility is not widespread among

4 Outbound mobility: Swiss students studying abroad; inbound mobility: Foreign students

studying at a Swiss university.

UTE

UAS

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Tertiary-level education

211

graduate of professional education. This can be explained by the fact that

practically no comparable training programmes exist abroad. On the other

hand, many training programmes count as non-formal further education

and training for which there are no mandatory preparatory courses. Com-

parisons with other European countries suggest that the overall mobility

rate in Switzerland is similar to the average of the 28 EU countries

(Euro-

pean Commission et al., 2020a).

A look at the trend in mobility rates in recent years clearly shows that

the COVID-19 pandemic has caused student mobility to decline sharply

(→ figure 232)

. Compared to the academic year 2018 – 2019, outbound stu-

dent mobility under the interim SEMP or Erasmus programme dropped

by 38% and inbound student mobility by 14%

(Movetia, 2021).

During the

2020 spring semester when the pandemic first reached Europe, the num-

ber of programme participants had hardly decreased. Most students con-

tinued their planned stay abroad in a virtual format, often without being

physically present on a foreign campus. The big drop in numbers occurred

only in the autumn semester of 2020. The sharp decline in mobility clearly

indicates that being physically abroad is important to students and that

only a few will use purely virtual mobility as an alternative.

Students who go abroad to study can broaden their personal horizons,

develop their language skill and learn about other cultures

(Zimmermann

et al., 2021).

This raises the question about the extent to which study-

abroad stays influence students’ later success in the job market. This ques-

tion is hard to answer, as mobile individuals differ from those who are

not in many ways that are important for success in the job market. Some

recent studies that take these differences into account indicate a positive

effect on the chances of finding a job

(d’Hombres & Schnepf, 2021; Petzold,

2021),

while others have identified no significant effect

(Van Mol et al., 2021;

Wiers-Jenssen & Støren, 2021).

The findings are also mixed in terms of the

influence of study-abroad stays on wages

(Netz & Grüttner, 2021; Van Mol

et al., 2021).

As with other questions, it is difficult to apply the findings

of such studies to other countries due to differences in labour markets –

namely in terms of internationality and thus the significance of interna-

tional experience as a success factor for prevailing in the labour market.

However, when measured by the strong internationalisation of the Swiss

labour market, the value of experience gained abroad would tend to be high

for Swiss students.

232 Annual

Erasmus and SEMP

mobility rates, 2017–2020

Only BA and MA students

Data: Movetia, FSO (SHIS);

calculations: SCCRE

2.0%

1.5%

1.0%

0.5%

0.0%

2020/21

2019/20

2020/21

2018/19

2017/18

Outbound

Mobility studies, regular

Inbound

Mobility studies, blended/virtual

Mobility studies, discontinued

Mobility internship, regular

Mobility internship, blended/virtual

Mobility internship, discontinued

The

“blended/virtual” category

includes

partially or fully virtual forms of mobility

(i.e. from home without physical presence).

In the academic year 2019 – 2020, this also

included forms of mobility where courses

were switched to online.

Outbound mobility

Proportion of students who completed an

Erasmus or SEMP semester outside of

Switzerland in the respective academic year,

compared to all students at Swiss universities

Inbound mobility

Proportion of foreign students who complet-

ed an Erasmus or SEMP semester at a Swiss

university in the respective academic year,

compared to all students at Swiss universities

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212

Tertiary-level education

Demand for part-time programmes

Three quarters of students are gainfully employed during their studies,

with over half of them working more than 20% of a standard full-time

work week

(FSO, 2021j).

On average, students spend around 35 hours per

week on studies, ten hours on their job, and six hours doing household and

family work.

The significant time commitment for holding down a job and doing

household and family work indicates a need among students for pro-

grammes which are either part-time or afford some flexibility in the sched-

ule. Some universities, namely universities of applied sciences and univer-

sities of teacher education, explicitly offer part-time programmes. Other

universities do not offer separate programmes for part-time students but

allow them to manage their studies flexibly to some extent. A third group

requires students to attend all classes in person due to highly structured

nature of the programme.

The proportion of students who mentioned that they are studying

part-time reveals substantial differences among university types and levels

(→ figure 233)

. Around three times as many students study part-time at uni-

versities of applied sciences than at conventional universities. However,

this does not conclusively mean that programme intensity at conventional

universities is higher than at universities of applied sciences because it can

be assumed that by no means all those who claimed not to be part-timers

are in fact carrying a full-time workload from the programme (60 ECTS

credits per year). Part-time students are significantly more common at the

MA level than at the BA level. This can be explained by MA programmes

being less structured and MA students already having a qualification that

gives them easier access to a job within their field. However, there is a strik-

ingly high proportion of part-time MA students at universities of teacher

education, mainly in the programme for teaching at the lower second-

ary level. In this programme, the MA degree is considered the standard,

whereas the BA degree – unlike in the case of teacher training at primary

level or of most degree programmes at universities of applied sciences –

does not yet count as a sufficient qualification. The fact that most MA stu-

dents nevertheless are gainfully employed can probably be explained by

the severe shortage of teachers. There is no information about how employ-

ment during studies affects the graduation rate, the duration of studies, or

the quality of the degree. Theoretically, there are likely to be both positive

and negative effects.

233 Proportion

of part-time

students, 2020

Based on students’ statements

Data: FSO (SSEE); calculations: SCCRE

80%

60%

40%

20%

UNI

UAS

UTE

The proportions refer to the period before

the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Tertiary-level education

213

labour market opportunities

Over the past 20 years, the employment rate of graduates with a tertiary

qualification one year after graduation has ranged between 83 and 97 %,

depending on the degree type and the economic situation

(→ figure 234)

From 2007 to 2019, the employment rate was very stable, while in 2021

the rate increased sharply. This is mainly due to the new entry and defini-

tion of gainful employment

(

→

Margin text, pagina 213).

The COVID-

19 pandemic may also have had a positive effect on the employment rate

due to the additional need for temporary workers and restrictions on travel

abroad. At any rate, analyses of data on graduates five years after comple-

tion of the programme indicate a higher labour force participation in 2021

(FSO, 2022b).

Graduates of universities of teacher education and professional edu-

cation institutions have the highest employment rates. The lowest rate

is among graduates from conventional universities. One explanation for

the higher employment rate among graduates from universities of applied

sciences compared to graduates from conventional universities is the like-

lihood that the degree programmes at universities of applied sciences

prepare students for a specific profession. On the other hand, many grad-

uates from universities of applied sciences have basic vocational educa-

tion training and thus, on average, more professional experience, making

it easier for them to enter the labour market

(Oswald-Egg & Renold, 2021).

The

employment rate of university graduates

for 1981–2019

is derived from the share of

those who answered “yes” to the question

about being employed, measured against the

total number of graduates. Participants in a

Regional Employment Centre (RAV) programme

do not count as employed persons.

The

employment rate for 2021

differs from

the above definition. Based on changes in

the questionnaire, from 2021 onwards the

definition of “employed” includes all those who

during the reference week worked at least one

hour for pay, worked without pay in a family

business, or had a job even though they were

absent at that time. For graduates of profes-

sional education programmes, this definition

applies already from 2017.

234 Employment

rate of tertiary degree-holders, 1981–2021

UNI: only graduates of the second cycle (licentiate, diploma, MA); UAS/UTE: graduates of the first cycle (BA, diploma), provided they have not started

an MA at the time of the of survey, as well as graduates of the second cycle; grey bars: years with negative economic growth; year 2021: revision of the

survey questions / redefinition of “employment rate”

Data: FSO (EHA, eHBB), SECO; calculations: SCCRE

100%

95%

90%

85%

80%

75%

1981

1983

1985

1987

1989

1991

1993

UNI

1995

1997

1999

UAS

2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

UTE

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

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214

Tertiary-level education

Success in the labour market, however, depends not only on whether some-

one is merely employed but also on whether the job fits with his or her edu-

cation and training. A look at the proportion of inadequately employed

persons one year after graduation

(→ figure 235)

indicates that this varies

greatly by programme type. It ranges between 1% (UTE teaching diplomas)

and 10% (Federal Diploma of Higher Education). In contrast to the employ-

ment rate indicator, graduates from conventional universities do compar-

atively well here. They are less likely to be inadequately employed than

graduates from professional education programmes and from universities

of applied sciences. The inadequacy rate is by far lowest among UTE grad-

uates, which can be explained firstly by their programmes relating specif-

ically to the profession, secondly by the strong demand for teachers, and

thirdly because they actually enter the teaching profession. We can only

speculate why graduates from professional education (namely those with

a diploma from a college of higher education and with a federal diploma

of higher education) and from universities of applied sciences tend to do

worse. One explanation could be that such students more often continue

in their original occupation despite having a higher level of education – at

least for a certain period. However, students’ socio-demographic composi-

tion, canton of residence, subject area, time when starting to work, as well

as the number of job vacancies do not explain the differences

(FSO, 2022g).

A look at opportunities in the labour market five years after graduation

indicates that differences in employment and unemployment rates among

university types, as well as the various ratios of those who are inadequately

employed when entering the labour market, continue even four years later

(FSO, 2020h).

235 Proportions

of inadequately employed graduates by degree

type, 2019

Data:

FSO (2022g)

A person is considered to be

inadequately

employed

if his or her position a) does not

require a university degree (or a tertiary degree

in the case of graduates of professional

education) or b) does not properly match the

professional skills acquired during university

education (Level 1 or 2 on a scale from

1 “not at all” to 5 “to a high degree”).

Teaching degrees from UTE

MA from UNI

aFDHE of aFDHE examintations

aFDHE from a college of HE

BA from UAS

Federal diploma of HE

10%

12%

aFDHE

Bachelor

Master

Advanced federal diploma of HE

Higher education

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Tertiary-level education

215

A look at earned income makes it clear that wages vary greatly by sub-

ject area

(→ figure 236)

. Income differences among subject areas are signif-

icantly larger than those among university typ es. Extrapolated to a full-

time position, university graduates earn on average between CHF 58,000

and CHF 87,000 per year (median values) one year after graduation. In the

subsequent four years, average income rises to between CHF 70,000 and

CHF 110,000.

Holders of a teaching qualification have above-average salaries one year

after graduation and average salaries five years after graduation. Among

graduates from universities of applied sciences, the highest wages are

found in the engineering and IT sectors, as well as in business and services.

The lowest incomes are in the design, arts and health sectors. For graduates

from conventional universities, the highest salaries are in medicine and

pharmacy, economics, and law (five years after graduation). The low start-

ing salary or the strong increase in income during the first years of profes-

sional life in the field of law can be explained by the mandatory internship

for prospective lawyers. In the humanities and social sciences, as well as in

the exact and natural sciences, starting salaries are below average.

Starting salaries

also reflect the eco-

nomic situation

(Shvartsman, 2018).

Unfavourable economic conditions at

the time of labour market entry have

a negative effect on wages one year

after graduation. Income disadvantage

even out partially over time; however,

five years after graduation, wages are

still lower.

236 Differences

in income by subject area and university

type, 2021

Deviation in gross earned income from the average of all graduates; average earned income

estimated using quantile regressions for full-time employment and same age; UNI: only MA

degrees; UAS/UTE: BA degrees among those who have not started a MA, and MA degrees

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

The

median income

one year after graduation

(at age 27) is CHF 77,000; five years after

graduation (at age 31) it is CHF 92,000.

Exact and natural sciences

Technical sciences

UNI

Humanities and social sciences

Law

Medicine and pharmacy

Economics

Design

Health

Music, theatre and other arts

UAS

Social work

Architecture, construction and planning

Chemistry and life sciences

Engineering and IT

Business, management and services

UTE

Teacher training

-30,000 -20,000

-10,000

10,000

20,000

Difference from median income in CHF

1 year after graduation

5 years after graduation

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216

Tertiary-level education

Research on conventional universities has shown that an internship during

studies leads to higher wages after graduation

(Bolli et al., 2021).

In addition,

completing vocational training before studying also has a positive effect on

entry-level salaries

(Oswald-Egg & Renold, 2021),

although no systematic

differences can be found five years after graduation. MA graduates gener-

ally earn higher wages than BA graduates, and holders of a PhD earn more

than those with an MA degree

(Glauser et al., 2019b; Zölitz & Zweimüller,

2021).

Differences among the levels are also evident in terms of socio-eco-

nomic status

(Glauser et al., 2019a).

Digital skills

The federal government has made digitalisation in the university sector an

important priority. The measures laid out in the “Digitalisation Action Plan”

will be continued in the initiative concerning the Promotion of Education,

Research and Innovation (ERI) for the period 2021–2024

(SERI, 2020a).

particular, this involves the promotion of applied skills in university teach-

ing. The Rectors’ Conference of the Swiss Universities (swissuniversities)

has identified digitalisation as a priority and defined various measures. The

priority is on training specialists in information and communication tech-

nology and strengthening the digital skills of academic staff and students.

For example, universities should aim to use digitalisation to improve teach-

ing and make it more flexible and personalised. Challenges to be addressed

include redesigning curricula, developing new forms of learning and teach-

ing, making organisational adjustments, and devising new ways of teach-

ing digital skills

(swissuniversities, 2018).

Project-linked contributions

(PLC) were granted for this purpose

(SERI, 2017),

namely PLC Project P-8

“Digital Skills”, with a budget of CHF 30 million for 2019–2024, and PLC

Project P-5 “Research Information”. The latter aims to promote coordina-

tion among universities with a view to improving the range of scientific

content

(swissuniversities, 2020b).

The data on graduates can be used to gauge how those who completed

their studies assess their digital skills. Because the assessment takes place

within one year after graduation, and respondents are likely to know the

requirements of the current occupation well and are unlikely to overesti-

mate their skills. A comparison of the skills a job requires with those that

the job holder has acquired indicates that there is good match: Job hold-

ers who require highly developed skills in a particular field will acquire

them largely during training. The major exception is skills relating to data

protection and security, for which on-the-job requirements are seen to be

significantly more stringent than what was taught during training. In addi-

tion, the way that graduates choose their job and the selection procedures

employers use to fill positions tend to ensure that acquired and required

skills are reasonably in line

(→ figure 237)

237 Digital

skills acquired during

training and required by the job,

2021

Graduates’ evaluation of how well digital skills

they acquired during training match with those

the job requires

FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

Acquired during education and

training

Required by the job

The Survey of Higher Education Graduates

(FSO) identified the following six items in how

digital skills are operationalised:

Skills in data protection and data security

Ability to create and edit digital content

Ability to evaluate the relevance and qual-

ity of digital information and data

Ability to collaborate using digital

technologies

Programming skills

Ability to use digital technologies in new

ways

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Tertiary-level education

217

The comparison between the subject areas uses estimated values that

include age and gender as well as all factors that significantly affect how

skills can be evaluated

(→ figure 238)

. In subject areas where the digital

skills acquired during training are rated as rather low, the job requirements

are also rated low in this regard. Skills gaps would therefore be a problem

only if much higher digital skills are suddenly needed in a field that had

previously been less digitised.

238 Digital

skills acquired during

training

Evaluation of skills acquired during training in

the context of applied digital technologies

Data: FSO (EHA 2021); calculations: SCCRE

UAS technology

UNI technology

UNI NS

UAS business

UNI business

UTE

UAS health

UNI HSS

UAS HSS

UNI medicine

UAS art

UNI law

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

International comparison of education quality

Comparing the quality of tertiary education internationally raises the ques-

tion of which standards should or can be used. Here, university rankings

are the best option, in the absence of better alternatives. Yet using them

also raises questions about their value for gauging quality: For example,

they do not sufficiently consider different academic cultures, and the com-

parisons depend heavily on achievements in research and less so on results

in teaching. However, university rankings attract a great deal of attention,

not least among employers. Moreover, academic research shows that these

rankings help students to choose a university

(Koenings et al., 2020).

Rank-

ings therefore play an important role and can serve as proxy for the quality

of the education a particular institution provides.

To enable comparisons among countries, the following section exam-

ines the proportion of students who attended one of the world’s top 200

universities in their country, based on Shanghai Ranking

(→ figure 239)

For this indicator, however, a country’s place depends not only on the

measured quality or output of its tertiary education system but also on

the design of the tertiary programmes. For example, incorporating low-

er-rated universities or subject areas (such as teacher education) into a uni-

versity that is high on the list will tend to raise the percentage of students

at a top-200 university. At the same time, the reverse has also occurred

in many cases: Universities have divided themselves up so that the part

with strong research capabilities of the former whole institution pushes

them up in the ranking. Even though “proportion of students at a top uni-

versity” as an indicator only roughly captures the quality or effectiveness

of the tertiary education system, this evaluation method does put Swit-

zerland in a leading position

(→ figure 239)

. Roughly a quarter of students

attend one of the top-200 universities here, while in the country with the

highest number of best-ranked universities (USA) this only applies to just

under ten percent of students.

Estimated values by controlling for age and

gender

Dimension: Average of 4 items (scale 1–5):

Create digital content, evaluate the relevance

and quality of digital information, collaborate

using digital technologies, use digital techno-

logies in new ways

UNI

UAS

UTE

Students with MA

Students with BA

Students with degree

239 Proportion

of students

at a top-200 university, 2021

Based on Shanghai Ranking 2021

Data: UNESCO, SCCRE web research;

calculations: SCCRE

Germany

Italy

Norway

USA

Israel

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Australia

France

Netherlands

Canada

Switzerland

Sweden

10%

20%

30%

To more accurately reflect the structures of the

tertiary education sector, the comparison uses

only ISCED Level 6 (BA or equivalent).

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218

Tertiary-level education

With the

evaluation criteria

used

commonly for university rankings, only

conventional universities in Switzer-

land have a chance of making it on

to the list of the top 200 universities.

In the three most popular rankings –

Shanghai Ranking (Academic Ranking

of World Universities), Times Higher

Education World University Ranking

and QS World University Ranking –

seven Swiss universities came in

among the top 200 in each of the last

five years (2017–2022). These seven

universities serve almost 80% of

Switzerland’s university students.

The fact that the proportion of

students at a top-200 university is

significantly lower in figure 239 can

be explained by the large number of

students at universities of applied

sciences, universities of teacher

education and in professional edu-

cation.

Social disparity

Access to higher education in Switzerland, as in most countries, is related to

social background. Children from academic families are much more likely

to enter and successfully complete a higher education programme than

those whose parents did not study

(Buchmann et al., 2016; Combet & Oesch,

2021; Zimmermann & Seiler, 2019).

Data from the Longitudinal Analyses

in Education (LABB) programme shows that of the children who enter a

conventional university, just under half have parents who have a univer-

sity degree. For the other children, the respective share is almost 30 to 40

percentage points lower, depending on the parents’ educational qualifica-

tions

(figure 240)

. The differences are somewhat smaller for admissions to

universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher education. The

professional education is a special case. In contrast to access to univer-

sity, children with university-educated parents are underrepresented in

professional education programmes. They are less likely to start in a respec-

tive programme, which has a levelling effect on the overall transfer rate to

tertiary education.

240 Admission

rate to tertiary education linked

to educational origin

Deviations from the admission rates of students whose parents have a university degree;

cohorts of compulsory school-leavers, 2011 and 2012

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

legend

For students whose parents have a profes-

sional education qualification, the conventional

university admission rate is 27 percentage

points lower than for those whose parents have

a university degree. This results in a conven-

tional university admission rate of 19% (46 – 27

= 19), just under half the admission rate of

academics’ children. Overall, however, the

admission rate for tertiary education is “only”

16 percentage points lower than for children

whose parents have a university degree. This

can be explained by the fact that those whose

parents have a professional education qualifi-

cation are more likely to enrol in professional

education, in a UAS or UTE.

Percentage points

-10

-20

-30

-40

-50

Professional

education

Upper sec:

General

education

Upper sec:

Education and

training

No post-

compulsory education

Highest educational qualiﬁcation of parents

Admission to a UNI

Admission to a PE institution

Admission to a UAS/UTE

Total admissions

Of the students whose parents have a university degree, 46% started at a UNI, 23% at a UAS/

UTE, and 6% a professional education programme by 2021 (total: 75%).

However, it is important to bear in mind that these comparisons do not

reflect performance in school and its influencing factors because they are

not included in official statistics. In earlier studies, however, school perfor-

mance and its determinants have been shown to be important explanatory

factors in a person’s decision to study or when choosing a type of tertiary

education

(Buchmann et al., 2016; Burger, 2021).

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Tertiary-level education

219

In Switzerland, social inequality is mainly reflected in socially determined

access to upper-secondary-level education. As a result, students at conven-

tional universities are a more socially selective group than those at univer-

sities of applied sciences and universities of teacher education. Strong social

disparities in university access can therefore largely be explained by the fact

that children whose parents do not have a tertiary degree more often do not

obtain a baccalaureate and therefore do not have the formal qualification to

study at a university. When considering only those with an academic bac-

calaureate, the admission rate to tertiary education hardly differs by edu-

cational background

(→ figure 241)

. The differences are moderate for hold-

ers of a federal vocational or specialised baccalaureate. However, there are

differences in how prospective students choose a university type: Within

the group of baccalaureate students, those whose parents have a univer-

sity degree are more likely to transfer to a conventional university and less

likely to transfer to a university of teacher education

(Denzler, 2011; Diem,

2021).

There are also differences in the choice of subject area

(→ figure 242)

The proportion of students whose parents have a university degree varies

greatly by subject area. At conventional universities, these subject areas

consistently have higher proportions of students whose parents have com-

pleted higher education than the corresponding areas at universities of

applied sciences and universities of teacher education. The only exception

is art, which is taught at universities of applied sciences and has a student

body with background similar to that of conventional universities.

241 Admission

rate to tertiary

education among those with a

baccalaureate

By parents’ highest educational attainment

and baccalaureate type; cohorts of compulsory

school-leavers, 2011 and 2012

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Parents' education and training

University

Upper sec: GE

Upper sec: VET

No post-comp.

education

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Baccalaureate or Passerelle

Vocational or specialised baccalaureate

VET

General education

Vocational education and training

242 Education

backgrounds of university students

by subject area, 2020

Data: FSO (SSEE); calculations: SCCRE

60%

50%

Mothers with university degree

MedPh

Arts

Design

Agri

HSS

Bac

Law

Tech

ENS

40%

Econ

30%

Health Soc aPsy

20%

Arch

vBac

10%

Bus

Sport

Chem/LF

Eng/IT

aLing

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Fathers with university degree

UNI

UAS

UTE

Baccalaureate type

Subject area

Agri

Agriculture and forestry

aLing

Applied linguistics

aPsy

Applied psychology

Arch

Architecture, construction

and planning

Arts

Music, theatre and other arts

Bus

Business, management and

services

Chem/LF Chemistry and life sciences

Eco

Economics

Eng/IT

Engineering and IT

ENS

Exact and natural sciences

HSS

Humanities and social sciences

MedPh

Medicine and pharmacy

Soc

Social work

Tech

Technical sciences

Teacher training

Baccalaureate type

Bac

Baccalaureate

vBac

Federal vocational baccalaureate

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220

Tertiary-level education

The extent to which social disparity in access to tertiary education in Swit-

zerland is a factor compared to other countries becomes apparent when

comparing the proportion of students whose father has (or does not have)

a tertiary degree with the proportion of men between the ages 40 and 59

with (without) a tertiary degree in the resident population

(→ figure 243)

Based on this indicator, Switzerland proves to be comparatively less socially

selective. Students whose father has a tertiary degree are less overrepre-

sented compared to the proportion of men with a tertiary degree in Swit-

zerland’s resident population, which means students whose father does

not have a tertiary degree are less underrepresented than in the majority

of other European countries.

The

“opportunity ratio of fathers/men with

tertiary degree”

reflects the proportion of

students whose father has a tertiary degree

against the proportion of the 40- to 59-year old

male resident population with a tertiary degree.

The higher the value is above 1, the more

overrepresented are those whose father has a

tertiary degree.

The

“opportunity ratio of fathers/men

without tertiary degree”

reflects the propor-

tion of students whose father does not have

a tertiary degree against the proportion of the

40- to 59-year old male resident population

without a tertiary degree. The lower the value,

the more underrepresented are those whose

father does not have a tertiary degree.

The green lines represent the average of the

European countries (Eurostudent participant

countries). The countries in the second quad-

rants are the least selective; the countries in

the fourth quadrant are the most selective.

243 Social

disparities in access to tertiary education, 2019

Data: Eurostudent VII, EU-LFS; calculations: SCCRE

1.0

Opportunity ratio fathers/men

without tertiary education

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

III

0.4

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

Opportunity ratio fathers/men with tertiary education

2.2

Migration background

People with a migration background are underrepresented at universities.

They are less likely to transfer to a university of applied sciences or uni-

versity of teacher education and tend to study less frequently at a conven-

tional university

(→ figure 244)

. However, the lower probability of studying

at a university is mainly due to the weaker skills the individual acquired by

the end of his or her compulsory schooling. When considering the same

(PISA) competencies, first- and second-generation migrants are even more

likely to enrol in a university programme – namely at a conventional uni-

versity – than persons without a migration background. This finding is

consistent with the explanation that migrants on average have higher edu-

cational aspirations or show a higher preference for schools with general

education programmes

(Abrassart et al., 2020).

In terms of access to profes-

sional education programmes, no significant differences can be observed

between people with a migration background of the second generation and

those without a migration background. First-generation migrants, on the

other hand, enrol in professional education programmes less frequently.

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Tertiary-level education

221

244 Admissions

to tertiary education by migration background

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Observable

Without migration background

generation

With the same skills and

the same school canton

Without migration background

generation

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

UNI

UAS

UTE

Barrier-free access

Access to higher education in Switzerland is firmly anchored in the law for

people with disabilities, as is their right to equal participation in study pro-

grammes.

To ensure barrier-free access to equal and independent study,

various measures, such as access to buildings and homepages, must be

ensured for blind people and other access arrangements must be imple-

mented in an institutionalised form. A systematic survey on accessibility

at universities conducted about ten years ago found that there was still a

strong need for action in this regard

(Kobi & Pärli, 2010; Meier-Popa, 2012).

The extent to which accessibility has improved since then is difficult to

gauge, as such data is no longer being collected to a sufficient degree. In

the meantime, however, all Swiss universities have set up a contact point

for people with disabilities

(Kronenberg, 2021).

The examples of two uni-

versities

(Dietsche, 2015 ; Passalacqua et al., 2018)

as well as a survey of deaf

and hearing-impaired persons

(Hohenstein et al., 2018; Rodríguez Vázquez

et al., 2018)

nevertheless make it clear that the ideal of obstacle-free and

inclusive universities has not yet been reached. Moreover, stereotypical

images and a weak commitment to making inclusion a strategic goal are

likely to undermine progress in this area

(Dietsche, 2015).

Questions con-

cerning whether and to what extent existing barriers hinder impaired per-

sons wishing to enrol in and successfully complete tertiary programmes

cannot be answered with the data currently available.

The

project-linked federal

contributions

2021–2024 initiative

includes funding for a project to

improve the access to the programmes

at Swiss universities. Specifically,

suitable accessibility measures will

need to be developed for a range of

problem areas and target groups.

In the previous promotional phase,

two other projects were funded to

develop the basis for barrier-free

access to education and study at

Swiss universities and to professional-

ise a network.

5 Art. 8 Federal Constitution, Art. 1 & 2 Disability Discrimination Act, and the UN Convention

on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (0.109)

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222

Tertiary-level education

Demand for tertiary education

The strong growth of education observable in Switzerland, as in other

developed countries, over the past 30 years has not led to a decline in the

return on education. Strong growth in the number of highly qualified

job-seekers does not result in lower wages for years of study if the demand

for more highly educated workers, driven by technological change,

increases to the same extent

(Acemoglu, 2002; Freeman, 1986; Tinbergen,

1974).

This seems to have been the case for Switzerland over the last three

decades, as can be confirmed with data from the Swiss Labour Force Survey

(SLFS) since 1991

(→ figure 245)

. While the ratio of tertiary degree-holders

to those with a post-compulsory education as the highest qualification rose

from 0.4 to 1.2, the relative wage advantage of the former compared to the

latter remained steady at about 40% (wage ratio of 1.4).

245 Relative

share and return on education of tertiary

degree-holders, 1991–2021

Ratio of tertiary degree-holders to those with upper-secondary education as the highest

qualification (25- to 64-year-olds in a job); ratio of median salary of tertiary degree-holders

to those with upper-secondary education (ratio indicates the wage advantage).

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

1.6

Relative proportion/salary of people

with tertiary education

1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0

1991

1996

2001

2006

2011

2016

2021

Relative proportion of men with tertiary education

Relative proportion of women with tertiary education

Relative wages of men with tertiary education

Relative wages of women with tertiary education

Both men and women with a tertiary degree have a constant wage advan-

tage, although the tertiary rate for women increased significantly more.

This means that the rise was more than offset by a strong increase in

demand for highly qualified women.

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Tertiary-level education

223

lack of specialists

The fact that growth in tertiary education roughly matches growth in de-

mand for tertiary-degree-holders does not automatically mean that sup-

ply and demand are in balance across all subject areas. For example, the

shortage of skilled workers in the STEM (mathematics, information tech-

nology, natural sciences and technology) and health sectors has been an

issue for years. To determine the (future) shortage of skilled workers, an

index value was calculated for each educational field and level based on

a system of indicators

(SECO, 2016),

which was applied proportionally

to the future number of trained persons

(FSO, 2019a).

The results sug-

gest that two-thirds of tertiary degree-holders are employed in occupa-

tions with an above-average demand for skilled workers. Thus, the major-

ity of educational fields are affected by an above-average need for workers,

whereby the three fields with the highest need are in the health sector.

Most occupational fields, however, can expect above-average demand for

skilled workers – to be offset by an above-average increase in the supply of

skilled workers, an indication that the education system is working well.

The analyses also clearly indicate that demand for skilled workers can vary

greatly within a specific occupational field. Thus, fields with above-aver-

age demand for skilled workers may have occupations with lower demand

and, conversely, occupational groups with lower demand may see occupa-

tions with a high demand.

In the fields of health and STEM, the current trend in tertiary degrees

should offset the shortage in the corresponding occupational field some-

what

(FSO, 2019a, 2022 m).

Comparisons with other OECD countries show

that Switzerland has a relatively large number of students studying STEM

subjects, with a very low proportion of women

(OECD, 2021a).

Efforts have

been made for many years to change this. Although the number of women

enrolling in universities has increased steadily over the last 20 years, they

remain significantly underrepresented in the STEM subjects. This circum-

stance is further exacerbated by the fact that women drop out or change

their studies more frequently in subjects where they are already weakly

represented

(Bostwick & Weinberg, 2022; Diem, 2016)

(→ figure 246)

To increase the

number of degrees in

human medicine,

the federal govern-

ment and the cantons have launched

a special programme, with the goal to

increase the number of degrees in this

field permanently from around 900 (in

2016) to 1350 by 2025. In 2021, 1088

MA degrees were awarded.

246 Drop-out

rates

by gender and proportion of men

in the subject area

UNI BA admission cohorts, 2014 and 2015

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

< 30%

30–70%

> 70%

Proportion of men in the discipline

Women

Men

Proportion of men:

Proportion of men entering

UNI BA programmes by subject area, year and

university

Drop-out rate:

Proportion of students who

dropped out of the original subject area

(change of subject area or drop-out) per sub-

ject area, admission year and universit

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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UNIVERSITIES

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226

universities Context

Context

Unless specified otherwise, the term

student

as used in this chapter

includes all students at Bachelor’s,

Master’s, licentiate and diploma levels,

but not students at Doctorate level

or students taking part in continuing

education and training.

For universities, the number of students is of key importance, as they need

to adjust their range of studies (lectures, infrastructure) accordingly. In

addition, the financing – in particular in the cantonal universities – depends

to a large extent on student numbers

(→ chapter Tertiary-level educa-

tion, page 193,

→

Efficiency/costs, page 244).

The number of students

depends on various factors – such as the number of students with a Swiss

university admission qualification (which in turn depends on the demo-

graphics and the organisation of the feeder schools), study inclination, in

other words, the transition rate to universities (which is influenced by the

economic situation), the number of entries with a foreign admission qual-

ification (foreign-educated foreign nationals), the number of years of study

as well as the position of the university as a competitor of other higher

education institutions. There are limits to the possibilities of universities

themselves to influence the number of students.

The various factors have led to the fact that the number of students

at universities has continued to rise in the last few years. In 2021, around

130,000 individuals were counted, not including students at Doctorate

level and those completing further training.

Demographics, academic baccalaureates and migration

In the decade before 2010, a sharp rise in the number of academic bacca-

laureates was observed, which led in the period 2010–2019 to a significant

increase in the student body at universities. From 2010 onwards, however,

the number of 15 to 20-year olds in the population dropped slightly, while

the academic baccalaureate rate somewhat increased and the transition rate

to universities stabilised. This meant that there was not an additional rise

in the number of students. On the other hand, as a result of the increasing

number of academic baccalaureates in the first decade of the 2000s, consid-

erably more students with an academic baccalaureate entered the Master’s

level between 2010 and 2019; the increase amounted to 20% according to

data of the Swiss Higher Education Information System (SHIS), while it

was only 4% at Bachelor’s level. During the same period, the number of Pas-

serelle examinations (taken in addition to the federal vocational baccalau-

reate and the specialised baccalaureate with a view to entering universities)

almost tripled. However, as its share is still very low, measured against the

number of academic baccalaureates, this development has hardly affected

the development of student figures. On the other hand, growth was driven

by the fact that the number of persons with a foreign admission qualifi-

cation strongly increased, in particular at Master’s level. The number of

entries by applicants with a foreign university entrance qualification

(foreign-educated foreign nationals) has increased at this level by around

50%. Somewhat more than half of them are students who have come to

Switzerland specially for their Master’s, while the others have already grad-

uated here with a Bachelor’s. Growth at Bachelor level was less at 11%. How-

ever, it is considerably higher than that of entries of students with a Swiss

baccalaureate. In the meantime, students with a foreign admission qual-

ification make up almost a quarter of students (status 2021/22). Most of

the international students come from neighbouring countries – at Bache-

lor level it is around two-thirds and at Master’s level just under half.

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Context universities 227

Influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on student intake

The student numbers rose sharply in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pan-

demic. At Bachelor level alone, the number of admissions rose by 2400

students (+ 12%) compared with 2019. This rise exceeds the increase that

would have been expected based on the previous empirical values with the

current slump in economic growth. In previous years, a slump in economic

growth also led to an increase in the number of new students, because they

were less able to finance a gap year through gainful employment. What

was also new during the Covid-19 pandemic was that other activities dur-

ing a gap year – travel, for example – were no longer possible or only pos-

sible with major restrictions. The increase in Bachelor admissions in 2020

could be particularly attributed to the fact that the baccalaureate students

who received their baccalaureate in 2020 more frequently entered a uni-

versity directly

(FSO, 2021f )

(→ figure 247)

. The increase was greater among

women than among men, which can be partially explained by the fact that

even during the pandemic year 2020 some of the men entered basic mili-

tary training after baccalaureate school. The more frequent direct entries

resulted in a compensation effect in 2021, which was again established as

stronger among women than men: The baccalaureate students of the grad-

uation year 2020 who transitioned to a university without a gap year were

lacking in 2021. Altogether, the number of entries in 2021 decreased to a

similar level as in 2019. Compensatory movements such as these could also

be observed in earlier cycles.

According to estimates by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO)

(FSO,

2021f )

the number of academic baccalaureate students who took up studies

at a university straight away in 2020 due to the pandemic increased by

8 percentage points or around 1500 persons compared with the previ-

ous trend. Under normal circumstances, these persons would have taken

a gap year. Unlike other countries, the number of international students

in Switzerland has not declined, despite the pandemic, but has actually

increased. This can be explained by the fact that the majority of interna-

tional students come from neighbouring countries

(FSO, 2022a);

the entry

into Switzerland of these persons was less restricted than that of students

from other countries. In addition, the less radical Covid-19 measures, in

comparison with other countries, in spring and summer 2020 could pos-

sibly also have facilitated the growth. In many other countries, the number

of newly admitted international students declined abruptly between 2019

and 2020, for example in the USA by 46%

(Institute of International Edu-

cation, 2021).

In Australia, the numbers even dropped by 62% – measured

against the applications for international student visas

(Hurley, 2020).

in English-speaking countries in particular, many universities are mainly

financed by international students, this also frequently led to financial

problems in the universities concerned.

In addition to the quantitative consequences and the effect on the

student numbers altogether, the economy usually has an impact on the

choice of subjects. Studies from the United States show that pupil cohorts

in low economic years more frequently choose fields of studies which are

recession-resistant

(Ersoy, 2020)

or which offer higher salaries and better

employment prospects. In years like these, women more frequently decide

to study male-dominated subjects

(Blom et al., 2021).

Although the pan-

demic in Switzerland was also accompanied by a slump in economic output

The

Covid-19 pandemic

did not

only have an impact on the number

of student admissions, but it also

greatly changed teaching activities

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education,

page 193).

In addition, changes in

the course of studies were observed

(→ Effectiveness, page 238;

→ Effi-

ciency/costs, page 244).

247 Change

in number of

Bachelor’s degree entrants

compared to the previous year

By gender and admission type or qualification

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

15%

10%

-5%

-10%

-15%

Men

Women

Men

Women

2020

2021

Academic baccalaureate or Passerelle

(immediate admissions)

Academic baccalaureate or Passerelle

(admission 1 year after graduation)

Foreign educated students with

foreign qualification

Other qualifications/admissions

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universities Context

(GDP), the choice of field of study has at least changed only slightly in the

short term

(FSO, 2021f ).

Due to the growth in the number of students,

the number of entries in all fields of education has considerably increased,

whereby the areas of technology and medicine are exceptions. In medi-

cine, the low growth can be explained by the numerus clausus. In contrast,

the reason for the moderate growth in the technical sciences is unknown.

Forecasts for the student figures

The

development of the student

figures

mainly depends on the

number of academic baccalaureates,

the ratio of persons who transition

to a university with an academic

baccalaureate as well as the number

of international students. Creating

forecasts for the long-term develop-

ment is thus fraught with uncertain-

ties.

The reference scenario of the FSO for the development of numbers of stu-

dents up to 2031 is based on the assumptions that the number of academic

baccalaureates, the transition ratio to universities, the number of admis-

sions with a different Swiss qualification (such as university aptitude tests

federal vocational baccalaureate/specialised baccalaureate – university or

degrees from universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher

education) as well as the number of admissions with a foreign admis-

sion qualification will increase by 2031

(FSO, 2022 m).

As a result of these

assumptions, a growth in the body of students of around 17 % is expected

by 2031

(→ figure 248)

. The FSO also shows two other scenarios (“low” and

“high”). Depending on the scenario, the growth is between 11% (“low” sce-

nario) and 22% (“high” scenario). In absolute figures, the scenarios “low”

and “high” in 2031 differ by almost 15,000 students, which corresponds to

11% of the student body of 2021 and expresses the rather high level of uncer-

tainty with regard to future development. The scenario “high” would lead

to the fact that either the student-teacher ratio would increase from 18.7

students per full-time equivalent (FTE) of the academic staff to 22.8 if the

staff headcount remained the same; or around 1660 full-time positions

(+ 22%) would have to be created to keep the student-teacher ratio constant.

In accordance with the growing numbers of students, an increase is

also expected in the degrees, whereby the increase in the Master’s degrees

(25% by 2031), according to the forecast of the FSO, will be stronger than

that of Bachelor’s degrees (16%). The strong growth in the Master’s degrees

can be explained in particular by the rising number of university Bache-

lor’s degrees as well as the increase in entries to the Master’s level with a

foreign admission qualification or with “a different Swiss qualification”

(than a university Bachelor’s degree).

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Context universities 229

248 Forecast

development of student numbers and graduations,

2021–2031

Change compared with 2021

Data: FSO

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

-5%

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030

2031

Students (reference scenario)

Students (“high” and “low” scenarios)

Bachelor’s degrees (reference scenario)

Master’s degrees (reference scenario)

Free choice of study courses

In contrast to the situation in most other countries, students in Switzer-

land can select both the university as well as the discipline freely. The only

exceptions are medicine and sport sciences, for which there are admission

restrictions in the universities in German-speaking Switzerland. If the

composition of the numbers of students changes in the individual fields

of study, this usually occurs in Switzerland because the students change

their preferences. Since the mid-2000s, a decline in the Bachelor entries

has been recorded in the humanities and social sciences, specifically from

38% in 2004 to 26% in 2021 (measured against the total of all admissions)

(→ figure 249)

. In contrast, the proportion of entries to the study pro-

grammes of the exact and natural sciences of both genders rose continu-

ously. In addition, the share of women who took up studies in the techni-

cal sciences increased, albeit at a modest level. Growth in the exact, natural

and technical sciences cannot be explained by the fact that the share of stu-

dents with the baccalaureate special subjects biology and chemistry as well

as physics and applied mathematics has increased. In contrast, the increas-

ing number of international students which could be observed until 2010

has contributed to the increasing demand for study places in the fields of

the exact, natural and technical sciences. However, the positive trend can

also be observed among students with a Swiss admission qualification,

albeit somewhat less pronounced.

The Confederation and the cantons

have explained the long-term

assur-

ance of examination-free admission

to universities with academic bacca-

laureate as a common educational

policy goal

(EAER & EDK, 2019).

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universities Context

249 Shares

of student intake by fields of studies category,

1990–2021

New Bachelor’s or licentiate/diploma students

Data: FSO

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

Economics

Exact, natural and technical sciences

2015

2020

Humanities and social sciences

Law

Medicine and pharmacy

A slight increase was also recorded in the field of medicine over the last 20

years. Measured against the registrations for the admission test for stud-

ies in medicine, the demand exceeds the limited offer of study places by

far. As there is simultaneously a pronounced shortage of specialists in

the field of medicine

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193),

the Confederation and the cantons have launched a special programme

to sustainably increase the number of study places and to thus reduce

the dependency on foreign doctors. The aim is to increase the number of

annual degrees in human medicine from just under 900 (in 2016) to 1350

in 2025. The initiation of the special programme also meant that individ-

ual universities which up to now have not offered any training in human

medicine (the two federal institutes of technology [ETH], the universities

of St. Gallen and Lucerne as well as that of the University of Italian-speak-

ing Switzerland), are offering new training programmes in cooperation

with previous medical faculties.

In addition to the field of study, students are also free to choose the uni-

versity. A selection by the universities is not permitted at entry to the Bach-

elor level (or at entry in consecutive fields of study of the Master level) – at

least not for holders of a Swiss admission qualification. As a local education

provider, universities can basically influence the choice of higher education

institution

(→ Institutions, page 233).

However, the opportunity to influ-

ence is relatively low, as the majority of students select the closest univer-

sity

(Denzler & Wolter, 2010).

Due to the fact that the competences of bacca-

laureate pupils vary widely in the different cantons, it can be expected that

the competencies of the students also vary widely between universities at

student admission. Based on the assumption that the differences in compe-

tencies between individuals that exist at the end of the compulsory school

level still persist at entry into higher education,

(→ chapter Baccalaureate

1 In addition, the University of Fribourg is now offering an additional Master’s degree course

as well as its existing Bachelor’s degree programme.

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Context universities 231

schools, page 155),

it can be seen that the universities in French-speaking

Switzerland are confronted with students who have lower competencies

in comparison with those in German-speaking Switzerland

(→ figure 250)

In most cases, the PISA competencies of the new students largely reflect

the average PISA competences of the respective supporting cantons or of

the most important catchment cantons. However, the two ETHs and the

University of St. Gallen are exceptions, as they recruit their students from

the entire language region. The example of the University of St. Gallen can

be used to illustrate the fact that its students on average display less compe-

tencies than the baccalaureate pupils at the St. Gallen schools

(→ figure 251)

This can be explained by the fact that the latter achieve above-average PISA

results in a Switzerland-wide comparison and the University of St. Gal-

len attracted students from outside the canton with comparatively low

PISA results. At the University of Lausanne (LS) too, a deterioration can

be observed which cannot only be attributed to the inward migration of

students from outside the canton with poorer PISA results, but also to

the fact that the better baccalaureate students from Vaud more frequently

favour ETH Lausanne (EPFL). The two federal institutes of technology in

Zurich and Lausanne (ETHZ and EPFL) in turn can, as expected, particu-

larly attract those academic baccalaureate students who excel in above-

average mathematics skills in the PISA test. However, the overall picture

of a university only emerges after the foreign students have been taken into

account, who could not be included in the calculations here as their indi-

vidual PISA results are not known.

250 Average

competencies

by university

PISA competencies of students starting

a tertiary education for the first time

and who participated in the PISA test

in 2012 in Switzerland

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

EPFL

ETHZ

500

550

600

650

PISA points

Reading skills

Maths skills

LS University of Lausanne

Whereabouts of international students

The labour market for academics is heavily globalised; one of the corol-

laries of this is that some of the specialists educated in Switzerland emi-

grate abroad and are no longer available to the domestic labour market. On

the other hand, Switzerland can also attract highly-qualified manpower

from abroad, whereby the institutional framework conditions of migra-

tion including the international cooperation agreements have a consider-

able influence on the migratory movements. The appeal of the local labour

market and the working conditions of course play a key role in the compe-

tition for the best talents. Altogether, Switzerland is able to greatly benefit

from the internationalisation of the labour market for holders of academic

qualifications

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193).

Each year,

around 20,000 more holders of university degrees immigrate to Switzer-

land than leave Switzerland

(FSO, 2020e).

This net gain corresponds to

around two-thirds of the annual number of first degrees at university level,

which in turn means that meeting the demand for individuals with ter-

tiary-level education is difficult to accomplish just by increasing domes-

tic education.

The University of Lucerne and the University

of Italian-speaking Switzerland are not shown

because the case numbers are too small.

251 Selection

into universities

Differences in skills between new university

entrants and baccalaureate pupils from univer-

sity cantons with representative samples

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

LS/VD

-30

-20

-10

PISA points

Reading

Mathematics

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universities Context

Due to the current regulations of

the

work permits and residence

authorisations,

specialised experts

from third countries who have been

educated in Switzerland are forced

to leave Switzerland after complet-

ing their education if the respective

quotas are exhausted. Legal prereq-

uisites are currently being created to

allow persons from third countries

who have completed a Master’s or

a Doctorate in an area affected by

the lack of specialists in Switzerland

can remain in Switzerland on a non-

bureaucratic basis and be gainfully

employed by being excluded from

the annual maximum numbers of

residence permits if their employment

activity is of highly scientific or eco-

nomic interest.

252 Retention

rate of

international students

by region of origin

Data:

Lombard (2017)

Europe excl.

EU/EFTA (7%)

EU/EFTA (66%)

Average

Africa (4%)

Americas (10%)

Asia (13%)

20%

40%

60%

In view of the fact that the number of foreign-educated applicants trained

in Switzerland has constantly increased and the need for well educated

specialists remains sustainably high, focus switches to the question of

how successful attempts will be to retain foreigners in Switzerland who

have attained their educational qualification here. For the newly educated

university graduates, the graduate surveys of the FSO show that foreign-

educated foreign nationals return abroad considerably more frequently

than persons who have obtained their university entrance qualification in

Switzerland regardless of nationality. According to the survey in 2019, the

emigration rate of international students one year after graduating with a

Master’s is around ten times as high as among domestic students; five years

after the Master’s degree it is still around seven times as high. Considered

in absolute terms, around twice to three times as many foreign-educated

foreign nationals leave the country as Swiss nationals and Swiss-educated

foreign nationals.

However, as those persons resident abroad participate less frequently

in surveys than those resident in Switzerland, the emigration numbers

might be underestimated. A more recent study based on register data of

student statistics and the Central Migration Information System

(Lom-

bard, 2017)

enables the rates of emigration and the whereabouts of inter-

national students to be calculated reliably for the first time. On average,

around half of the international students are still in Switzerland one year

after completing their Master’s

(→ figure 252)

; one year later it is somewhat

less. Depending on the region of origin, however, there are major differ-

ences. Persons from Europe – in particular from non-EU/EFTA countries –

remain in Switzerland more frequently than persons from the Americas or

Asia

(

→

margin text, page 232).

The graduation grade does not have any

systematic influence on their retention rate, according to the evaluations

of the graduate survey in 2019 among nationals of neighbouring countries

and third countries. In contrast, results for the (remaining) EU/EFTA

nationals indicate that those with better grades emigrate more seldom than

those with poorer grades, which speaks for positive selection in favour of

the Swiss labour market.

1 year after graduation

2 years after graduation

The percentage figures in brackets after the

regions reflect the share values of the regions

of origin of the international students.

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Institutions universities 233

Institutions

According to the Federal Act on the Funding and Coordination of the

Higher Education Sector (HEdA)

, the university education landscape

includes the ten cantonal universities, the two ETHs as well as the accred-

ited university institutions or those deemed to be accredited

(

→

margin

text, page 233).

The various institutions of higher education differ sig-

nificantly in size

(→ figure 253)

. The University of Zurich is the largest

university by far with around 22,500 students. The smallest universities

include Neuchâtel and Lucerne as well as the University of Italian-speak-

ing Switzerland, with less than 5000 students. The majority of universities

are comprehensive universities, whereby the fields of study are composed

differently depending on the university. The two ETHs, the Universi-

ties of St. Gallen and Lucerne, as well as the University of Italian-speaking

Switzerland are specialised universities.

Five

academic institutes organised

under private law

are accredited

according to HEdA (status July 2022):

the UniDistance Suisse in Brig, the

Graduate Institute of International

and Development Studies (IHEID)

Geneva, the Graduate Institute Schaff-

hausen, the Franklin University as well

as the Swiss Academic Institute for

Traditional Chinese Medicine (SWISS

TCM UNI).

The UniDistance Suisse

and the IHEID are recognised under

contribution law and receive contribu-

tions from the Confederation and the

cantons.

253 Student

numbers by institution, 2021

Excluding students at Doctorate and further education level

Data: FSO

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

ETHZ

EPFL

USI

other

Uni

ETHZ

EPFL

USI

Other Uni

University of Zurich

ETH Zurich

University of Geneva

University of Lausanne

University of Bern

University of Basel

ETH Lausanne

University of Fribourg

University of St. Gallen

University of Neuchâtel

University of Italian-speaking

Switzerland

Other university institutions

University of Lucerne

Humanities and social sciences

Law

Medicine and pharmacy

Interdisciplinary and other

Economics

Exact and natural sciences

Technical sciences

Bundesgesetz über die Förderung der Hochschulen und die Koordination im schweizerischen

Hochschulbereich (HFKG)

of 30 September 2011.

3 The IHEID has been recorded in the statistics of the FSO since 2017 in the category “Other

university institutions”. Previously, it had been counted as part of the University of Geneva.

4 In addition, Chur University of Theology and the Theological University of Basel are still

accredited according to the old university funding law until the end of 2022. Up to the mid-

2010s, the Kurt-Bösch Foundation Sion/ Wallis and the Swiss Graduate School of Public

Administration (IDHEAP), both of which have been incorporated into universities, as well as

the former Swiss Central Department for the Continuing Education of Upper-Secondary School

Teachers (WBZ) – today the Swiss Centre for the Upper-Secondary Level (ZEM/CES) – also

counted as higher education institutions.

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universities Institutions

254 Change

in market shares,

2011–2021

Measured by shares of students in the first

and second cycle

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

USI

Other Uni

EPFL

ETHZ

-3

-2

-1

Even as a local education provider, universities can influence future stu-

dents from other regions in their choice of higher education institution,

either through an interesting range of studies, attractive study conditions

or their reputation. Over the course of the last ten years, the market shares

of the individual universities have also slightly shifted

(→ figure 254)

. ETH

Zurich, which has always operated on a nationwide basis, acquired the

most students here, while the University of Zurich recorded the greatest

losses. The shifts can partially be explained by the changed demand for the

individual fields of study: In humanities and the social sciences, demand

dropped, while in the exact sciences as well as in the natural and technical

sciences, it increased. At ETH Lausanne, the increase in the market share

can also be completely explained by the growing number of international

students.

Origin of the students

The entry of students from outside a sponsoring canton and the departure

of students from a sponsoring canton

(→ figure 255)

is of interest with

regard to two aspects: Firstly, it can provide indications of the attraction

of the individual cantonal universities. Secondly, the origin of the students

with regard to the financing of the universities is significant

(→ chapter

Efficiency/costs, page 244).

Percentage points

Taking all students into account

Excl. foreign educated students

255 Influx

of students from outside the canton and departures

to other cantons, 2021

Proportion of Bachelor’s students from outside the sponsoring cantons and proportion

of departures measured by number of students from the sponsoring region

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

Admissions of students from outside

the canton

Proportion of students from outside the

supporting canton (resident in Switzerland)

relative to the number of students from the

supporting canton

Admissions of foreign-educated students

Proportion of foreign-educated foreign

nationals relative to the number of students

from the supporting canton

Departures of students to other cantons

Proportion of the students studying outside

the supporting canton, relative to the number

of students from the supporting canton.

Students who study at an ETH are not counted

in the departures.

net balance rate (domestic)

Proportion of students from outside the sup-

porting canton (resident in Switzerland) minus

the number of students who study outside

the supporting canton, relative to the number

of students from the supporting canton

200%

150%

100%

50%

-50%

-100%

USI

Specialised universities

Comprehensive universities

Admissions of students from outside the canton

Admissions of foreign-educated students

Departures of students to other cantons

Net balance rate (domestic)

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Institutions universities 235

Among the cantons with a specialised university, the proportion of stu-

dents who enter a Bachelor’s degree at an out-of-canton university is of

course the largest. The cantons of the two youngest specialised universi-

ties (Lucerne and Ticino) are, overall, net spenders; they are unable to com-

pensate for the departure of persons who obtained the university admis-

sion qualification in their canton with new entrants. In the case of the

University of Italian-speaking Switzerland, this can also be explained by

the fact that the Italian language is only marginally widespread outside

of Ticino and the university only wishes to attract few non-cantonal stu-

dents accordingly. In contrast to this, Canton St. Gallen with the Univer-

sity of St. Gallen can clearly overcompensate for the departure of St. Gallen

students: Considerably more students come to St. Gallen to the university

than leave the canton to study elsewhere. Among the cantons with com-

prehensive universities, Canton Vaud is worst off, while Canton Fribourg

is one of the major winners of these student movements.

A high level of internationality in the student body can also be an indi-

cator of the high quality and attractiveness or of the high prestige of a uni-

versity. However, the number of international students also depends on the

geographical location of the universities. Thus the proportion of students

from neighbouring countries is higher in border regions

(→ figure 255)

If only foreign-educated foreign nationals from countries which do not

border on Switzerland are therefore considered for comparison purposes,

it can be seen for the Master’s level that the two ETHs are by far the most

internationalised

(→ figure 256)

. However, the high degree of international-

isation can be partially explained by the composition of subjects. Engineer-

ing and the exact sciences, for example, have a particularly large proportion

of international students, while the proportions of students in the histor-

ical and cultural studies as well as in the areas of medicine and law are rel-

atively low. If the composition of fields of studies were identical in all uni-

versities, other higher education institutions would be more international

than the two institutes of technology.

Based on the assumption that the international students studying in

Switzerland are a contributing factor to “positive selection”, it is to be

expected that this will have a favourable effect on educational success

(Feld & Zölitz, 2017; Humlum & Thorsager, 2021)

and the subsequent labour

market opportunities

(Humlum & Thorsager, 2021)

of the domestic stu-

dents due to peer effects. However, negative effects are conceivable for stu-

dents at the lower end of performance

(Feld & Zölitz, 2017; Thiemann, 2021).

The influence is likely to depend largely on the abilities of the foreign stu-

dents and thus on the selection process into and at the domestic univer-

sities. Irrespective of this, international fellow students are also likely to

broaden the experience of the domestic students. Findings from the Neth-

erlands

(Wang et al., 2021)

also suggest that graduates from international

(English-speaking) study programmes achieve a higher income than those

from study programmes, favoured mostly by domestic students. However,

the salary advantage can be explained by the fact that graduates of interna-

tional programmes of study more frequently choose a large company for

their first position, which has a higher share of international workers and

is more frequently active in the commercial sector. The associated salary

advantage will remain in the long term. To what extent these results are

applicable to Switzerland is not clear from the outset, but there may well

be parallels to the Swiss labour market.

256 Share

of international

students at Master’s level, 2021

By university; students from neighbouring

countries do not count as international

students for comparison purposes

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

ETHZ

EPFL

USI

10%

Actual share

20%

30%

Proportion with equal

distribution of subject areas

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universities Institutions

The Master’s remains the standard qualification at universities

With the Bologna reform, the licentiate or the diploma was replaced by a

Bachelor’s degree appropriate for the labour market (after three academic

years) at universities and a subsequent Master’s degree (after a further

one and a half to two academic years). Even if students have the option of

entering the labour market after only three years of study with a university

degree, the Master’s degree has remained the standard degree at universi-

ties. On average, 86% of Bachelor students continue studies within two

years, most directly following the Bachelor degree. The ratio of men tran-

sitioning to a Master’s study programme is somewhat higher than that of

women

(→ figure 257)

. These differences can be explained through the dif-

ferent selection of the fields of study. In the humanities and social sciences,

in which women are strongly overrepresented, as well as in economics,

only around three-quarters of the Bachelor’s graduates attempt a Master’s

degree in the two years after graduating with their Bachelor’s, while in

medicine and pharmacy, law and in the technical sciences, 96% and more

continue their studies towards a Master’s. In addition, most students take

up Master’s studies in their present universities

(→ chapter Tertiary-level

education, page 193).

The ratio of direct transitions to a Master’s degree

increased in the years 2019 and 2020. Whether this is due to the Covid-19

pandemic or is a general trend will be seen over the next few years.

In today’s Bologna system, almost 60% of the students who have started

a Bachelor’s degree at a university attain a Master’s degree from a (conven-

tional) university within a period of ten years after beginning their studies

(→ figure 258)

. There are several reasons why this share is not higher: First

of all, around one quarter of students do not obtain a university degree

at Bachelor level

(→ Effectiveness, page 238).

Secondly, not all students

transition to a Master’s degree, despite the high transition rate. Ulti-

mately, several students also discontinue studies at Master’s level. Due to

the possibility of obtaining a first degree after just three years, more indi-

viduals obtain a university degree overall under the current system than

under the previous system with the licentiate and the diploma. The share

of those who graduate from university in the second cycle is considera-

bly less in the Bologna system than in the old system (59% with the 2011

entry cohort versus 66% with the 2000 entry cohort). The Bologna effect

is more pronounced among women than among men, which is partially

due to the fact that female students take subjects which are characterised

by lower transition rates from Bachelor’s to Master’s studies.

257 Transition

rate from

Bachelor’s to Master’s course

by gender

Transition in same year or up to two years

following Bachelor’s, 2012–2019

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

95%

90%

85%

80%

75%

70%

65%

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

Men: Transition up to 2 years

after completion of Bachelor's

Men: Direct transition

Women: Transition up to 2 years

after completion of Bachelor's

Women: Direct transition

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Institutions universities 237

258 Proportion

of students with a degree in the 2

cycle of

a university up to ten years after admission to a university,

1981–2011

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

70%

65%

60%

55%

50%

Only persons who have taken up university

studies for the first time are taken into

consideration. Persons who have started

teacher training or a sports degree are

excluded for methodical reasons

45%

40%

1981

1984

1987

1990

Men

1993

1996

Women

1999

2002

2005

Total

2008

2011

Academic staff and junior career pathways

The academic staff at universities consists of a smaller proportion of pro-

fessors and (other) lecturers as well as a larger proportion of members who

are active as part of the non-professorial teaching staff: (Senior) assistants

and assistants, postdocs, research associates and individuals writing their

habilitation

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193).

Professors

usually have a permanent position, while the vast majority of the non-pro-

fessorial teaching staff is employed on a temporary basis. The probability

of receiving a professorship in Switzerland is relatively small, even if one

assumes that by no means all of the approximately 2000 graduates who

obtain a Doctorate in Switzerland each year apply for one of the 200 or so

open professorships or the 150 junior professorships. If one also takes into

account that, due to the globalised labour market and the distinct com-

petition, around every second professorship is held by foreign academics

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193),

the opportunities for a

professorship for Doctoral students in Switzerland are only promising to

any extent if they apply abroad.

The time from a Doctorate until a permanent position in the academic

field is characterised by insecurity and precariousness. For this reason,

various initiatives were taken to better manage the time between a postdoc

position and a professorship over the last few years. Junior professorships

(once again temporary) were created, as well as more tenure-track posi-

tions and new funding instruments (scholarships of the Swiss National

Science Foundation [SNSF]).

From the perspective of the non-professorial teaching staff, however,

the working conditions have not significantly improved over the last few

years. The subjectively recorded working conditions

(→ figure 259)

show

that the job insecurity has increased rather than declined over the last few

years and that the salaries continue to be rated as moderately attractive.

259 Evaluation

of academic

career at universities,

2013–2021

One year following completion of Doctorate;

average values on an answer scale of 1 “does

not apply at all” to 5 “applies fully”

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

Average value

Salaries are unattractive

Compatibility with family is difficult

Low job security

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universities Effectiveness

260 Share

of persons remaining

in academia, 2011–2021

5 years following completion of Doctorate,

compared to all completed Doctorates

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

25%

20%

15%

10%

2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021

Employment as (senior) assistant

post-doc, lecturer among others

Employment as professor

(incl. assistant professor)

261 Still

in academia five years

following completion of the

Doctorate, 2021

Retention rate of persons who stated one year

after completing the Doctorate that they want

to follow/aim for an academic career now and

in the future

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

Five years after completing a Doctorate, one in five individuals is still

active in the academic field of a higher education institution

(→ figure 260)

Of these, around one quarter hold a professorship and the remaining

three-quarters are active as senior assistants and assistants, postdocs,

lecturers or in a similar function. With these relatively low retention rates,

however, it should be taken into account that a larger share of those per-

sons who left higher education already stated one year after completing

their Doctorate that they did not wish to pursue an academic career. How

many of these actually had a preference for work outside of academia and

how many, despite a preference for an academic career, saw no future in

academia cannot be determined. The possibility of attaining a position

in the university sector, however, has increased steadily between 2011

and 2017, which could be explained by the expansion of the universities

of applied sciences and the universities of teacher education. However, a

slight decline is recorded for 2019, the reasons for which are unknown. The

sharp increase in the non-professorial teaching staff in 2021 is likely to have

been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

If only those individuals are taken into account who stated one year after

obtaining their Doctorate that they wished to pursue an academic career

and aim for it in the future, the retention rate in academia is higher. Almost

every fifth person holds a professorship – the majority of them a perma-

nent position – and every second person has a position on the non-profes-

sorial teaching staff. However, in the second group, the vast majority has

a limited contract

(→ figure 261)

effectiveness

The primary aim of university education is to qualify the students for pro-

fessional activities that require academic knowledge. The minimum skill

level students should have on completing their studies is defined in the

qualification framework for Swiss higher education sector (nqf.ch-HS)

(swissuniversities, 2021b).

The intended learning outcomes are usually

defined on the level of an individual programme of study, a module or a

course unit. However, it is still difficult to test the acquisition of compe-

tencies directly, because the standardised tests required for this purpose

are usually lacking. In order to nevertheless obtain indications on the effec-

tiveness of university education, indicators of labour market integration

are thus used, even on an international basis (with analyses on returns on

education being discussed in the

Cumulative effects, page 355).

These

are not a measure of competence, but do provide information on whether

the competences acquired at the university are required in the labour mar-

ket. Indicators on the academic success and the discontinuation of stud-

ies also provide information on the effectivity of education at university

level. However, these are at least as difficult to interpret as labour market

indicators as a measure of the acquisition of competence. On the one hand,

this is the case because academic success can be controlled by the univer-

sities themselves, independently of the acquisition of competencies. On

the other hand, academic success also depends on factors which cannot be

influenced by the universities.

Professorship

Non-professorial

teaching staff

unlimited

20%

40%

limited

60%

The

qualification framework

for the Swiss higher education sector

includes the targeted skills to be

achieved by the students by the end

of the relevant study cycle, in the

following five categories: “knowledge

and understanding”, “application

of knowledge and understanding”,

“judgement”, “communication skills”

and “self-directed learning”.

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Effectiveness universities 239

Academic success – discontinued studies

The academic success rate can be an indicator of the effectiveness of a study

programme or a university. However, only under the assumption that the

acquisition of the required competencies is a necessary condition for a

successful completion of studies, and vice versa, discontinuation of stud-

ies represents a lack of the required competencies, which in reality does

not always apply.

In the Bachelor’s degree programme, 76% of students on average obtain

a university degree in a time frame of eight years from the start of stud-

ies, with between 5% and 15% of them obtaining it in a fields of studies

category other than the one originally chosen

(→ figure 262)

. If one adds

the degrees at universities of teacher education (UTE) and universities of

applied sciences (UAS) to this – in other words, the degrees after a change

to a different university type – the success rate increases to 85% on aver-

age. However, these graduation rates vary considerably between the fields

of study.

By international standards, admission to universities in Switzerland

is regulated restrictively, which is reflected in the comparatively low bac-

calaureate rate. Measured against these findings, a substantial proportion

of university students do not obtain a university degree. In their declara-

tions on the common education policy goals for the Swiss Education Area

(EAER & EDK, 2015, 2019)

in 2015 and 2019, the Federation and the can-

tons have thus declared their goal of reducing the number of drop-outs

in studies without lowering quality requirements (Goal 5). The measures

to be taken should be directed in particular at the transition from the aca-

demic baccalaureate schools to universities (strengthening study and career

guidance at the baccalaureate schools, cooperation between universities

and baccalaureate schools with regard to selection of field of studies as well

as advice and support for students at the beginning and during their stud-

ies). This focus can, on the one hand, be justified by the expectation that

a good fit as well as a high level of integration of students will benefit the

successful completion of studies. On the other hand, universities will not

be restricted by the measures mentioned in their function of performance

selection, which is necessary to maintain quality requirements.

In the last few years, various measures were taken, such as intensify-

ing the preparation for choice of studies, holding information days, men-

toring programmes, coaching, self-assessments and preparation courses,

with the goal of increasing academic success. However, the effectiveness

of this has not yet been systematically examined in Switzerland, or have

the findings been published.

Which of these interventions could bring the hoped-for success is

difficult to judge because only few measures can be found, even in inter-

national literature, which demonstrably have a positive effect on the suc-

cess of studies

(Oreopoulos et al., forthcoming; Oreopoulos & Petronije-

vic, 2019; Wild, 2021).

An example of positive intervention is a measure

which was tested in Germany and shows that the signing of a target agree-

ment to adhere to the recommended programme of studies (voluntary

self-commitment) increases the probability of completing the examina-

tions successfully and on schedule

(Himmler et al., 2019).

A change in the

default setting when registering for examinations, or more specifically, a

change from the opt-in regulation (acceptance regulation) to the opt-out

262 Student

success rates

by fields of studies category

Bachelor’s degree within eight years of starting

a course at a university for 2013 entrants

resident in Switzerland before starting the

course

Data: FSO

ExNat

Techn

Hum

Law

Total

Econ

MedPh

Interd

25%

50%

75%

100%

Conventional university Bachelor’s

degree in the same subject field

Conventional university Bachelor’s

degree in a different subject field

Bachelor's degree at a

UAS or UTE

ExNat

Techn

Hum

Econ

MedPh

Interd

Exact and natural sciences

Technical science

Humanities and social sciences

Economics

Medicine and pharmacy

Interdisciplinary and other

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240

universities Effectiveness

263 Student

success rate with

and without numerus clausus

University Bachelor’s degree up to six years

following admission, 2014 and 2015

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Medicine

Unis with NC

in medicine

Unis

without NC

Other Sujects

Unis with NC

in medicine

Unis

without NC

25% 50%

75% 100%

Universities with numerus clausus (NC) in

medicine: BS, BE, FR, ZH; universities without

NC: GE, LS, NE

264 University

drop-out rate

with and without entrance exam

2013–2015 entry cohorts in economics

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

20%

40%

60%

Swiss and Swiss-educated nationals

without entrance exam

Foreign-educated nationals (DE/FR)

without entrance exam

Foreign-educated nationals (DE/FR)

with entrance exam

regulation (objection regulation)

can also increase academic success

(Behlen et al., 2021).

Feedback on the relative performance can also have a

positive effect on academic achievements, but only with students who are

above average from a performance perspective, or persons who underesti-

mate their relative abilities

(Brade et al., 2021).

Perhaps the most important predictors of academic success include the

previous schooling of students, their former performance in school and

their willingness to learn

(Larsen et al., 2013).

For Switzerland too, findings

from Canton Aargau confirm a positive connection between good grades

at baccalaureate level and the probability of attaining a degree

(Diem, 2021)

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools, page 155).

To what extent the influ-

ence of the baccalaureate grade can be explained with cognitive abilities

and specialist competencies – or with non-cognitive competencies such

as learning techniques or willingness to learn, which are likely to corre-

late positively with the baccalaureate grades – cannot be explained with

the available data.

In addition, even admission examinations can increase the academic

success rate, as the better students can be chosen through the selection

procedure. It can thus be shown that the numerus clausus system in med-

icine practised at universities in German-speaking Switzerland leads to

a higher rate of academic success, while in the other subjects (without

numerus clausus) there are hardly any differences between the universities

in German-speaking and in French-speaking Switzerland

(→ figure 263)

However, in the case of numerus clausus it must also be taken into account

that the quantitative admission restrictions could reduce the drop-out rate

even without performance-based selection, as the available study capac-

ity is hardly exceeded any more, which greatly diminishes the pressure to

select during studies

(Strupler Leiser & Wolter, 2015).

Using the example of economics, it can also be seen that the entrance

examination for foreign-educated foreign nationals practised at the

University of St. Gallen, which is used due to a maximum quota for

international students, increases the academic success ratio of these

persons by the external selection thus effected or reduces the drop-out

rate

(→ figure 264)

. In comparison with this, the drop-out rate of the stu-

dents with a Swiss admission qualification is higher, while the opposite is

the case at the other universities.

Discontinuation of studies at a university

applies if someone still has not obtained a

university Bachelor degree six years after

commencing their studies and is no longer

enrolled at a university.

For comparability reasons, only German and

French nationals have been taken into account

in the foreign-educated foreign nationals.

5 With the opt-in variant, the students have to actively register for the examinations in order

to be able to pass them. With the opt-out variant, the students are automatically registered for

the examinations and they need to deregister if they do not want to take them.

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Effectiveness universities 241

Prediction of success in studies

If it were known which students were at risk of discontinuing studies, they

could be specifically supported. “Early warning systems” are being used

increasingly with the goal of identifying students at risk of dropping out

early on and offering them support

(Berens et al., 2019; Hoffait & Schyns,

2017; Schneider et al., 2019; Villano et al., 2018).

For Switzerland, findings

for the University of Bern suggest that, based on the register data, around

80% of university degrees and study drop-outs could be correctly classified

(→ figure 265)

. Altogether, the forecast accuracy increases over the course

of studies, as additional information on the ECTS scores and grades can be

used each semester and thus an increasingly certain forecast of the degrees

is possible. However, study drop-outs after the third semester cannot be so

reliably identified as those which occur in the first three semesters.

A reliable identification of students at risk of dropping out is a neces-

sary measure to be able to use the resources for intervention efficiently.

However, it is not a sufficient condition to be able to prevent drop-outs

by students. In order to achieve this goal, one would have to know which

measures would be successful among the students concerned, as not all

measures are effective. Certain measures which might seem promising

can even have contrary effects. It is thus possible, for example, that warn-

ings which indicate deficits in studies and recommend offers of help lead

to the fact that the students actually discontinue their studies even earlier

(Schneider et al., 2021).

265 Forecast

of drop-outs in studies at universities

Data: FSO (LABB), University of Bern; calculations: Wuppertaler Institut für bildungsökonomische

Forschung, SCCRE

Only information available

before the start of the course

With performance data

from the 1

semester

With performance data

from the 1

and 2

semesters

With performance data

from the 1

to 3

semester

With performance data

from the 1

to 4

semester

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Proportion of correctly forecast university graduates and drop-outs

Proportion of correctly forecast university drop-outs

Proportion of forecast university drop-outs who actually fail to complete their studies

as well as the number of ECTS credits and the average grade per semester) as well as data

from the LABB programme of the FSO provide the data basis for the forecasts. These contain

information on the study in the entire higher education system as well as some background

variables on the students.

legend

Using the background information on the

students (such as age, gender, admission

qualification, etc.) as well as the performance

data of students of the first two semesters

(number of ECTS credits and average grade

per semester), altogether 82% of the students

still registered in their second semester at the

University of Bern can be correctly classified

as graduates or as university drop-outs (green

bar). The blue bars show the proportion of

student drop-outs which are correctly recog-

nised as such. The difference to 100% thus

represents those who remain undiscovered

and thus to whom no support measures can be

offered. After the second semester, it is one in

four persons (100%-75% = 25%). Of the persons

who have been classified as study drop-outs,

87% were correctly identified (red bar) and

13% incorrectly identified as such after the

second semester. If a forecasting tool had been

used in order to offer support measures to all

those who had been identified by the system

as drop-outs, one in eight persons (or 3% of all

students) would have been supported, although

these students would actually not have needed

this help.

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242

universities Effectiveness

266 Drop-out/interruption

ratio

by completed academic year,

2017–2021

Students living in Switzerland or with Swiss

nationality before starting their course

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

12%

10%

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on the drop-outs in studies

As part of the measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, the universi-

ties were closed in March 2020 and face-to-face teaching was changed

to online teaching

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193).

The

changes affected the students, the lecturers and the institutions them-

selves, as not only teaching and the conduct of examinations were disrupted,

but in many cases the infrastructures for the new formats first also had to

be provided. Due to the lack of comparable tests, little can be said about

the acquisition of competencies by the students during the closure of the

universities, but it can be shown that the pandemic has not impaired ac-

ademic success, at least in the short term. The number of student drop-

outs and interruptions did not increase in the academic years 2020/21 and

2021/22 (→ figure 266). On the contrary, the number of students who left

the university system without a degree after the first or second academ-

ic year actually decreased in 2020. The question of whether the students

were less inclined to discontinue studies due to the uncertain economic sit-

uation or whether the framework conditions in examinations made it eas-

ier for students to pass them cannot be answered with the data available.

Further analyses indicate that the Bachelor students also changed their

field of study less seldom and completed their studies earlier due to the

Covid-19 pandemic

(→ Efficiency/costs, page 244).

After first year of study

After second year of study

After third year of study

legend

In 2020, 9% of university bachelor students

discontinued or interrupted university studies

after the first academic year (green line). In the

previous years as well as in the following year,

the rate was considerably higher at 11%.

labour market success

comparison with previous years,

the employment rate in 2021 was

somewhat higher. The main reason

for the change is the revision of the

questionnaire and the associated

definition of the employment rate

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education,

page 193).

In addition, the Covid-19

pandemic could also have had a

positive effect on the number of the

employed.

The

unemployment rate according to IlO

is defined as the proportion of the unemployed

in the total labour force. Unemployed refers

to persons who were not employed during the

reference week and in the previous four weeks

actively sought work and were available to take

up employment. The group of the employed

and unemployed constitute the labour force.

Successful integration into the labour market is a key criterion for the

evaluation of higher education, providing information on the extent to

which the studies equip students with relevant skills for the labour mar-

ket. However, the employability of the graduates does not depend only

on the training provided by the university, but is also influenced by the

competencies which the students acquired even before they started their

studies. Even the state of the regional labour market influences labour mar-

ket opportunities. Ultimately, the labour market success of graduates also

depends on selection made during studies.

The vast majority of graduates successfully integrate into the labour

market. According to the graduate survey 2021, one year after complet-

ing a Master’s, on average 92% of university graduates are in employment

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193);

according to the defini-

tion of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 3% are unemployed.

Graduates of universities compared with 25 to 30-year olds with an educa-

tion at upper secondary level (as the highest education qualification) thus

tend to be somewhat more frequently employed (92% versus 89%) and less

frequently unemployed (3% versus 6%). With regard to unemployment,

this is partly an entry phenomenon. Five years after graduating, the pro-

portion of unemployed individuals is at 6% and the ILO unemployment

rate is at 2%, which is considerably below the Swiss average of all employed

individuals. Of those university graduates who are in employment one year

after graduating, the vast majority (90%) are in suitable employment based

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Effectiveness universities 243

on their education, in other words, work that requires a university degree

or is at least appropriate to the specialist skills acquired during the course

of study.

There are clear differences between the subject fields when entering the

labour market, both in terms of participation and in the quality of occupa-

tion

(→ figure 267)

. In the humanities, which are less career-specific, and in

interdisciplinary studies, entering the job market is associated with some-

what larger difficulties, as reflected in a lower proportion of the employed

and a larger share of persons employed in jobs that do not adequately match

their skills. Employment rates below average are also observed in law and

the natural sciences. For persons who completed their studies in 2016, the

share of persons employed in a capacity adequate to their education in the

period between the first and the fifth year after completing their studies

increased by 3 percentage points on average.

267 Labour

market situation one year and five years

after completion of studies, 2021

Graduates of the second cycle; 2020 graduation cohort (1 year after graduation)

and 2016 (5 years after graduation)

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

The employed count as

employed appropriately

to education

if the job that person is doing

a) requires a university degree or b) displays a

clear match with professional skills acquired

during the studies (level 4 and 5 on a scale

from 1 “not at all appropriate” to 5 “highly

appropriate”).

The categories of the “overarching/other” fields

of study as well as those with less than 50

observations are not shown, but are included

in the average value.

Language and literary studies

Historical and cultural studies

Law

Interdisciplinary and other

Natural sciences

Average

Pharmacy

Social sciences

Veterinary medicine

Economics

Human medicine

Exact sciences

Mechanical and electrical engineering

Construction and geodesy

Employment rate 1 year after graduation

Proportion of gainfully employed with qualification-appropriate work 1 year after graduation

Proportion of gainfully employed with qualification-appropriate work 5 years after graduation

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

6 The latest cohort is always shown in the graphic. The values relating to the time “1 year after

graduation” are from the 2000 cohort and not the 2016 cohort.

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244

universities Efficiency/costs

Entry into the labour market varies depending on the education cycle.

According to the data of the university graduate survey, Bachelor graduates

are more frequently not employed or more frequently unemployed (accord-

ing to the ILO definition) and more frequently not adequately employed as

graduates of Master’s degree programmes. Holders of a Doctorate have the

best opportunities in the labour market. Regarding the differences, it is not

clear to what extent they can be attributed to the different lengths of study

and to what extent to the selection between the cycles.

efficiency/costs

If one wants to assess the efficiency – in other words, the relationship

between the use of funds (input) and the achievement of goals (output) –

adequately in university education, the problem does not only lie in having

comparable and suitable data for the output (effectiveness), but also com-

parable data for the input. Both requirements are only partially met, which

is why both assumptions and compromises have to be made. Regarding

costs, although the accounting models between the universities have been

broadly harmonised, there is no data available on student numbers in full-

time equivalents. Data on study intensity is available (based on the number

of evaluated ECTS credits), but it is not suitable for calculating the costs per

student full-time equivalent due to methodological reasons. Given these

difficulties in measuring efficiency, the following comments will focus on

comparing the costs incurred by universities and their income. The short-

term influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on the length of studies is also

discussed. International comparisons will be made in the

chapter Ter-

tiary-level education, page 193.

Income of the universities

The amount of funds which universities (can) spend on training and

education depends on the income which they receive from their spon-

sors or generate themselves. In Switzerland, the expenditure for research

and teaching is covered to a large extent by contributions from the public

sector

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193).

At the ETHs, the

global budget made available by the Confederation corresponds to around

three-quarters of expenditure. In cantonal universities, 12% of the expend-

iture is covered by basic contributions from the Federation as part of the

HEdA, two-fifths by contributions from the cantons in which the univer-

sity is located and at least 10% by contributions from other cantons which

is paid under the inter-cantonal university agreement (IUV )

for the stu-

dents from other cantons. Depending on the proportion of students from

outside the canton, the share of extra-cantonal contributions varies heavily

between the universities. The proportional values are between 5% and 22%.

The IUV was subjected to a review in the past few years. The revised

agreement (IUV II) came into force in January 2022. The basic functions –

Interkantonale Vereinbarung über Beiträge an die Ausbildungskosten von universitären

Hochschulen (Interkantonale Universitätsvereinbarung, IU V)

of 27 June 2019.

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Efficiency/costs universities 245

the freedom of movement of the students and the cost compensation

between the cantons – have remained the same. However, the fees will

now be calculated based on effective operating costs (with deductions for

research and location advantage for the university cantons). In addition,

the migration discounts, from which up to now the six cantons of Glarus,

Grisons, Jura, Ticino, Uri and Vaud have benefited, have been abolished,

as not only these but the vast majority of cantons record migration losses

(EDK, 2017).

Simulations on the new fees show that the contributions of the

cantons of origin and the income of the universities only change slightly

(EDK, 2021b).

In the majority of the non-university cantons the contribu-

tions will decrease. Only some cantons (UR, VS, JU) whose deductions for

migration losses no longer apply will need to pay higher contributions. In

addition, around half of the university cantons (ZH, BE, FR, BS/BL, GE)

will be confronted with somewhat lower net revenue.

Around one-fifth of the costs are covered by competitively acquired

third-party funds. The majority of these come from public funding institu-

tions. Private third-party funding, acquired in the form of private research

assignments and from foundations, cover around 7 % of expenditure. To

minimise the risk of sponsors influencing research (and their results), the

individual universities have adopted their own guidelines on the accept-

ance of private third-party funding.

The student fees cover a very small proportion (2%) of the overall costs.

At most universities, they are between CHF 1000 and 1700 per year; only

at the University of St. Gallen (CH 2460 to 2860) and at the University

of Italian-speaking Switzerland (CHF 4000) are fees significantly higher.

For students who were resident abroad at the time when they acquired the

admission qualification, the majority of universities charged higher fees.

The additional fees ranging from CHF 300 to 4000 are explained as the

result of higher administrative costs (review of admission file, communi-

cation/website in English) and the financial shortfalls that are incurred

to the university cantons due to a lack of IUV (inter-cantonal univer-

sity agreement) contributions. The student fees within a university are

generally the same for all fields of study. Since there are substantial cost

differences between the various study courses, however

(→ Costs by field

of study, page 246),

the percentage of study costs covered by each student

varies considerably. An economics student at the University of Geneva, for

example, personally bears 17 % of his or her annual costs for basic training

and education (excluding research), while a natural sciences student at the

same university will only contribute around 4%.

In contrast to Switzerland, no tuition fees are charged at (public) univer-

sities in many other countries in Europe, at least not for students from the

EU and from countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) or the Euro-

pean Free Trade Association (EFTA). Compared with the rest of Europe, the

tuition fees in Switzerland are therefore above average

(→ figure 268)

. How-

ever, they are at a moderate level in comparison with England, where fees

are on average around 10,000 Euros. As studies of a system change show,

moderate tuition fees could already lead to children from educationally

disadvantaged homes being less likely to go on to higher education

(Kroth,

2015).

On the other hand, tuition fees could also have the effect that stu-

dents complete their studies quicker and more frequently

(Bietenbeck et al.,

2021).

The question of whether there is a causal link between the amount

of tuition fees and the amount of the public expenditure on education has

268 Course

fees at Bachelor’s

level by international comparison,

2020/21

Most frequent amount or average amount

(points) as well as minimum and maximum

amount for an academic year

Data:

European Commission et al. (2020b)

Denmark

Finland

Norway

Austria

Sweden

Germany

France

Luxembourg

Spain

Italy

Switzerland

Netherlands

England

2,500 5,000 7,500 10,000

Euro

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246

universities Efficiency/costs

not yet been examined. It is thus not known whether tuition fees simply

compensate for a lack of public investment or are included in education in

addition to the investment.

Costs by field of study

Taking into account research

costs

addition to teaching costs, the annual

expenditure per student is between

CHF 16,000 (law) and CHF 120,000

(Human medicine).

The annual costs for instruction per student vary very widely depend-

ing on the field of study and may range from CHF 9000 (economics, law,

social sciences) to CHF 55,000 (dentistry)

(→ figure 269)

. The cost differ-

ences between the fields of study are due to a large extent to the differ-

ent student-teacher ratios. What is not known is what the optimal ratio

would be for individual subjects or how far individual subjects and uni-

versities are from this optimal ratio. Consequently, the question remains

of whether the same results could be achieved with less intensive teaching

or whether the student/teacher ratio in certain fields of study should actu-

ally be stepped up in order to facilitate more effective education. In gen-

eral, however, there are indications that larger classes are associated with

worse grades

(Kara et al., 2021).

269 Costs

by field of study, 2020

Data: FSO

Student-teacher ratio

Costs per student

Annual costs for teaching (basic education and

training) per student

Student-teacher ratio

Number of students per FTE on the academic

teaching staff (basic education and training)

Basic training includes the Bachelor’s and

Master’s levels.

Economics

Law

Social sciences

Interdisciplinary and other

Historical and cultural studies

Exact sciences

Language and literary studies

Mechanical and electrical engineering

Pharmacy

Theology

Natural sciences

Construction and geodesy

Human medicine

Agricultural and forestry studies

Veterinary medicine

Dentistry

In 1000 CHF

Costs per student

Student-teacher ratio

Studies using economics students as an example suggest that the academic

degree of teaching staff in tutorials does not have any impact on the perfor-

mance and is only slightly positively associated with the assessment of the

lectures

(Feld et al., 2019, 2020).

The universities could thus reduce their

costs in fields of study in which tutorials are used without a loss in quality,

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Efficiency/costs universities 247

In 1000 CHF

by increasingly using students from later semesters or at Doctoral level

for teaching. However, this is already frequently the case in Switzerland.

The costs for each student have decreased over the last ten years in

the areas of medicine and pharmacy as well as in the technical, exact and

natural sciences

(→ figure 270)

. In the areas of pharmacy and exact sciences

as well as mechanical and electrical engineering, the cost savings can be

partially explained by a reduction in the student-teacher ratio. The sharp

decline in costs in the area of medicine and pharmacy in 2017 can, how-

ever, be attributed to a significant decline in costs in human and veterinary

medicine, which cannot be explained by an increase in student numbers.

270 Development

in costs

per student by fields of studies

category, 2010–2020

Basic training costs for apprenticeship per

student in basic training (adjusted for inflation)

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020

efficiency of the universities

As mentioned at the beginning, it is difficult to measure the efficiency of

universities. The results of an expert report on the efficiency in the Swiss

education system

(Wolter et al., 2020)

indicate that the ranking of the

universities with regard to their efficiency depends on whether inputs are

considered on a real or a monetary basis. In addition, it also depends on

which outputs (degree, labour market outcomes, competence gain, third-

party funding) are used or involved to measure the efficiency.

The analyses for developing efficiency over time

(→ figure 271)

on the

other hand, suggest, irrespective of the calculation method, that the

efficiency of the universities in the period between 2007 and 2017 has

increased by around 10 percentage points. In the years between 2007 and

2010 a reduction in the efficiency was recorded, which could possibly be

explained by the introduction of the Bologna reform

(Agasisti & Bolli, 2013).

However, the efficiency developed positively again from 2013 onwards.

There are no studies for the development from 2017 onwards.

Humanities and social sciences

Economics

Law

Exact and natural sciences

Medicine and pharmacy

Technical sciences

271 Development

of efficiency,

2007–2017

Data:

Wolter et al. (2020)

Index points (2007 = 100)

120

110

100

2007

2012

2017

Influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on the length of studies

When the universities had to close in March 2020 because of the Covid-19

pandemic, and face-to-face teaching was changed to online formats

(→ chap-

ter Tertiary-level education, page 193),

the universities communicated that

everything would be done to avoid negative consequences, such as an exten-

sion of studies. If one considers the proportion of students who completed

their studies in the respective years, the following is observed: The Bachelor

students in their third and fourth year of studies tended to complete their stud-

ies more frequently in the years of the pandemic 2020 to 2021 (→ figure 272).

Thus, the Covid-19 pandemic could have led to the fact that students who

were at the end of their Bachelor’s studies were more strongly focused on

graduation. There are several conceivable reasons for the earlier completion

of studies: The employment opportunities alongside studies had deteriorated

and the chances of trips and foreign semesters had been dropped. Unlike the

Bachelor students, the graduation rate of the Master’s students declined in

the second academic year. However, the reason for the decline is not so much

the Covid-19 pandemic; the reduction in graduation frequency can rather be

explained by the downward trend over the last few years.

Productive efficiency

Economic efficiency

The

productive efficiency

is based on

the number of teaching staff and the number

of students (inputs) as well as the number

of degrees (outputs).

The

economic efficiency

is based on the

number of students and the costs for teaching

(inputs) as well as on the number of degrees

and the third-party funding (outputs).

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248

universities Equity

272 Share

of students

who completed their studies

in the corresponding year

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

The length of studies depends very strongly on how frequently students

change their subject field during the course of study. This question must

therefore be considered from the aspect of efficiency, because changes in

the field of study which could have been avoided by proper preparation or

information before the studies are inefficient both systemically and individ-

ually. Evaluations of the development of the last few years show that among

Bachelor’s students in the first academic year the proportion of persons who

changed their field of studies fell significantly in the first year of the pandemic

in comparison with the previous years (→ figure 273). One possible expla-

nation for this could be that fewer students failed the examinations, as also

observed in the final examinations at upper secondary level

(→ chapter Bac-

calaureate schools, page 155;

→ chapter

Vocational education and training,

page 125).

If this explanation is correct, the question arises of whether the

students who under normal circumstances would have been forced to repeat

the academic year, to change the field of study or to discontinue studies,

will fail in later examinations. This would then lead to a higher frequency of

changes in fields of studies in later semesters in subsequent years. In the

academic year 2021/22, a slight increase in the change in fields of study could

be observed compared with the first year of the pandemic, but the change

rate is still below the level of previous years.

30%

20%

16/17

17/18

18/19

19/20 20/21

Bachelor’s students in 4

year

Bachelor’s students in 3

year

Master’s students in

year

Master’s students in 2

year

legend

In the academic year 2020/21, 52% of the

fourth-year Bachelor’s students completed

their Bachelor’s degree, while in 2018/19 it was

only 49%.

273 Proportion

of students

who switched the fields of study,

2017–2021

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

20%

equity

Equal opportunities in university education are considered below based

on the criteria of access and participation in education as well as educa-

tional success. Disparities between men and women as well as differences

in social origin are observed. The aspects of the migration background and

the (physical) disabilities will be addressed in the

chapter Tertiary-level

education, page 193.

15%

10%

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Gender-based differences

Measured in terms of the total number of students at universities, gen-

der distribution is very balanced. In the 2021/22 academic year, the pro-

portion of female students was 52%. However, the selection of studies is

still very gender-specific. Women are particularly under-represented in

the exact and engineering sciences, while men are under-represented in

Students in 1

year of study

Students in 2

year of study

Students in 3

year of study

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Equity universities 249

languages, literature and social sciences, as well as in veterinary medicine

and pharmacy. Altogether, around every third to fourth female student and

every third to fourth male student chooses a subject in which their own

gender is heavily overrepresented or has a share of above 70%

(→ figure 274)

Only just 6% of women and 9% of men decide on a gender-atypical field

of study in which the proportion of their own gender is less than 30%.

The gender-specific study preferences have remained very stable over

time. Over the last ten years, the proportion of women in male-dominated

fields of study has tended to increase and that in female-dominated fields

of study has somewhat declined. However, the proportion of men in the

male-dominated fields of study has simultaneously increased. Altogether,

the horizontal segregation has thus not substantially weakened.

While slightly more women than men complete a Bachelor’s or Master’s

degree, the gender ratio is reversed at the subsequent levels. The low

chances of transition and success for women after a Master’s degree lead

to the fact that their participation decreases as their academic career

progresses (leaky pipeline): from 47 % among the Doctorates to 42%

among the research associates (with Doctorate) to 41% among assistant

and associate professors and finally to 23% among full and extraordinary

(f./eo.) professors

(→ figure 275)

274 Gender

segregation by

student intake, 2011 and 2021

Share of students in subject areas dominated

by women, mixed and dominated by men

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Women

2011

2021

Men

2011

2021

25%

50%

75%

100%

Field dominated by women

(share of women > 70%)

Mixed field

(gender split 30–70%)

Field dominated by men

(share of men > 70%)

Horizontal segregation

means the uneven gender distribution

in the choice of subjects.

Vertical segregation

means the uneven gender distribution

at the individual career levels.

275 Leaky

pipeline: gender ratios pursuing an academic career,

2011 and 2021

Data: FSO (SHIS, SHIS-PERS), swissuniversities; calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

Bachelor's

Master’s/

Licentiate

Doctorate

Research

staff

Other

lecturers

Men 2021

Assistant

professor

F./eo.

professor

Men 2011

The category “full/extraordinary professor”

comprises full, extraordinary and associate

professors. Only persons with a degree of

employment of at least 50% are included in

the 2011 data in this category. In addition,

the associate professors were entered in

the category of “assistant professor” with a

temporary appointment in 2011. The category

“research associate” only comprises persons

with a Doctorate.

The figures reflect the gender ratios in the

years 2011 and 2021 and do not represent the

results of a specific cohort, which means that

the actual chances of transition and success

are less unequally distributed than suggested

in the figure.

Women 2021

Women 2011

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250

universities Equity

276 Share

of women in new

appointments, 2014–2021

Data: FSO (SHIS- PERS); calculations: SCCRE

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

2015

2016

2014

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

new appointment

is defined as when some-

one holds a professorship (including assistant/

associate professorship) for the first time.

277 Deviation

of share of female

professors from the average,

2011 and 2021

Deviation of share of women from the average

of all universities, for the same fields of stud-

ies, in percentage points

Data: FSO (SHIS-PERS); calculations: SCCRE

USI

ETHZ

EPFL

-12

-8

-4

Percentage points

2011

2021

Separate evaluations according to fields of studies category indicate that

the strength of the leaky pipeline as well as the location of the largest brain

drain vary according to fields of studies category. Altogether the propor-

tion of women decreased, considered over the entire academic career path –

in other words, between Bachelors’ degrees and the extraordinary and full

professorships – most strongly in the areas of exact and natural sciences as

well as in medicine and pharmacy at around two-thirds. It is noticeable that

the proportion of women sharply decreases, in particular at the transition

to the last level (full/extraordinary professorships). In the female-domi-

nated fields of study (humanities and social sciences, law), it also decreases

significantly between the Master’s and Doctoral levels.

For many years, the goal of increasing the share of women with profes-

sorships has been pursued with the help of federal programmes as well as

funding instruments specifically set up for women. As comparisons with

2011 show, this has been at least partially successful

(→ figure 275)

. Analyses

of the data of staff at institutions of higher education confirm the expec-

tation that the proportion of women among professors has increased in

particular in those fields of study and at those universities where it was

comparatively large in new appointments and where the number of new

appointments was comparatively high. In addition, it appears that the

proportion of women could be increased, in particular in those institutes

where it was particularly low at the start of the 2010s. In the 2010s, the

share of women in new appointments was around 30% on average. In 2019

to 2021, however, it increased again significantly

(→ figure 276)

The proportion of professorships held by women varies between the

individual universities, with the same composition of fields of study, by

around 9 percentage points

(→ figure 277)

. The differences suggest that

a small proportion of women is not simply attributable to the low sup-

ply of well-educated female academics, but is also influenced by the per-

sonnel policy of the institutions. As comparisons with 2011 show, how-

ever, the differences between the institutions of higher education have

declined over the last ten years. The University of St. Gallen in particular,

which recorded a share of women which was considerably below average

at that time, managed to significantly increase the number of female pro-

fessors. Currently, the University of Italian-speaking Switzerland (taking

into account the fields of studies category offered) has the lowest number

of women by far. The questions of whether the discrepancy has to do with

the personnel policy of the university or whether comparatively few out-

standing female candidates are available in the Italian-speaking region can-

not be answered.

In general however, studies for Switzerland suggest that the difficulty

in reconciling family commitments (which are typically based on a tradi-

tional family model) with professional requirements (high level of dedi-

cation and productivity, flexibility in terms of time and geographical

mobility) constitutes an important explanation for the withdrawal of

women from academic careers

(Bataille et al., 2017).

In addition, the exist-

ing research, competitive and surveying discourses might also encourage

men as prototypes of the “ideal researcher” and reject female biographies

and lifestyles as inappropriate

(Borra, 2019).

Among women, who are in a

strong minority, certain (lacking) network structures could also negatively

impact promotion

(Schön et al., 2018).

On the other hand, there is no signif-

icant difference in the funding rate for the career development instruments

of the SNSF between the sexes

(Severin et al., 2019; Widmer et al., 2019).

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Equity universities 251

Surveys among postdocs indicate that it is at least as important for women

as men to pursue their career

(Widmer et al., 2019).

However, significant

gender differences are indicated with regard to career goals: Men more

often aspire to a professorship than women, while the latter rather aim for

another senior research position. One possible explanation for this might

be that it is more important for women to be able to work part-time later

(ibid.).

However, the strong competition that accompanies a promotion to

a professorship could also discourage women from taking up appropriate

positions

(Bosquet et al., 2019).

Social background

Children whose parents have graduated from a higher education insti-

tution more frequently transition to a university than children whose

parents do not have a higher education qualification

(→ chapter Ter-

tiary-level education, page 193).

This can be explained almost completely

by the socially different educational pathways at upper secondary level. In

addition, earlier studies show that the social origin also influences the

type of university and the specific university

(Denzler & Wolter, 2010).

one compares the share of students between the individual universities

who have (at least) one parent with a university degree, substantial differ-

ences can also be observed

(→ figure 278)

. The share differs by 28 percentage

points between the institution of higher education with the lowest and

highest share. This discrepancy can be partially explained by the fact that

the selection of the field of study depends on the social origin. For exam-

ple, the degree courses of medicine and the technical sciences are chosen

particularly frequently by the children of academics. In addition, the fields

of study at the universities are represented differently. The level of edu-

cation in the population of the university canton (as well as it catchment

regions) also influences the composition of the student body, as a large

number of students choose the university which is closest to where they

live

(Denzler & Wolter, 2010).

However, even regardless of these two fac-

tors, differences of over 20 percentage points can be observed. ETH Lau-

sanne proves to be by far the most socially selective institution of higher

education, followed by the Universities of St. Gallen and the ETH Zurich.

How the substantial differences can be explained is not known in detail. In

the case of the two ETHs and the University of St. Gallen, which attract

students from large parts of Switzerland, the greater distance to the insti-

tutions of higher education, which for students is bound up with additional

costs, as well as the reputation of a particularly sophisticated and elite

institution of higher education will, however, likely favour the socially

selective choice.

278 Differences

in social

selectivity between universities,

2020

Deviation from average in share of students

with at least one parent with a university

degree; only Bachelor’s students, excluding

foreign educated students

Data: FSO (SSEE); calculations: SCCRE

USI

ETHZ

EPFL

-20

-10

Percentage points

Observable

For the same subject area and same

tertiary ratio in the cantons of origin

Differences in academic success

Social inequalities are not only observed at access to university education

but also in the probability of academic success

(→ figure 279)

. Students with

a migration background are less likely to obtain a Bachelor’s degree at uni-

versity than students without a migration background. With the same

characteristics – in other words, the same gender, age, education qualifi-

cation of parents, admission qualification, time of entrance to study, field

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252

universities Equity

of study and same university at entrance to study – only the migrants of

the first generation (Swiss-educated foreign nationals) indicate a signifi-

cantly lower probability of success. The success rate also varies according

to the parents’ educational level. The graduation rate tends to be higher

among students whose parents have a tertiary educational qualification

than among those whose parents do not have any post-compulsory educa-

tional qualification. The differences prove to be statistically insignificant in

the sample examined (SSEE 2013), but other studies for German-speaking

Switzerland based on register data indicate significant differences by edu-

cational background

(Diem, 2021).

Students who claim to struggle with

financial difficulties and those who complain about poor health are also

less successful in their studies.

279 University

Bachelor’s degree up to six years following

enrolment by students’ characteristics

Probability of success of students who were admitted to studies in 2011 or 2012

Data: FSO (SSEE 2013, LABB); calculations: SCCRE

The

green bars

reflect the effectively

observable probability of attaining a

Bachelor’s degree up to six years after

admission to studies.

The

blue bars

represent the probability

of success with the same characteristics

(gender, age, migration background,

highest educational qualification of parents,

financial difficulties, state of health,

admission qualification, gap years before

admission to studies, field of studies and

tier-one university at admission to studies).

Only persons with valid information on all

variables have been taken into account.

Migration background

Without migration background

generation

generation, Swiss-educated students

generation, foreign-educated students

Highest qualification of parents

No post-compulsory education

Upper-secondary education: VET

Upper-sec. education: General education

Professional education

Higher education institution

Financial difficulties

Hardly any financial difficulties

Major financial difficulties

Health

Good to very good

Average to (very) bad

Observable

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

With identical characteristics

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Equity universities 253

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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UNIVERSITIES OF

APPLIED SCIENCES

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256

universities of applied sciences Context

Context

The

facts and figures in this chapter

relate to universities of applied

sciences without taking account of

the integrated universities of teach-

er education (UTE). The latter are

dealt with in the

chapter Universities

of teacher education, page 285.

Continued education and training is

addressed in the chapter

Continuing

education and training, page 331.

The number of enrolled students is of paramount importance to the indi-

vidual universities of applied sciences (UAS), as they need to make appro-

priate adjustments to their course offering – not only the infrastructure and

individual lectures but also the staffing. In addition, the funding provided

to universities is highly dependent on student numbers

(→ chapter Ter-

tiary-level education, page 193,

→

Efficiency/costs, Seite 276).

The number of students depends on many different factors. One key

factor is the number of people with a federal vocational, specialised or

academic baccalaureate – and this number in turn depends on demograph-

ics and on the structure of the feeder schools. Another key factor are the

transition rates to universities of applied sciences, which are influenced

by the economic situation, or rather by competition in the job market

(Bächli & Tsankova, 2020).

Other factors include the number of students

entering with other Swiss or foreign admission qualifications – the latter are

referred to as international students or foreign-educated foreign nationals –

as well as the duration of the (Bachelor’s) course and the transition rates

from the Bachelor’s to the Master’s programme. Overall, the development

of the various factors has led to a constant increase in student numbers

since the universities of applied sciences were founded. In 2021 – that is,

25 years after the Universities of Applied Sciences Act (UASA)

entered

into force – student numbers totalled 78,000 without counting those who

were completing continuing education and training (CET ). Initially, the

number of students enrolled at a university of applied sciences was just

under 5,000.

Demographics and intake of universities of applied sciences

The decade from 2011 to 2021 saw a marked increase in the number of

federal vocational baccalaureates (vBac) completed (+ 14%,

→ figure 280

particularly in the early 2010s. There was also a significant rise in student

numbers at Bachelor’s level despite only slightly increased transition rates

of people with a federal vocational baccalaureate to courses of study at a

university of applied sciences (UAS). Conversely, the number of academic

baccalaureates (Bac) rose only slightly in the observed period, and the tran-

sition rate to universities of applied sciences also remained largely stable.

By contrast, the considerable expansion of upper-secondary specialised

schools

(→ chapter Upper-secondary education, page 111)

and the asso-

ciated increase in the number of specialised baccalaureates (sBac) have

clearly favoured this growth in student numbers. In the second half of the

2010s, there was also an increase in enrolments of students with a foreign

qualification (international students), which contributed to the rise in stu-

dent numbers. Overall, the various factors led to an almost 30% increase

in the number of Bachelor’s students between 2011 and 2021 alone. This

growth in the student population at Bachelor’s level and the expansion

of Master’s degree programmes have led to a sharp rise in the number of

students at Master’s level (+ 104%) – although the transition rate to Mas-

ter’s level has remained relatively stable. When both levels – Bachelor’s and

Bundesgesetz über die Fachhochschulen

of 6 October 1995.

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Context universities

of applied sciences

257

Master’s – are considered, the number of students at universities of applied

sciences rose by more than a third within the aforementioned period.

280 Change

in student numbers and in the number of federal

vocational baccalaureates and enrolments, 2011–2021

Changes with respect to 2011

Data: FSO (SHIS, LABB); calculations: SCCRE

15,000

Change in number of students

12,500

10,000

7,500

5,000

2,500

2011

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

2,500

Change in number of

qualifications or enrolments

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

-500

281 Proportion

of people

who have not (yet) started

tertiary-level education

by type of baccalaureate

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

Baccalaureate

Specialised

baccalaureate

vBac technology

vBac health and

social work

vBac business

vBac other

25%

50%

Bachelor’s students (left scale)

Master’s students (left scale)

No. of federal vocational baccalaureates (right scale)

Enrolments with different Swiss qualification other than vBac/Bac (right scale)

Enrolments with foreign qualification (right scale)

Up to 2 years after completion

of baccalaureate (2019 cohort)

Up to 8 years after completion

of baccalaureate (2013 cohort)

The federal vocational baccalaureate is by far the most numerous admis-

sion qualification for the universities of applied sciences

(→ Institutions,

Seite 259).

As the increase in this type of baccalaureate has flattened off

since the mid-2010s, however, the universities of applied sciences may not

be able to expect the same growth in student numbers in future if they

continue to focus on this part of the population. That being said, the rela-

tively moderate transition rates to tertiary-level education or training open

up hitherto untapped potential for growth among holders of federal voca-

tional baccalaureates

(→ figure 281)

. Of people with a federal vocational

baccalaureate, 10% to 30% undertake no further education or training at

tertiary level, depending on educational orientation, whereas this figure

is just 4% for people with an academic and 8% for people with a special-

ised baccalaureate.

Assuming that the differences in competencies between individuals at

the end of compulsory education are still present on entry to universities

of applied sciences

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools, page 155),

it can

be shown that federal vocational baccalaureate pupils who undertook no

education or training at the tertiary level have a lower competency level,

on average, than those who began a programme at a university of applied

sciences

(→ figure 282)

. A higher transition rate to universities of applied

sciences would result in the entry of more people with comparatively lower

competency levels.

282 Selection

to universities

of applied sciences:

difference in PISA points

Between federal vocational baccalaureate

pupils who entered a UAS and those

who did not enter tertiary-level education

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

Difference in PISA points

Reading

Women

Maths

Men

legend

Federal vocational baccalaureate pupils who

began a course of study at a UAS had scored

10 points better at reading in the PISA test

than those who did not begin education or

training at tertiary level.

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258

universities of applied sciences Context

Forecasts for student numbers

As described above, the development of student numbers at universities

of applied sciences depends on numerous factors. Accordingly, the draw-

ing-up of long-term development forecasts is associated with a great many

uncertainties – and this is reflected in the fact that the “low” and “high”

scenarios published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) differ signif-

icantly from the reference scenario also published by the FSO. For the

universities of applied sciences, the greatest uncertainties relate to the

number of students with a foreign admission qualification who begin a

Bachelor’s or Master’s course, as well as the transition rate of people who

enter a UAS with a federal vocational baccalaureate.

The reference scenario for the development of student numbers up to

2031 is based on the assumption that there will be an increase in not only

the number of federal vocational baccalaureates but also in the transition

rate for people with a federal vocational baccalaureate who begin studying

at a university of applied sciences

(FSO, 2022 m).

Moreover, it is expected

that more people with foreign qualifications – as well as more people with

Swiss qualifications but who lack baccalaureates – will begin studying at

these institutions. It is also assumed that the number of students entering

Master’s level will rise due to the increasing number of UAS qualifications

at Bachelor’s level, as well as the increase in students enrolling with other

Swiss qualifications and foreign qualifications. Based on these assumptions,

a total increase in student numbers by around 14%, or 11,000 students, is

expected between 2021 and 2031

(→ figure 283)

, with growth at Master’s level

likely to be less than at Bachelor’s level ( 7 % versus 15%). Depending on the

forecast scenario, however, growth could be as little as 6% (“low” scenario)

283 Predicted

development of student numbers, 2021–2031

Change compared with 2021

Data: FSO

In 2021,

student numbers

were about

65,000 students at Bachelor’s level

and 13,000 students at Master’s level

(total: 78,000 students).

17,500

Change in number of students

15,000

12,500

10,000

7,500

5,000

2,500

-2,500

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030

2031

Bachelor’s level (reference scenario)

Master’s level (reference scenario)

Total students (reference scenario)

Total students («high» and «low» scenarios)

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Institutions universities

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259

or as much as 22% (“high” scenario). This illustrates the degree of uncer-

tainty surrounding future development: in absolute terms, the “high” and

“low” scenarios differ by around 12,000 students in 2031, which is the

equivalent of 15% of the student numbers in 2021. In the “high” scenario, it

would therefore be necessary to expand the infrastructure significantly rel-

ative to the present day, whereas today’s capacities would probably be suf-

ficient in the “low” scenario. The “high” scenario would also require the

creation of some 1250 new full-time positions (+ 22%) in order to maintain

consistent student-teacher ratios. If such an expansion of the teaching staff

were not possible, the student-teacher ratio would increase from 13.6 to 16.6

students per full-time equivalent (FTE) in the academic staff.

Institutions

The uAS landscape

According to the Federal Act on Funding and Coordination of the Higher

Education Sector (HEdA)

, the current UAS landscape includes one pri-

vate (Kalaidos) and nine public-sector universities of applied sciences as

well as two private UAS institutes

(as at July 2022). The individual univer-

sities of applied sciences consist of several subunits at different geograph-

ical locations, with each campus usually having its own management and

administration.

The various universities of applied sciences differ considerably in

terms of size

(→ figure 284)

. Just 2.0% and 2.5% of students respectively are

enrolled at the two smallest such institutions – Kalaidos and Fachhoch-

schule Graubünden (FHGR). The largest university of applied sciences

is that of Western Switzerland (HES-SO), which was founded as a joint

UAS for all of the western Swiss cantons. In terms of size, it is followed by

Zürcher Fachhochschule (ZFH), which is the largest university of applied

sciences in German-speaking Switzerland. The size disparity between

these two institutions is mainly down to the fact that the areas of health

and social work are smaller at ZFH. This is because the corresponding

courses are also offered at colleges of higher education in German-speak-

ing Switzerland.

Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte

Wissenschaften (ZHAW), Zürcher

Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) and

Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich

(HWZ) have been accredited separate-

ly as universities of applied sciences

or UAS institutes. Together, however,

they are still the constituent parts

of Zürcher Fachhochschule (ZFH) in

accordance with the cantonal law on

universities of applied sciences.

In 2019, the former Fachhochschule

Ostschweiz (FHO) was split up into

Fachhochschule Graubünden (FHGR,

formerly Hochschule für Technik und

Wirtschaft Chur [HTW Chur]) and

Ostschweizer Fachhochschule (OST).

Until the mid-2010s, there was also a

second private university of applied

sciences (Les Roches-Gruyère), which

ceased operating in 2018.

Bundesgesetz über die Förderung der Hochschulen und die Koordination im schweizerischen

Hochschulbereich (HFKG)

of 30 September 2011.

Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich (HWZ) and the Swiss Business School (SBS).

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universities of applied sciences Institutions

284 Number

of students by university of applied sciences, 2021/22

Data: FSO

HES-SO

ZFH

FHNW

HSLU

BFH

SUPSI

OST

FHGR

Kal FH

Haute école spécialisée de Suisse

occidentale

Zürcher Fachhochschule

Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz

Hochschule Luzern

Berner Fachhochschule

Scuola universitaria professionale

della Svizzera italiana

Ostschweizer Fachhochschule

Fachhochschule Graubünden

Kalaidos Fachhochschule

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

HES-SO

ZFH

FHNW

HSLU

BFH

SUPSI

OST

FHGR

Kal FH

Architecture/construction/planning, engineering/IT, chemistry/life sciences, agriculture/forestry

Business, management and services

Design, music, theatre and other arts

Social work, applied psychology, applied linguistics, sport

Health

285 Change

in market shares,

2011–2021

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

HES-SO

OST*

ZFH

BFH

FHGR*

FHNW

SUPSI

Kal FH

HSLU

-2

-1

The two largest fields of study – business, management and services (33%)

and engineering and IT (18%) – and the field of architecture, construction

and planning (6%) are offered by all public universities of applied sciences,

whereas all other fields of study can only be studied at specific universi-

ties. For example, the fields of agriculture and forestry, sport

and applied

linguistics are only available to study at one or two universities of applied

sciences. Although the fields of study on offer differ markedly from one

university to another, the last ten years (2011–2021) have seen barely any

change in the overall relative proportions of students in the individual

fields. The greatest changes were seen in the fields of health, applied psy-

chology (+ 2 percentage points in both cases) and social work (– 2 percent-

age points).

Slight shifts can be observed in the market shares of the individual

universities of applied sciences

(→ figure 285)

. Increases were recorded

in the market shares of Hochschule Luzern (HSLU), Fachhochschule

Graubünden (FHGR), Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW ), Kal-

aidos Fachhochschule and the Scuola universitaria professionale della

Svizzera italiana (SUPSI). These increases were largely due to changes in

the market shares in the STEM subjects (architecture, construction and

planning, engineering and IT, chemistry and life sciences, agriculture and

forestry) and in the field of business, management and services. When it

comes to the other universities of applied sciences, the decreases in stu-

dent shares are partly due to the relative decline of the fields of design and

the arts.

Percentage points

* In the case of OST and FHGR, the changes

were calculated with respect to their predeces-

sor institutions (OST: FHO without HTW Chur;

FHGR: HTW Chur).

4 Sport is only offered as a UAS degree programme at Eidgenössische Hochschule für Sport

(Magglingen), which is a strategic partner institution of Berner Fachhochschule (BFH).

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Institutions universities

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261

Admissions and departures of students

The slight shifts in the market shares of the individual universities of

applied sciences may obscure the fact that they compete between one

another for students. This is clear when one considers the admission of

students from outside the supporting region (incoming) to the individ-

ual universities of applied sciences or the departures of students from the

supporting region (outgoing). These flows can also provide clues regard-

ing expected or perceived differences in the quality of education and the

attractiveness of a university in general. Even when student numbers are

by and large consistent, the admissions and departures of students are also

an important factor when it comes to the funding for the individual uni-

versities of applied sciences

(→ Efficiency/costs, Seite 276).

The four largest fields of study are offered at all universities of applied

sciences (with the exception of social work at FHGR) and together account for

almost three quarters of students. In this context, the figures show that three

universities of applied sciences – Fachhochschule Graubünden, Hochschule

Luzern and Zürcher Fachhochschule – have a positive balance

(→ figure 286)

In other words, at these universities of applied sciences, the number of stu-

dents from outside the supporting region (incoming) exceeds the number

of students who study at a university of applied sciences outside the sup-

porting region (outgoing).

286 Difference

between admissions and departures of students

by university of applied sciences, 2021

Only Students resident in Switzerland prior to starting the course

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

Net balance rate

-45%

OST

HES-SO

BFH

FHNW

SUPSI

FHGR

HSLU

ZFH

-1500

-1000

-500

500

1000

1500

2000

-30%

-15%

15%

30%

45%

60%

The

net balance rate

indicates, as a total

for all fields of study, the difference between

the number of students from outside the

supporting region (incoming) and the number

of students who study outside the supporting

region (outgoing) relative to the number of

students from the supporting region.

The calculations do not include private

subunits or subunits financed by foundations

(e.g. Fernfachhochschule Schweiz, which is

part of SUPSI). In the cantons that are spon-

sors of two universities of applied sciences

(Bern and Schwyz), the students were allocated

to the two respective universities according to

their distribution.

Difference in number of students

Architecture, construction and planning

Engineering and IT

Business, management and services

Net balance rate (total for all subjects)

Social work

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universities of applied sciences Institutions

Practice-integrated STeM degree

As part of a pilot scheme (2015–2025)

aimed at alleviating the shortage

of skilled workers in STEM, the

universities of applied sciences can

offer practice-integrated degree

programmes in STEM subjects that

enable people with an academic

baccalaureate or a federal vocational

baccalaureate in an unrelated field of

study to enter a course of study at a

UAS directly. To make up for the lack

of work experience, these Bachelor’s

degrees last four years. An evaluation

of the pilot scheme

(econcept, 2019)

produced a positive overall assess-

ment. To evaluate whether these prac-

tice-integrated degree programmes

are also helping to reduce the short-

age of skilled workers, an impact

analysis will be carried out in 2023

and will serve as the basis for decid-

ing whether to adopt the study model

on a permanent basis.

Ostschweizer Fachhochschule loses the highest number of students, and

the negative balances at the university of applied sciences of French-speak-

ing (HES-SO) and Italian-speaking Switzerland (SUPSI) can be partly

explained by the fact that French and Italian are uncommon outside of the

supporting region. Conversely, German is also spoken in some support-

ing cantons of HES-SO.

The picture presented by the positive and negative balances is largely

confirmed if all fields of study are included in the comparison and if the

differences between admissions and departures are considered in relation

to the number of students from the region of origin. In general, offering

a comprehensive range of subjects has a positive effect on the net balance,

which explains the relatively low negative balance rate of Berner Fachhoch-

schule when all subjects are taken into consideration. The net balance rate

also depends on the size of the supporting region.

Of the two universities of applied sciences of French- and Italian-speak-

ing Switzerland, SUPSI loses a considerably larger share of students to

other universities of applied sciences than HES-SO despite the compre-

hensive range of subjects it offers. Overall, one in five Italian speakers who

begins their studies at a university of applied sciences leaves their region

to attend a university of applied science in German-speaking Switzerland;

one in eight people from Italian-speaking Switzerland begins their studies

at HES-SO

(FSO, 2020i).

On the other hand, only 4% of French-speaking

students enrol at a university of applied sciences in German-speaking

Switzerland and only 0.2% enrol at SUPSI. In recent years, there has also

been a sharp increase in the proportion of Italian-speaking students who

begin their studies at a university of applied sciences in German-speaking

Switzerland, whereas transitions to HES-SO have decreased slightly

(ibid.).

However, even for the universities of applied sciences in German-speaking

Switzerland, the trend is for a growing number of students to study outside

of their own supporting region (at another university in German-speak-

ing Switzerland), which points to more intensive competition between

universities.

Admission to universities of applied sciences

The Federal Act on Funding and Coordination of the Higher Education

Sector sets out three channels for starting a Bachelor’s course at a univer-

sity of applied sciences (Art. 25 para. 1). The first – considered the main

path – is by means of a federal vocational baccalaureate, supplemented by

a programme of vocational and professional education and training in a

vocation related to the field of study. The second route entails completing

an academic baccalaureate combined with at least one year of work expe-

rience, while the third route is a specialised baccalaureate in an occupa-

tional field related to the field of study. In addition, however, other admis-

sion routes are also possible (Art. 25 para. 2 or UAS Admission Ordinance

;

swissuniversities, 2015):

for example, people with a federal vocational or

specialised baccalaureate unrelated to the field of study are admitted if

they can show at least one year of work experience in a relevant occupation.

Verordnung des Hochschulrates über die Zulassung zu den Fachhochschulen und den Fach-

hochschulinstituten (Zulassungsverordnung FH)

of 20 May 2021.

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263

Another option is to complete professional education. The universities of

applied sciences also have the option of setting additional entrance exams

and do so in many fields (applied psychology, design, health, social work,

music, theatre and other arts, applied linguistics, sport); in some cases, a

numerus clausus is also adopted.

Formal admission criteria help the universities of applied sciences to

develop a distinct profile. These criteria differ from those of conventional

universities in that they are accessible to people with a federal vocational or

specialised baccalaureate in conjunction with at least a year of work experi-

ence. As a fundamental admission requirement, the baccalaureate is a key

means of differentiating universities of applied sciences from professional

education, and particularly from colleges of higher education.

Although the federal vocational baccalaureate still represents the main

access route to universities of applied sciences, accounting for 50% of all

admission qualifications (or 60% of all Swiss admission qualifications),

the enrolled students have a very wide range of admission qualifications

(→ figure 287)

. Nevertheless, the degree of diversity in terms of access routes

varies considerably from one field of study to another.

287 Enrolments

to Bachelor’s courses by admission qualification,

2021

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

Applied psychology

Sport*

Engineering and IT

Business, management and services

Chemistry and life sciences

Architecture, construction and planning

Applied linguistics

Agriculture and forestry

Social work

Design

Health

Music, theatre and other arts

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Federal vocational baccalaureate

Baccalaureate

Foreign qualification

Specialised baccalaureate

Other Swiss qualification

Other

* The values are based on a sample size of < 50 students.

6 In the fields of art and applied linguistics, these tests replace the requirement to prove at

least one year of work experience.

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universities of applied sciences Institutions

288 Proportion

of students who

have previously dropped out of

a course of study at a university

As a percentage of all students with an

academic baccalaureate who have begun

a Bachelor’s course at a university of applied

sciences by field of study

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

2011

2013

STEM

Business, management and services

Average

Other fields

2015

2017

2019

2021

Health

Design and arts

On average, two out of five students with an academic baccalaureate have

already begun and dropped out of a course of study at a (conventional) uni-

versity before enrolling at a university of applied sciences

(→ figure 288)

There has been no significant change in this proportion in the last ten years,

although the percentage values differ considerably between different fields

of study. The proportions are particularly high in STEM subjects and very

low in the fields of design and the arts. The number of students who pre-

viously dropped out of a course of study at a university is particularly high

in fields of study that are also offered at universities. These students fre-

quently continue their studies in the same subject at a university of applied

sciences.

Although the make-up of admission qualifications changed in the five

years between 2015/16 and 2020/21, there is nothing to suggest that the

profiles of the different university types have therefore become less sharply

defined. The proportion of academic baccalaureates fell in many fields of

study, whereas the picture was more mixed with regard to federal voca-

tional and specialised baccalaureates

(→ figure 289)

. However, there has

been a particular drop in the proportions of students with a federal voca-

tional or specialised baccalaureate in fields of study where these admission

qualifications are firmly established or widespread (federal vocational bac-

calaureate: engineering and IT, business, management and services; spe-

cialised baccalaureate: health, social work). On the other hand, there has

been an increase in professional education qualifications (including the

preparatory course to transition from professional education to a UAS).

These are included in the “other qualifications” category.

289 Change

in admission qualifications on entry to Bachelor’s

courses between 2015/2016 and 2020/2021

Change based on the averages for 2015 and 2016 versus 2020 and 2021; only students resident

in Switzerland prior to starting the course

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

The “other qualifications” category includes

the subcategories “other Swiss qualification”,

“foreign qualification” and “other”, of which the

first subcategory is the largest by far.

Engineering and IT

Architecture, construction, planning

Chemistry and life sciences

Design

Business, management and services

Social work

Health

Music, theatre and other arts

Agriculture and forestry

Sport

Applied psychology

Applied linguistics

-20

-10

Percentage points

Federal vocational baccalaureate

Baccalaureate

Specialised baccalaureate

Other qualifications

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Institutions universities

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265

Performance mandate and profile development

Like universities and universities of teacher education, the universities

of applied sciences are subject to a four-fold performance mandate. Their

core tasks include education (basic education and training), research and

development (including knowledge and technology transfer), services, and

continuing education and training

(swissuniversities, 2021b).

The principal

mandates of universities of applied sciences are, firstly, to provide scientif-

ically sound Bachelor’s level education of experts who can quickly make a

productive contribution in the labour market and, secondly, to engage in

applied research and development. This is also reflected in the proportions

of their staff ’s working time

(→ figure 290)

The pronounced practical and labour-market orientation of universities

of applied sciences is one of the key differences from the teaching delivered

at conventional universities. Among other things, this is ensured by the

practical orientation and experience of the teaching staff and via practi-

cal projects and work experience during the course of study

(Baer-Baldauf,

2020).

Compared with professional education, on the other hand, the

teaching at universities of applied sciences is more strongly based on

science and research. Likewise, in the area of research, the concept of appli-

cation orientation serves as a key differentiator from conventional univer-

sities, whereas – on the professional education side – colleges of higher edu-

cation have no explicit research mandate.

Strengthening the profiles of the courses offered at the tertiary level is

a declared objective of the Confederation and the cantons

(EAER & EDK,

2019;

objective 4 of the joint declaration on education policy). The aim is

to reinforce the characteristics of each profile and to continue seeking a

sharper distinction between the individual university types with a view

to making them complementary to one another in teaching and research.

The findings of an explorative analysis

(SSC, 2020)

suggest that this is

working, for there is little sign of convergence between universities of

applied sciences and (conventional) universities.

In the first few years following the establishment of the universities

of applied sciences, the field of applied research and development was

still poorly developed in most subject areas, and it took time to raise its

profile. In the last ten years – between 2011 and 2021 – the proportion of

research activities, measured in full-time equivalents of staff, rose by an

average of 5 percentage points

(→ figure 291)

. There was particularly sig-

nificant growth in the fields of chemistry and life sciences, design, and

social work, where the increases were between 8 and 9 percentage points.

By contrast, zero growth was recorded in the field of architecture, con-

struction and planning – whose high proportion of research (35%) was

already at a comparable level in 2011. Overall, the differences in research

intensity between the different fields of study have barely diminished over

time. The proportion of research continues to be by far the highest in fields

that were already more research-intensive when the universities of applied

sciences were founded – in the natural sciences and technical fields of study.

With regard to the impact of applied research and development in STEM,

analyses suggest that research activities have a positive impact on regional

innovation and the regional labour market, at least in regions with large

labour markets

(Pfister et al., 2021; Schlegel et al., 2022).

This is in line with

290 Breakdown

of human

resources by activity type,

2011 and 2021

Measured in FTEs; without the area

of administration and central services

Data: FSO

2011

2021

25%

50%

75%

100%

Teaching (basic education and training)

Continuing education and training

Applied research and development

Services

291 Change

in proportion

of applied research and

development, 2011–2021

By field of study, measured in FTEs of staff;

without the area of administration and central

services

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

Arts, design

Health

Business, management and services

Social work, applied psychology

STEM

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266

universities of applied sciences Institutions

the political objectives that were set out when the universities of applied

sciences were founded.

extra-occupational degree programmes and part-time studies

In comparison with universities and universities of teacher education,

the strong practical orientation of degree programmes at universities of

applied sciences means that these programmes more frequently attract

people who were in employment prior to starting their studies and want

to remain so during the course. Accordingly, the universities of applied

sciences have always offered extra-occupational – or rather part-time –

degree programmes, which enable students to pursue employment or other

commitments alongside their studies. Offering a wide range of extra-

occupational degree programmes is a characteristic feature of universities

of applied sciences

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193).

On average, almost one in three people enrolled at a university of

applied sciences is studying part-time, but the proportion of part-time

students varies widely between fields of study

(→ figure 292)

. The highest

proportions are found in the fields of business, management and services as

well as applied psychology. Since 2011, the proportion of part-time degree

programmes has increased by a total of 6 to 7 percentage points, under-

lining the level of demand for this form of studies.

However, employment is only the primary motivation for just under

two thirds of students on a part-time programme. For the other third,

employment is not the main reason for choosing to study part-time

(FSO, 2020f ).

The focus on employment is most common in the field of

business, management and services, with most other fields of study show-

ing a more balanced relationship between professional focus and a focus

on other activities.

292 Proportion

of part-time

students by field of study,

2011 and 2021

On entry to the Bachelor’s course; part-time

students including extra-occupational students

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

Agricult./forestry

Design

Arts

Health

Chemistry/LS

Arch./constr./plan.

Applied linguistics

Social work

Engineering and IT

Sport

Business/services

Appl. Psychology

2011

20%

40%

2021

60%

LS Life Sciences

education at Master’s and doctoral level

At universities of applied sciences, the Bachelor’s degree is considered

the standard qualification for gaining professional-level skills, with the

exception of music, where the Master’s degree is considered the stand-

ard qualification. However, the option of completing a Master’s degree

is available in all fields of study. On average, the proportion of students

who transition to Master’s level in the two years following their Bachelor’s

degree is 21% (2019 Bachelor’s graduation cohort) – although the demand

for education at Master’s level varies strongly depending on the field of

study. By far the highest transition rates are recorded in the fields of arts and

sport as well as in applied psychology

(→ figure 293)

. In the case of the arts,

the high rate of transitions to Master’s level can primarily be attributed to

the field of music. In applied psychology and sport, the high rate of Master’s

transitions can be explained by the fact that a Master’s degree is required

for the title of “psychologist” and for the ability to teach at lower-second-

ary level. There is very low demand for Master’s degree programmes in

the fields of social work and health, where barely a tenth of all Bachelor’s

graduates begin a Master’s programme.

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Institutions universities

of applied sciences

267

In recent years (between the 2012 and 2019 graduation cohorts), the

frequency of transitions to a Master’s course has increased by an average

of 3 percentage points. The increase in the transition rate can be observed

in all fields except in the arts and in applied linguistics.

293 Proportion

of transfers to a Master’s course

In the two years after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from a UAS, 2012–2019;

including transitions to a UAS/UTE Master’s programme; only selected fields of study

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Social work, health

Business, management and services, design

Architecture, construction and planning, engineering and IT

Chemistry and life sciences

Applied psychology

Music, theatre and other arts

Although only conventional universities are entitled to confer the highest

academic degree, the doctorate,

it is possible for universities of applied

sciences to provide doctoral courses in collaboration with a university.

This allows universities of applied sciences to impart a specific UAS pro-

file to the education of their scientific graduates by helping to design the

education and by ensuring practical and application-oriented research. At

the same time, the involvement of universities guarantees access to scien-

tific research at the universities as well as high scientific standards.

To promote these forms of collaboration, the Swiss Conference of

Higher Education Institutions (SHK) provided and is providing project-re-

lated contributions in the years 2017–2021 and 2021–2024 to support doc-

toral programmes based on collaboration between a university of applied

sciences on the one hand and a conventional university on the other. This

collaboration can be with either a Swiss or a foreign university (for fields

where Swiss universities are not well established). The project funding was

specifically intended to support the supervision of doctoral students at uni-

versities of applied sciences by funding projects in which representatives

Verordnung des Hochschulrates über die Koordination der Lehre an den Schweizer Hochschulen

(“University Council ordinance on the coordination of teaching at Swiss universities”) of

29 November 2019.

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268

universities of applied sciences Institutions

at both universities of applied sciences and universities were involved in

supervision.

In 2019, the number of doctoral students who had begun a doctorate

in the years 2016 to 2018 and were participating in a collaboration pro-

gramme of this kind, were employed at a university of applied sciences

as part of a UAS project, or had an official supervisor who worked at the

university of applied sciences came to a total of around 430 individuals

(swissuniversities, 2020a),

83% of whom were employed at a university

of applied sciences. In terms of the academic staff of the universities of

applied sciences, approximately 2% were therefore on a doctoral course.

Only slightly over half of all doctoral students took part in a programme

involving a Swiss university, with the remainder entering into a partner-

ship with a foreign university

(swissuniversities, 2020a).

The number of students in doctoral education varies widely between

the different fields of study

(→ figure 294)

. The highest number of doctoral

students can be found in music, theatre and other arts, followed by engi-

neering/IT, business, management and services, and health. Overall, these

four fields of study account for some two thirds of all people who are doing

a doctorate. Interestingly, over half of those employed at a university of

applied sciences had a diploma (Master’s degree, Lizenziat) from a conven-

tional university and only just under a third held a Master’s degree from a

university of applied sciences.

294 Number

of doctoral students by field of study

and admission qualification, 2019

Data:

swissuniversities (2020a)

Music, theatre and other arts

Engineering and IT

Business, management and services

Health

Chemistry and life sciences

Social work

Other humanities and social sciences

Design

Psychology

Forestry and agricultural science

Architecture, construction and planning

Interdisciplinary sciences

Pedagogy and educational science

Other exact and experimental sciences

Linguistics

Law

Sport

University diploma

Other qualification

100

The

data on doctoral students

includes all

individuals who were enrolled on a doctorate in

2019 and had begun the doctoral programme

in the years 2016–2018. It includes all Swiss

universities of applied sciences but not

universities of teacher education that are

integrated into a university of applied sciences.

The numbers include a) doctoral students

who are doing their doctorate as part of a UAS

collaborative programme with a university in

Switzerland or abroad that is entitled to confer

doctorates (regardless of their employment

situation), b) doctoral students one of whose

official supervisors works at the UAS and

c) doctoral students who are employed at

a UAS as part of a UAS project but are not

supervised by UAS staff.

UAS diploma

Not indicated

University and UAS diploma

Diploma 2

cycle higher-education qualification

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Effectiveness universities

of applied sciences

269

effectiveness

The primary aim of teaching at universities of applied sciences is to train

students for occupations that require the application of either scientific

knowledge and methods or artistic and design skills (see HEdA). The

Qualification Framework for the Swiss Higher Education Area (nqf.ch-HS)

sets out the minimum competencies that students should have at the end

of their studies

(swissuniversities, 2021b).

As yet, there are no national or

international tests that could be used to review the stated competencies

in a standardised manner for Switzerland, although indicators of labour

market integration are used to obtain clues as to the effectiveness of UAS

education. These indicators may not represent the competencies directly,

but they can provide information as to whether there is demand in the

labour market for the competencies acquired at the university. Analyses

of the return on education are presented in the

chapter Cumulative effects,

page 355.

The effectiveness of education is also measured using the indicator

“graduation rate” – or rather “drop-out rate” – although this can also only

be interpreted as a limited measure of competencies: on the one hand, the

graduation rate can be controlled by the universities regardless of the com-

petencies achieved, while on the other hand it also depends on factors that

are beyond the influence of the universities. As further indirect indica-

tors of the effectiveness of the education, a consideration is also made of

the competencies of the lecturers and the evaluation of the education by

the students.

The

Qualification Framework

for

the Swiss Higher Education Area

summarises the target skills to be

achieved by the students at the end

of the respective study cycles in the

following five categories: “knowledge

and understanding”, “application

of knowledge and understanding”,

“judgement”, “communication skills”

and “self-directed learning”.

Competencies of lecturers

The level of competencies at the end of the course of study is heavily influ-

enced by the skills and competencies that the students already possess at

the time of enrolment. Regardless of this, however, the quality of the edu-

cation essentially depends on the competencies and/or qualifications of

the lecturers at the universities of applied sciences. In general, a double

competency profile is desirable for academic staff at universities of applied

sciences. In other words, the aim is for these individuals to have not only

academic competencies but also vocational skills. This is intended to fos-

ter the successful and rapid labour market integration of UAS graduates.

A survey of lecturers at universities of applied sciences and universi-

ties of teacher education in relation to their qualification profiles

(Böckel-

mann et al., 2019)

found that, on average, almost 60% firmly believe they

have a double competency profile, although the proportions vary strongly

depending on the field of study

(→ figure 295)

. If one includes the respond-

ents who answered the question about a double competency profile with

“partly yes”, this proportion increases to an average of 90% – with smaller

differences between the fields of study. Assuming that the respondents’

answers correspond to their actual qualifications, a double competency

profile is present in a large proportion of lecturers. One can, however,

assume that self-assessment leads to a slight upward bias in the results.

Specifically, because of their educational biography, almost 30% of UAS

lecturers enter the profession with no relevant scientific competencies

(ibid.),

and it is questionable whether or rather to what extent they have

In order to promote a

double compe-

tency profile

in young academics at

universities of applied sciences, the

Swiss Conference of Higher Educa-

tion Institutions (SHK) supports pilot

programmes for the development

and implementation of new models

for the promotion of young academ-

ics via project-specific contributions

(swissuniversities, 2021a).

This funding

is intended to help ensure that uni-

versities of applied sciences have a

sufficient number of adequately qual-

ified members of staff and can further

strengthen their profile at the inter-

face between science and practice.

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universities of applied sciences Effectiveness

acquired the missing competencies for carrying out science-based work

and research projects as part of their work. Nevertheless, according to their

responses, 90% of lecturers have practical experience in a potential future

occupational field for the students.

295 Proportion

of lecturers who claim to have a double competency

profile by field of study, 2018

Data:

Böckelmann et al. (2019)

Applied psychology

Applied linguistics

Social work

Health

Chemistry and life sciences

Design and art

Music, theatre, film

Universities of teacher education

Agriculture and forestry

Business administration

Engineering and IT

Architecture and construction

Yes

20%

40%

Partly yes

60%

80%

100%

The gap between these figures and 100% is made up of the answers “no”, “partly no” and

“don’t know”, with the “don’t know” category accounting for almost 5% points of the answers.

The probability that lecturers will claim to have a double competency

profile is not connected with the length of their practical experience or

with the number of years of service at the university of applied sciences

(Böckelmann et al., 2019).

However, people with a Master’s degree from a

university or a doctorate tend to claim to have a double competency pro-

file more often than lecturers with a Bachelor’s degree or a UAS Master’s

degree.

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Effectiveness universities

of applied sciences

271

evaluation of the course of study

Graduates’ evaluation of the course of study can also provide clues as to the

quality of the education. The question of whether they would choose the

same field of study at the same university again is answered in the affirm-

ative by a good 70% of respondents. The percentage of “yes” answers varies

strongly depending on the field of study, accounting for 53% of answers

in relation to applied linguistics and 89% in relation to agriculture and

forestry. Moreover, differences also exist between the universities of

applied sciences irrespective of the field of study

(→ figure 296)

: the propor-

tion of students who would choose the same course of study again is at its

lowest at Ostschweizer Fachhochschule and Fachhochschule Graubünden,

while the highest values are found at Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz . If

the fields of study are the same, there is a difference of 7 percentage points

between these institutions. Assuming that the survey results reflect the

quality of education, it would appear from the differences between the

universities of applied sciences that these institutions have a significant

ability to influence the quality of education by adopting suitable course

structures or through the curricula, recruitment of lecturers, or higher

education didactics.

296 Evaluation

of course of study

by university of applied sciences,

2021

Proportion of graduates who would choose

the same field of study at the same university

again: difference with respect to the average

for all public universities of applied sciences

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

OST

FHGR

BFH

HES-SO

ZFH

HSLU

SUPSI

FHNW

Successful completion of studies

Assuming that the successful completion of studies reflects the acquisition

of the target competencies (and therefore of the quality of the education),

the graduation rate can provide an indication of the effectiveness of the edu-

cation at universities of applied sciences. However, the rate also depends on

the selection strategy and/or the quality standards that a university applies.

A low graduation rate may therefore also point to high quality standards in

a programme, while a high rate, by the same token, may be an indicator of

more modest requirements. The graduation rate can therefore only serve

as a reliable indicator of the effectiveness of a degree programme as long

as it is certain that universities do not impose lower qualification require-

ments than are expected by the labour market. It should also be borne in

mind that the graduation rate is determined not only by the requirements

of the universities and the quality of education they provide, but also by

the make-up of the student population. Universities of applied sciences can

influence this composition through selection for and during the course of

study. This is because, unlike universities, which are not allowed to select

their Bachelor’s students except in the fields of medicine and sport sciences,

universities of applied sciences are free to vet prospective students through

corresponding entry procedures – and make use of this option in various

fields of study.

On average, four out of five students earn a Bachelor’s degree within

eight years of entering a course of study, with the graduation rate vary-

ing between 75% and 100% depending on the field of study

(→ figure 297)

As one would expect, graduation rates are higher in fields of study where

provision is made for entrance exams.

-6

-4

-2

Percentage points

Observable

For the same fields of study

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universities of applied sciences Effectiveness

297 Graduation

rate up to eight years after starting Bachelor’s

course by field of study

For the 2013 intake of students who were living in Switzerland prior to starting the course

Data: FSO

Chemistry and life sciences

Business, management and services

Engineering and IT

Applied linguistics*

Architecture, construction and planning

Agriculture and forestry

Health*

Social work*

Applied psychology*

Design*

Music, theatre and other arts*

Sport* **

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Bachelor’s degree in first chosen field of study

Bachelor’s degree in another field of study or at another university type

* Field of study with evaluation of suitability

** The values in sport are based on student numbers of < 50 students.

298 Influence

of drop-outs from

universities on the graduation

rate of other UAS students

Effect of a drop-out from a university in a

class of 20 at a university of applied sciences;

baseline results

Data:

Goller et al. (2022)

Completion of

studies within

5 years

Drop-out

after 1 year

-2

-1

Percentage points

Impact of university drop-out

from another field of study

Impact of university drop-out

from same field of study

An individual’s academic success is also influenced by the quality of their

fellow students. In general, fellow students with a high level of cogni-

tive abilities have a positive impact on the graduation rate, although stu-

dents at the bottom end of the performance scale can also experience neg-

ative effects due to the presence of highly capable peers

(Feld & Zölitz, 2017;

Humlum & Thorsager, 2021; Thiemann, 2021).

According to a recent study,

the graduation rate at universities of applied sciences is also influenced by

people who have dropped out of a course at a university before entering

the university of applied sciences

(Goller et al., 2022)

– and the direction

of this effect depends on whether they studied the same subject at the uni-

versity. Students who studied a different subject have a positive impact on

the graduation rate of fellow students, whereas students who studied the

same subject reduce the graduation rate or, rather, contribute to a higher

probability of dropping out

(→ figure 298)

. The explanation for these differ-

ent relationships may well be that students who studied the same subject at

the university have a significant head start in terms of subject knowledge.

legend

A person who, before entering the university

of applied sciences, dropped out of a course

of study at a university and studied a different

field there than they did at the university of

applied sciences increases the probability

of successful graduation of the other UAS

students by 1.8 percentage points.

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Effectiveness universities

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273

Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on study progression

As part of the measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, universities were

closed in March 2020 and face-to-face teaching was replaced with online

tuition

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193).

These changes had

an impact on the students, the lecturers, and the institutions themselves. As

well as affecting teaching and the holding of examinations, the measures

also meant that, in many cases, infrastructure had to be provided for the new

formats. In the absence of comparable tests, it is not known what impact this

distance learning had on the students’ acquisition of skills. However, data

relating to enrolment and graduation gives some indication of the extent to

299 Drop-out/interruption

rate

by stage of degree, 2017–2021

UAS students entering a Bachelor’s course

for the first time

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

12%

10%

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

which the COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased drop-outs from or in-

terruptions of studies in the short term. Analyses show that fewer people

actually left the university system without a qualification in the academic year

2020/21 than did in previous years (→ figure 299). A decrease in exit rates was

particularly observed for students in the second or third year of their studies,

whereas there were no significant changes among first-year students. The

academic year 2021/22 presents more of a mixed picture. While it was again

relatively rare for second-year students to drop out of their course of study,

an increased drop-out rate is seen among students in their first year.

No systematic changes can be observed in relation to study intensity, but

analyses of the data relating to transitions to a Master’s course indicate that

the rate of direct transitions increased in the years 2020 and 2021. It remains

to be seen whether this increase will be reflected in an increase in the overall

transition rate or whether it will be offset by a reduction in late transitions

in subsequent years.

After first year of study

After second year of study

After third year of study

legend

In 2020 and 2021, 5% of Bachelor’s students

dropped out of their course of study after the

second academic year (blue line). In previ-

ous years, the drop-out rate was significantly

higher at 7%.

labour market success

Successful labour market integration is a key criterion for evaluating the

education delivered at universities of applied sciences, for these institu-

tions are mandated to provide education that is relevant to the world of

work. Therefore, successful and rapid labour market entry provides an indi-

cation of whether the course of study has provided students with skills that

are relevant to the labour market. However, the graduates’ employability

depends not only on their higher education but also on the competencies

they brought with them at the time of enrolment, on selection by the uni-

versity of applied sciences during the course of studies, on work experi-

ence, and on the regional labour market situation at the time of graduation.

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universities of applied sciences Effectiveness

comparison with previous years,

the employment rate was slightly

higher and the proportion of people in

qualification-appropriate employment

was slightly lower in 2021. This change

was primarily due to the revision of

the questionnaire and the associated

redefinition of the employment rate

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education,

page 193).

In addition, the COVID-19

pandemic may also have had a positive

impact on the number of people in

employment.

Analyses of graduate surveys suggest that graduates of universities of

applied sciences integrate into the labour market relatively well overall.

The 2021 Graduate Survey revealed that, one year after completing their

studies, an average of 93% of graduates are in employment and 3% are

unemployed according to the International Labour Organization (ILO)

definition

(→ chapter Universities, page 225).

Five years after graduation,

the proportion of unemployed individuals was still 4% and the ILO unem-

ployment rate was less than 2% (for the 2016 graduation cohort), which is

considerably lower than the Swiss average. Four out of five people (80%)

who were in employment one year after completing their studies at a uni-

versity of applied sciences were in an occupation that required a univer-

sity degree or that was at least appropriate to the specialist skills acquired

during the course of study. The reason why this figure is not higher may

be that certain positions are equally suitable for graduates of professional

education (particularly from the colleges of higher education) or holders

of CET certificates (e.g. MAS).

When it comes to entering the labour market, there are clear differences

between the fields of study both in terms of labour market participation

and in the quality of employment

(→ figure 300)

. The highest employment

rates and proportions of people in qualification-appropriate employment

are found in the areas of health, social work, and architecture, construction

and planning. The employment rate is at its lowest in the arts and design

despite admission restrictions that seek to absorb some of the expected

difficulties in labour market integration through rigorous selection. A

significantly below-average proportion of people in qualification-appro-

priate employment is also seen in fields that one would assume were in

high demand due to the shortage of skilled workers – particularly the

field of business, management and services. For those who completed

their studies in 2016, the proportion in qualification-appropriate employ-

ment increased by an average of 2 percentage points (from 79% to 81%)

in the time between the first and fifth year after the completion of stud-

ies.

Accordingly, however, the rate of people not in adequate employ-

ment remains substantial even five years after the completion of studies

and cannot therefore simply be an entry phenomenon.

figure 300

the increase in qualification appropriateness is only partly visible,

because different cohorts are depicted. The figures for one year after graduation are

based on the 2020 graduation cohort, whereas those for five years after the completion

of studies relate to the 2016 cohort.

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Effectiveness universities

of applied sciences

275

300 Labour

market situation one year and five years

after completion of studies, 2021

Graduates at Bachelor’s level, provided they did not begin a Master’s course,

and at Master’s level; data points with sample sizes of < 50 are not shown.

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

An employed person is described as being in

qualification-appropriate employment

if the

job that person is doing a) requires a university

degree or b) displays a clear match with the

professional skills acquired during the studies

(scores of 4 and 5 on a scale from 1 “not at all

appropriate” to 5 “highly appropriate”).

Music, theatre and other arts

Design

Applied linguistics

Business, management and services

Chemistry and life sciences

Engineering and IT

Architecture, construction, planning

Social work

Agriculture and forestry

Health

Applied psychology

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Employment rate one year after graduation

Proportion in qualification-appropriate employment 1 year after graduation

Proportion in qualification-appropriate employment 5 years after graduation

The question of the extent to which universities of applied sciences can

influence the successful integration of their graduates into the labour

market, e.g. through suitable design of degree programmes, through teach-

ing, or through selection policies, is not an easy one to answer. However,

the fact that it certainly is possible to influence this integration is clear from

the observation that the labour market opportunities of graduates one year

after completing their studies vary between the different universities of

applied sciences

(→ figure 301)

– irrespective of the fields of study offered

(and, in the case of the employment rate, irrespective of the regional unem-

ployment rate). For example, the employment rate of graduates of Berner

Fachhochschule is approximately 3 percentage points higher than that of

graduates of the Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana,

while there is barely any difference in the proportion of people in quali-

fication-appropriate employment (among those in employment). Mean-

while, despite a comparable employment rate to that of the Haute école spé-

cialisée de Suisse occidentale, the proportion of graduates of Hochschule

Luzern in qualification-appropriate employment is 4 percentage points

higher. Differences between the universities of applied sciences can be

partly attributed to unobservable differences in local labour markets, but

one can rule out varying unemployment rates from one major region to

another and the different range of fields on offer as possible explanations.

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276

universities of applied sciences Efficiency/costs

301 Differences

in graduates’ labour market success by UAS

Deviations in employment rate and proportion of appropriately employed people with

respect to the average; 2018 and 2020 graduates at Bachelor’s level, provided they did not

begin a Master’s course, as well as at Master’s level one year after completion of studies

Data: FSO (EHA), SECO (amstat); calculations: SCCRE

The points show, for each university of applied

sciences, how much the employment rate of

their graduates and the proportion of people in

qualification-appropriate work differ from the

average of all universities of applied sciences

when the fields of study are the same (and,

in the case of the employment rate, when the

unemployment rate for the major region is

the same).

-2

-4

SUPSI

HSLU

HES-SO

FHGR*

BFH

ZFH

FHNW

OST*

Percentage points

Employment rate

Proportion in qualification-appropriate employment

* The figures for FHGR and OST also include the former subunits (FHGR: HTW Chur; OST: FHO

without HTW Chur).

efficiency/costs

302 Composition

of funding

sources, 2021

In the area of basic education and training

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

10%

28%

Assessing the efficiency of universities of applied sciences – that is, the

relationship between the use of resources (input) and the achievement of

targets (output) – relies on comparable data relating to the costs (inputs)

and a suitable measure of output (i.e. effectiveness). Whereas compara-

ble data is available for the individual universities of applied sciences on

the cost side, it is difficult to comprehensively reflect the output using

suitable data (as described in the section on effectiveness). In addition to

the remarks on efficiency, the focus is therefore also on the costs of the uni-

versities of applied sciences and their income. International comparisons

are drawn in the

chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193.

19%

33%

Funding sources of universities of applied sciences

At public universities of applied sciences, roughly 60% of funding for basic

education and training comes from the cantons

(→ figure 302)

. Cantonal

contributions cover over half of costs. Of these contributions, around

two thirds come from the supporting cantons themselves and one third

from cantons outside the supporting region, which transfer the funding

for their students at universities of applied sciences outside the canton to

the respective UAS canton within the framework of the Universities of

Applied Sciences Agreement

Confederation: basic contribution

Canton: FHV contributions within

supporting region

Canton: FHV contributions outside

supporting region

Remaining funding from school

authorities

Tuition fees

Third-party funds and other income

Interkantonale Fachhochschulvereinbarung (FH V)

of 12 Juni 2003.

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Efficiency/costs universities

of applied sciences

277

The basic contributions from the Confederation cover just under 30% of

expenditure. Since the introduction of the Federal Act on Funding and

Coordination of the Higher Education Sector (HEdA), these contributions

are no longer paid as flat rates per student. Rather, the amount of the con-

tribution payments also depends on the output or, rather, the performance

of the individual fields of study compared with that of other universities of

applied sciences

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193).

In addi-

tion, the contributions are no longer based on the current student num-

bers, but on those of the two previous years. With respect to the previous

flat rates per student, federal funding increased by an average of CHF 700

per full-time student in the period between 2015 and 2021

(→ figure 303)

–

an increase of approximately 7 %. However, the individual universities of

applied sciences benefitted from this increase to very different degrees.

The new calculation basis also means that universities of applied sciences,

which grew strongly in the two previous years, receive comparatively fewer

contributions per student.

303 Change

in federal funding per student by university

of applied sciences, 2015–2021

Data: SERI (financial reporting); calculation: SCCRE

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

CHF

1,000

500

-500

-1,000

-1,500

Change in funding, 2015–2021

Difference between the average funding

per student (in FTEs of the respective year)

that the various universities of applied

sciences received in 2021 (as part of the

federal funding pursuant to HEdA) and that

which they would have received in 2015

(based on student flat rates) had the compo-

sition of fields of study been the same as

in 2021.

Contributions that the universities of applied

sciences received in 2015 for applied research

and development are not included in the

calculations.

HSLU

FHGR*

BFH

Average HES-SO FHNW

ZFH

SUPSI

OST*

Change in funding, 2015–2021

Deviation in funding from average, 2021

* In the case of FHGR and OST, the change was calculated with respect to their predecessor

institutions (FHGR: HTW Chur; OST: FHO without HTW Chur).

Deviation in funding from average, 2021

Deviation of average federal funding per

student (in FTEs of the respective year) from

the average of all universities of applied

sciences given the same composition of fields

of study, by UAS.

Students’ tuition fees cover 8% of the costs of their education. These fees

are between CHF 500 and 1,000 per semester

(→ figure 304)

, with most

universities of applied sciences charging slightly higher fees to foreign

students. In general, the fees are standard for all fields of study within the

individual universities of applied sciences. Exceptions include the Scuola

universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana and Fachhochschule

Nordwestschweiz (for international students). As the education costs

vary significantly by field of study, there is also considerable variation in

the share of costs that students cover for their education. For example, a

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universities of applied sciences Efficiency/costs

304 Tuition

fees per semester,

2022

Only public universities

Data: swissuniversities

HES-SO

FHNW

ZFH

SUPSI

BFH

HSLU

FHGR

OST

1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

CHF

business studies student at Fachhochschule Bern contributes 11% of their

annual costs for basic education (no research), whereas a student in music,

theatre and other arts at the same UAS pays only 3%.

The question of whether students should pay a greater proportion of

education costs or whether tuition fees should instead be further reduced

in the name of equality of access is a constant topic of discussion and cannot

be answered empirically in the absence of studies relating to Switzerland.

Findings from studies carried out abroad show that even moderate tuition

fees can reduce the likelihood that children from low parental education

backgrounds will go on to higher education

(Kroth, 2015).

On the other

hand, tuition fees can also lead to faster and more frequent completion of

studies

(Bietenbeck et al., 2021).

Costs by field of study

Whereas tuition fees generally do not differ from one field of study to

another, the teaching costs per student differ considerably depending on

the field of study: for example, annual expenditure is around CHF 18,000

in applied psychology but runs to CHF 55,000 at the other end of the scale

in the field of music, theatre and other arts

(→ figure 305)

. These differ-

ences can largely be explained by differences in student-teacher ratios.

Tuition fees for Swiss nationals and

Swiss-educated foreign nationals

Extra tuition fees for Swiss nationals

and Swiss-educated foreign nationals*

Extra fees for foreign-educated students

Extra fees for foreign-educated students*

* Additional subject-specific tuition fees

305 Student-teacher

ratio and costs per student by field of study,

2020

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Student-teacher ratio

Applied psychology

Student-teacher ratio

Costs per student

Annual full costs for teaching

(basic education and training)

per student FTE

Student-teacher ratio

Number of student FTEs

(according to financial reporting)

per FTE in the academic teaching staff

(basic education and training)

Basic education and training includes

the Bachelor’s and Master’s levels.

The calculation of student FTEs is based

on the number of ECTS points for which

students have registered, where 60 ECTS

points per year correspond to a full-time

course of study.

Applied psychology

Business, management and services

Social work

Health

Applied linguistics

Architecture, construction and planning

Design

EngineeringDesign

and IT

Engineering and IT

Chemistry and life sciences

Agriculture and forestry

Music, theatre and other arts

Costs per student

10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000

Costs in CHF per student

Student-teacher ratio

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Equity universities

of applied sciences

279

Certain subjects, such as the laboratory-intensive life sciences, require a

higher intensity of teaching, and subjects such as music or theatre even

call for individual tuition in some situations. In other subjects, smaller

classes or higher teaching intensities are the primary drivers of costs

and must therefore be scrutinised for reasons of efficiency unless there

is evidence of improved academic performance. Although there is proof

that larger classes in higher education are associated with poorer grades

(Kara et al., 2021),

it should be noted that the teaching intensity at univer-

sities of applied sciences is already relatively high compared with that at

conventional universities.

If the costs for applied research

and development are considered in

addition to teaching costs, the annual

expenditure per student ranges from

CHF 26,000 (applied psychology)

to CHF 85,000 (chemistry and life

sciences).

Assessment of efficiency

Given the difficulty associated with suitably measuring the output (effec-

tiveness) of higher education, it is also difficult to adequately measure the

efficiency. An assessment is therefore only possible based on assumptions

and with certain limitations. With a view to assessing the efficiency of uni-

versities of applied sciences, various models with different outputs and

varying inputs were therefore calculated as part of an expert report on effi-

ciency in the Swiss education system

(Wolter et al., 2020).

The results show

that the ranking of universities of applied sciences with regard to efficiency

varies depending on the type of calculation used. However, the statements

on the development of the overall efficiency of a UAS system over time

remain the same regardless of the model. Assuming there was no change in

the competencies of UAS graduates over time, it is clear that there was a pos-

itive change in efficiency in the period between 2007 and 2017

(→ figure 306)

On average, the efficiency of universities of applied has increased by around

20%, meaning that they invested 20% less inputs in the education of the

same number of graduates. This increase in efficiency is primarily due to

the improved ratio between graduates on the one hand and students on

the other

(Wolter et al., 2020).

In this regard, the quantitative expansion

of universities of applied sciences may have led to a boost in efficiency, as

the inputs didn’t increase to the same extent as the outputs (graduates).

306 Development

of efficiency,

2007–2017

Data:

Wolter et al. (2020)

140

120

100

2007

2012

Productive efficiency

Economic efficiency

2017

equity

This section considers equal opportunities at universities of applied

sciences based on the criteria of access and participation in education as

well as the graduation rate. In the process, it looks at disparities between

women and men as well as differences in social origin. The aspects of

migration background and (physical) disabilities are addressed in the

chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193.

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Index value (2007 = 100)

The

productive efficiency

is based on

the number of teaching staff and the number

of students (inputs) as well as the number

of degrees (outputs).

The

economic efficiency

is based on the

number of students and the costs for teaching

(inputs) as well as on the number of degrees

(outputs).

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280

universities of applied sciences Equity

Gender differences

Based on the total number of students, the gender distribution at universi-

ties of applied sciences is very well-balanced, with women accounting for

49% of students (academic year 2021/22). However, there are pronounced

gender differences when it comes to subject selection, and these differences

lead to significant horizontal segregation. Men are overrepresented espe-

cially in engineering and IT and in the field of architecture, construction

and planning, while women are significantly overrepresented in the fields

of health, applied linguistics, applied psychology and social work. Over-

all, some two fifths of students attend a degree programme that is domi-

nated by a proportion of their own gender of over 70%

(→ figure 307)

. Only

7 % of women or 11% of men select a gender-atypical subject (with under

30% of students from their own gender). Compared with the situation in

2011, however, horizontal segregation has tended to decrease: today, there

are fewer women in subjects dominated by women and slightly more in

male-dominated subjects. Among men, however, the situation has barely

changed.

At Master’s level, the genders are also nearly balanced, with women

accounting for 49% of students. However, this figure obscures the fact that

the transition rate from Bachelor’s to Master’s level is lower among women

than men in many fields of study, particularly in the fields of chemistry

and life sciences, business, management and services, social work, health

and the arts. The reason why the proportion of women is not lower at

Master’s level is primarily that women are overrepresented in fields where

the Master’s transition rate is disproportionately high (applied psychology

as well as music, theatre and other arts). In addition, women show a higher

transition rate than men in applied psychology.

Gender imbalances also affect the academic staff, becoming more pro-

nounced along the career path. Women make up 42% of assistants and

scientific collaborators, 40% of “other lecturers” (without managerial

responsibility), and 28% of lecturers with managerial responsibility (in

the year 2021). In many fields of study, the proportion of women at the

highest hierarchical level is barely half that recorded among students, with

key exceptions being the two fields with the highest proportion of women –

namely health and applied linguistics. Here, women make up a clear major-

ity even within the group of lecturers with managerial responsibility. The

differences are also relatively small in the field of sport.

The proportion of women in professorships and among the other man-

agement staff also varies between the different universities of applied

sciences, regardless of the composition of fields of study

(→ figure 308)

The lowest proportion of women is found at Fachhochschule Graubünden.

Otherwise, the differences are relatively small, with deviations of ±3 per-

centage points from the average. Since 2013, the proportion of women in

fields with a below-average proportion of women has increased by 4 per-

centage points on average. Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz has achieved

the clearest increase in the proportion of women, which was significantly

below average at that time. Overall, the findings suggest that women’s

participation can be substantially impacted by the human resources pol-

icy of the institutions and cannot simply be attributed to a shortage of well-

educated female academics.

307 Gender

segregation by

student intake, 2011 and 2021

Proportion of students in female-dominated,

mixed and male-dominated subject areas

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Women

2011

2021

Men

2011

2021

25%

50%

75%

100%

Field dominated by women

(share of women >70%)

Mixed field

(gender split 30–70%)

Field dominated by men

(share of men > 70%)

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Equity universities

of applied sciences

281

308 Differences

in the proportion of women in professorships

and among management staff by UAS, 2013 and 2021

Deviation of proportion of women from annual average for all universities of applied sciences

(2013: 18%, 2021: 21%), for the same subject areas, in percentage points

Data: FSO (SHIS-PERS); calculations: SCCRE

Percentage points

-4

-8

The chart does not include fields of study

where the proportion of women is greater than

50% (applied linguistics, health and social

work) and only takes account of people whose

degree of employment is at least 10%. Where

people hold multiple positions within a univer-

sity of applied sciences, only the field of study

(or the respective function) with the highest

degree of employment is taken into account.

-12

FHGR*

SUPSI

HSLU

2013

HES-SO

BFH

2021

OST*

FHNW

ZFH

* In the case of FHGR and OST, the data points for the year 2013 are based on the respective

predecessor institutions (i.e. the subunits of the former FH Ostschweiz).

Social background

Overall, the transition rate to a university of applied sciences is slightly

higher for school leavers whose parents have a professional education qual-

ification or graduated from a higher education institution than for children

whose parents did not complete higher education or training

(→ chapter

Tertiary-level education, page 193).

Variations in access by educational

background can largely be explained by differences in education paths that

already exist at the end of compulsory education. Moreover, previous stud-

ies show that social origin influences not only the decision to study at all

but also the choice of university type and university

(Denzler & Wolter,

2010).

If one considers the degree to which the proportion of students from

an academic family at each individual UAS differs from the UAS average, it

is clear that there are also substantial differences in this regard

(→ figure 309)

There are 12 percentage points between the universities of applied sciences

with the lowest and highest proportions of students with at least one par-

ent who has a university degree. However, this considerable discrepancy

primarily stems from the fact that the Scuola universitaria professionale

della Svizzera italiana (SUPSI) shows significantly lower social selectivity

than other universities of applied sciences. This cannot be attributed to the

composition of fields of study (which vary by social origin) or the level of

education in the population of the supporting region (or that of the catch-

ment canton); rather, it appears to exist regardless of these factors. The ori-

gin of this finding is – at least partly – that SUPSI loses an above-average

number of students from its own canton to other universities of applied

sciences. The parents of these students are twice as likely to have a univer-

sity degree than those of students who remain in the canton.

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282

universities of applied sciences Equity

Differences in academic success

309 Differences

in social

selectivity between universities

of applied sciences, 2020

Deviation from average proportion of students

with at least one parent with a university de-

gree; only Bachelor’s students who were living

in Switzerland prior to starting the course

Data: FSO (SSEE 2020); calculations: SCCRE

SUPSI

HES-SO

HSLU

FHO

FHNW

ZFH

BFH

-10

-5

Percentage points

Observable

For the same field of study and same

higher-education rate in the cantons of origin

legend

At FHO, the proportion of students whose

parents have a university degree is 3 percent-

age points below the average for all universities

of applied sciences. Once one controls for the

composition of fields of study and the rate

of tertiary education of the population in its

students’ cantons of origin, however, FHO no

longer differs from the average for all universi-

ties of applied sciences.

Social inequalities can be observed not only in the access to the universi-

ties of applied sciences, but also in the probability of successfully complet-

ing the course of study

(→ figure 310)

. People with a migration background

who have begun a course of study at a university of applied sciences are less

likely to earn a Bachelor’s degree than those without such a background. In

the case of second-generation migrants, the lower chances of success can

be explained by the parental level of education, by the state of health and

by more frequently cited financial difficulties. However, first-generation

migrants also have a lower probability of earning a Bachelor’s degree even

once other characteristics are controlled. There are also differences with

respect to the educational level of the students’ parents. Students whose

parents have no post-compulsory education are less likely to success-

fully complete their course of study than those whose parents have grad-

uated from a course of vocational or professional education and training

or tertiary-level education. However, this difference is no longer statis-

tically significant once the migration background is taken into account.

This means that the lower graduation rate is partly explained by the fact

that students whose parents have no post-compulsory education are more

likely to have a migration background, which has a disadvantageous effect

on graduation rate. Furthermore, it is clear that students with financial dif-

ficulties are also less likely to complete the course of study successfully.

People who received a scholarship earn a Bachelor’s degree more often than

those without a scholarship. In this context, however, it remains unclear

whether the scholarships play a causal role in greater (or faster) academic

success or whether people who applied for a scholarship are characterised

by specific features that favour their studies (such as high goal orientation

or self-efficacy). A poorer state of health is also associated with a lower

graduation rate, although there is also a lack of clarity regarding the direc-

tion of – or rather the reasons for – this relationship.

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Equity universities

of applied sciences

283

310 Bachelor’s

degree ratio up to six years after enrolment,

by student characteristics

Predicted probability of success in same field of study and at same university

on enrolment, 2012

Data: FSO (SSEE 2013, LABB); calculations: SCCRE

The bars reflect the probability of earning

a Bachelor’s degree up to six years after

enrolment – in the same field of study and

at the same university. The findings appear

to be comparable if one additionally controls

for the characteristics of gender, age,

admission qualification and type of education

(full-time versus part-time).

Migration background

Without migration background

generation

generation, Swiss-educated students

generation, foreign-educated students

Highest qualification of parents

No post-compulsory education

Upper-secondary education: VET

Upper-secondary education: general educ.

Professional education

University

Financial difficulties

Hardly any financial difficulties

Major financial difficulties

Scholarship

No scholarship

Scholarship received

Health

Good to very good

Average to (very) bad

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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UNIVERSITIES OF

TEACHER EDUCATION

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286

universities of teacher education Context

Context

The universities of teacher education (UTEs) today actually represent a

third type of higher education institution, even though the legal framework

of higher education only provides for two categories (Art. 2 paragraph 2

HEdA

). Institutionally, the universities of teacher education as well as the

universities of applied sciences are structured as practice-oriented higher

education institutions with cantonal sponsorship; some are integrated into

universities of applied sciences. As professional universities in the edu-

cation sector,

(swissuniversities, 2017)

their central social function is the

training and further education of teaching staff and other professionals in

the education sector. Due to their enormous significance for the entire edu-

cation sector, the universities of teacher education will be dealt with sep-

arately in the Education Report. However, the institutional perspective of

the Education Report – education is described according to education lev-

els and types – means that teaching training is only dealt with in this chap-

ter if it takes place at the universities of teacher education.

The qualification function of the universities of teacher education is key

for the cantons from a qualitative and quantitative perspective, because as

a school authority, they are dependent on the fact that the universities of

teacher education tailor the training of pedagogical staff for the schools at

compulsory level, and also partly at upper secondary level, to the require-

ments of the cantonal education system, as well as ensure the quantitative

need for teaching staff. However, this task is also dependent on a series

of contextual factors largely beyond the control of universities of teacher

education. Social trends, the attraction of the teaching profession, but also

the other education options influence the choice of studies of the potential

students at universities of teacher education

(→ Self-selection in the uni-

versities of teacher education, Seite 298).

In addition, the self-selection

into the universities of teacher education is influenced by politically deter-

mined admission regulations and training requirements, not least by the

duration of studies

(Denzler & Wolter, 2009; Lautenbach, 2019).

From the perspective of education policy, the focus is on securing the

demand for teaching staff for the entire education system. On the one

hand, the demand side must be taken into account, in other words, the

primarily demographically determined demand for teaching staff in the

school system. On the other hand, the focus is on the offers, which means

that the interest of the potential student in teacher training must be taken

into account. With regard to the latter, it is therefore interesting how suf-

ficiently capable candidates can be recruited to study at a university of

teacher education and be prepared for the teaching profession.

Teacher education at universities

Teaching staff are not trained only

at UTEs: In Canton Geneva, teachers

of all levels are trained at the Institut

universitaire de formation des en-

seignants (IUFE) of the University of

Geneva; in Canton Fribourg, teaching

staff are also trained at the university

for the lower and upper secondary

levels. The University of Zurich and

ETH Zurich also offer training for

baccalaureate school teachers. Fi-

nally, universities of applied sciences

have degree programmes for special-

ist subject teachers in specialised

areas such as music, art and sport.

Altogether, however, these institutions

combine less than 5% of all students

in the field of teacher training

(→ Institution, page 293).

Offers

The offer is primarily shaped by the number of trained teaching staff. Here,

the entire process must be taken into account, from the start of studies

until the start of a job. The strong growth of the universities of teacher edu-

cation deserves mention here. Since 2010, admissions to the UTEs have

1 Federal Act on Funding and Coordination of the Swiss Higher Education Sector (Higher

Education Act, HEdA) of 30 September 2011

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Context universities

of teacher education

287

increased by over 30%. In the meantime, at least 4000 students – which

corresponds to around 10% of all baccalaureate students – decide on a

course of studies at a university of teacher education. 87 % of an entrance

cohort complete their studies successfully and obtain a teaching diploma

at compulsory education level. 91% of graduates then take up a professional

activity and are employed as a teacher one year after graduation, five years

later it is only 80%.

The cantons are active in a threefold capacity with regard to the UTEs:

First as a school authority of the university of teacher education, then as a

future employer of the graduates of these institutions and third with regard

to the training contents as the authority responsible for defining both the

curricula and the timetabling guidelines for the future place of work of the

students. This would in turn suggest that the universities of teacher educa-

tion must be much more strongly aligned towards the needs and expecta-

tions of the cantons than the other institutions of higher education.

Professional mobility

The professional mobility of teaching staff is dominated by change, while

maintaining the same function: Teaching staff change schools or the level

of instruction, but still perform a teaching activity. Some teaching staff

change their function and are subsequently active in the school admin-

istration. Cases where teachers actually leave the teaching profession is

much less frequent, and a distinction must be made here between tempo-

rary and definitive exits. However, many teaching staff who definitively

give up their teaching activity remain in the education system in another

function, such as teacher training, in education administration or in other

education-related sectors

(Herzog et al., 2007).

The professional mobility

of teaching staff has so far been researched in Switzerland predominantly

from an individual, occupational biographical perspective; there is hardly

any quantitative work which examines the fluctuation on the macro level

of the entire educational system

(Sandmeier et al., 2018).

Initial longitudinal analyses of the statistics of teaching staff by the

FSO give ample evidence of a high retention rate in the teaching profes-

sion. If one considers the career of all teaching staff at compulsory school

level under 55 years of age over five years, after one year a retention rate of

92% can be observed and after five years a rate of 83%

(→ figure 311)

. This

quota includes job changes within and between cantons). Only just 6%

have taken on a new job outside of the school system. Many exits are only

of a temporary nature; around half of the teaching staff who leave the pro-

fession return to it again within five years. The exit rate is somewhat higher

with young people (under 35 years) than with older teaching staff. On the

other hand, the re-entry quota is higher with young people. In the case of

women who have given up their teaching activity due to motherhood, the

return quota is the highest at almost 60%

(FSO, 2022j).

Among the over 55s, only slightly more than a third remain in the teach-

ing profession within five years, as the age-related retirements increase

(FSO, 2022j).

Altogether, each year roughly 3% of all teaching staff leave

education due to retirement. However, the proportion of age-related retire-

ments should considerably decrease in the next ten years for demographic

reasons, according to forecasts by the FSO

(FSO, 2022j).

If one compares

311 Fluctuation

in the teaching

profession, 2020

Situation of teaching staff (cohort 2015/16)

after five years (all teaching staff under

55 years of age, compulsory school level

(including private schools)).

Data:

FSO (SSP); (FSO, 2022j)

83%

Teaching activity compulsory school

Teaching activity at another school

Different function at school

Different employment

Not employed

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universities of teacher education Context

the age structure of the teaching staff in 2020 with the situation ten years

ago, it can be seen that the pressure of an increased need for recruitment

due to ageing has relaxed in most cantons

(→ figure 312)

. With the excep-

tion of a few cantons, retirements should thus not further exacerbate the

strained situation on the labour market for teaching staff over the com-

ing years.

312 Change

in the age structure of the teaching staff

Proportion of teaching staff in the pre-school and primary levels in the uppermost age segment

(50 years and older), 2011/12 and 2021/22

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

legend

Points below the diagonals represent cantons

in which the proportion of older teaching staff

has declined: Teaching staff have thus become

younger over the last few years. Conversely,

the proportion of older teaching staff has

increased somewhat in cantons Basel-City and

Nidwalden.

50%

Portion 2010/11

40%

SO VS

30%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Portion 2019/20

40%

45%

50%

Full-time/part-time employment

The supply of teachers is decisively determined by the level of employment

of active teaching staff. The teaching profession is characterised by the fact

that part-time employment is particularly widespread; in comparison with

other professions, the proportion of women is also high. The profession is

chosen, among other reasons, because part-time work favours the work-

life balance

(Denzler & Wolter, 2009; Hof & Strupler Leiser, 2014; Leemann

et al., 2021).

This means that with an average level of employment of 65%

currently, a third of the available resources is not being used. As those

teaching staff who are temporarily or permanently not active at all in the

teaching profession are not included in this figure, the need for trained

teachers for each full-time job is thus considerably higher

(→ figure 313)

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Context universities

of teacher education

289

313 Level

of employment of teaching staff

(primary level, 3

–8

grade) by canton, 2020/21

Data: FSO (SSP); calculations: SCCRE

VS*

GE*

20%

Full-time (90% and more)

40%

60%

80%

Part-time (less than 50%)

100%

* GE and VS: Primary level, 1

–8

grade

Part-time (50–89%)

The average level of employment of active teaching staff, in other words,

the intensity of activity, has not changed dramatically over the last few

years at compulsory school level although the situation on the teaching

job market is certainly tense, due to the large, unmet demand for teaching

staff. On average, less than 30% of teaching staff in Switzerland work full-

time. Small teaching workloads of less than 50% are still common. In the

vast majority of cantons, every fourth teacher works less than 50%.

The heterogeneity between the cantons is high and very stable over

time, which means that an alignment process cannot be observed. Apart

from cultural reasons, structural and institutional reasons are the most

likely explanations for the major cantonal differences, such as the regional

school organisation

or the conditions of employment and the practice of

allocation of workload in the schools. The latter can be seen from the fact

that some cantons have a very high proportion of small workloads, while

others hardly assign any workloads of less than 50%. The large cantonal

differences with the average employment levels also make it clear that the

low levels of employment cannot simply be explained by the high percent-

age of women in the teaching staff, as only the employment levels but not

the proportion of women are considerably different between the cantons.

2 The range of classes in subjects such as music and instrumental lessons or sports lessons,

for example, varies from canton to canton. This has an impact on the number of subject teach-

ers and the average workload. The same categories of teachers are not counted as regular teach-

ing staff everywhere.

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universities of teacher education Context

However, regarding the employment level of career starters, it must be

taken into account that the calculated workloads are not only the result of

decisions by these persons. According to the graduate surveys, the propor-

tion of people entering the labour market who preferred a higher employ-

ment level is greater than that of people who wanted a lower workload.

This means that at least at the beginning of a career the potential would

exist to employ teaching staff with higher teaching workloads.

If this

situation could be improved with organisational measures, more work

resources would be available for the teaching staff entering the profession.

Possible salaries in the teaching profession

Remuneration is not the only decisive factor when it comes to the decision

of young people to opt for teacher training, but it has a significant effect on

how long teaching staff remain in the profession.

When setting salaries, a canton must take into account, on the one

hand, the comparison with professionals with a comparable education and

comparable work requirements in the public sector. On the other hand, it

would be important to consider the wages for teaching staff in neighbour-

ing cantons. In addition to the starting salary, wage development and the

average salaries over the working career should also be taken into account

here.

The data from the university graduate survey only enables the salary

development to be observed over a period of five years after graduation. If

we compare the starting salaries as well as the salaries after the first five

years of employment of prospective teachers with those of graduates from

other fields of study in all types of universities in Switzerland

(→ figure 314)

the income prospects are good for all levels in the teaching profession. One

year after completing their studies, teaching staff at lower and upper-sec-

ondary level are among the best paid compared with other wage earners

with a degree from a university. Secondary school teachers achieve higher

median salaries at the start of their careers than, for example, holders of a

university degree in subjects such as medicine or economics. With a

median wage of at least 80,000 Francs primary and kindergarten teachers

rank in the upper midfield, above graduates of an academic university with a

degree in engineering, natural sciences or humanities and social sciences,

bearing in mind that on the teachers’ side, wages for a three-year bachelor’s

degree are compared with wages for master’s degrees at university level.

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Context universities

of teacher education

291

314 Employment

income of graduates, one year after completion

of studies, 2021

Annual gross incomes estimated using quantile regressions (standardised to 100%),

controlling for age

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

120, 000

110, 000

Annual gross income in CHF

100, 000

90, 000

80, 000

70, 000

60, 000

50, 000

40, 000

UNI UNI UAS UNI UNI UAS UTE UAS UTE UAS UNI UNI UTE UTE

Leg NS Hth HSS Eng SW KG BS Prim Eng BS Med Sec I Sec II

The green bars represent the central 50%

of the distribution (2

and 3

quartile);

the median lies in between (blue)

Leg

Hth

HSS

Eng

Prim

Med

Sec

Legal studies

Natural sciences

Healthcare

Humanities and social sciences

Engineering

Social work

Business and services

Pre-school

Primary level

Medicine

Secondary level

uIT:

only graduates of the 2

cycle (licentiate, diploma, Master’s)

uAS:

only graduates of the 1

cycle (Bachelor’s degree, diploma), who have not started

a Master’s degree at the time of the survey

uTe, primary level:

only graduates of the 1

cycle (Bachelor’s, diploma), who have not yet

started their Master’s studies at the time of the survey and are teaching at the primary level

uTe, lower-secondary level:

only graduates with Master’s or final exam, who are teaching

at the lower secondary level

uTe, upper secondary level:

graduates who teach in an academic or vocational baccalaureate

school

Five years after completion of their studies, academic and vocational bacca-

laureate teachers remain in the lead. With at least 110,000 Francs median

salary, they achieve similar salaries as economists (with a university

degree) who are at the top of the scale. The median salary of teachers at

the lower secondary level five years after completing their studies is at least

CHF 100,000, which is on a par with doctors and lawyers. With a median

income of around 90,000 Francs, the primary and kindergarten teaching

staff are in the lower midfield, together with graduates of an academic uni-

versity degree in the natural sciences, the humanities and social sciences

(→ figure 315)

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universities of teacher education Context

315 Employment

income of graduates, five years after completion

of studies, 2021

Annual gross income estimated using quantile regressions (standardised to 100%),

controlling for age

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

The green bars represent the central 50%

of the distribution (2

and 3

quartile);

the median lies in between (blue)

Leg

Hth

HSS

Eng

Prim

Med

Sec

Legal studies

Natural sciences

Healthcare

Humanities and social sciences

Engineering)

Social work

Business and services

Kindergarten

Primary level

Medicine

Secondary level

Annual gross income in CHF

140, 000

130, 000

120, 000

110, 000

100, 000

90, 000

80, 000

70, 000

60, 000

UAS UTE UAS UTE UNI UNI UNI UTE UNI UAS UAS UNI UTE UNI

Hth KG SW Prim Eng HSS NS Sec I Med BS Eng Leg Sec II BS

In this comparison, it should be highlighted that primary teaching staff

with a three-year Bachelor’s degree at a university of teacher education can

keep up with the incomes of Master’s graduates from different disciplines

at academic universities even five years after graduation, which has a pos-

itive effect on the return on education of the entire career in favour of the

teachers.

The variance shown in the teachers’ salaries represents primarily the

differences between the cantons in a national comparison. However, these

are considerably lower than the wage variance of graduates of a degree in

humanities and social sciences, the natural sciences or economics at a uni-

versity. This means that the risk of achieving an income that is well below

average after graduating is considerably higher in certain university degree

programmes than after graduating at a university of teacher education

(

→

margin text, page 293).

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Institutions universities

of teacher education

293

Demand for teaching staff

On the demand side, the key parameters are, on the one hand, the num-

ber of pupils, and on the other hand institutional specifications such as the

number of lectures prescribed by the curricula, the size of classes and the

supervision quotient

(→ chapter Compulsory education, page 27).

The

demographic development is an external contextual factor over which the

school system has no influence, which influences the demand for teach-

ing staff most strongly.

Unlike the demographics, the institutional factors are very much sub-

ject to political and official control. These factors, together with the wage

specifications, influence the demand and thus have an impact on the

costs. If one factor is changed, this has an impact on the others. For exam-

ple, if attempts are made to relieve workload in schools by hiring more staff,

this leads to an increase in the supervision factor. This in turn results in a

higher demand with corresponding financing needs.

The demand for teaching staff is thus determined by the interaction of

the demographic development and the institutional specifications. In its

forecast scenarios for the teaching staff in compulsory education, the FSO

takes into account both the demographic development in the number of

pupils as well as in the teaching staff and their mobility. The FSO thus

estimates that although the number of teaching staff will rise by around 6%

by 2031, in view of the increasing number of pupils, the number of teach-

ing staff to be recruited each year, however, will tend to decline due to the

decrease in retirements

(FSO, 2022k).

Because the number of graduations at universities of teacher educa-

tion will continue to rise according to student forecasts (for the study

programme primary level a growth of around 20% is predicted by 2031),

the offer of newly trained teaching staff in the coming years should con-

verge somewhat more with the demand; however, the demand gap will

continue to exist

(FSO, 2022k).

Risk aversion with teaching staff

Salary differences between mem-

bers of different fields of study and

professional groups can also be

explained partially by self-selection

in various activities based on indi-

vidual characteristics and preferences

such as risk aversion or attitudes

towards certain remuneration models.

According to the latest studies,

teaching staff as well as students in

teacher training programmes are char-

acterised by a significantly higher risk

aversion, namely with regard to their

professional career. This characteristic

plays a decisive role in the self-selec-

tion in professions with a level of

job security and fixed remuneration

models

(Ayaita & Stürmer, 2020;

Bowen et al., 2015).

The higher risk

aversion is apparent not only in com-

parison with the average population,

but also in comparison with persons

from the area of healthcare and social

work, as well as in comparison with

other employees in the public sector

(Ayaita & Stürmer, 2020).

The different

levels of readiness for risk of teaching

staff is also used as an explanation

for widespread resistance to reform or

the use of new technologies

(Bowen

et al., 2015; Dohmen & Falk, 2011;

Howard, 2013; Terhart, 2013).

Institutions

Teachers at compulsory school level are trained in Switzerland practically

exclusively at universities of teacher education. One exception is Canton

Geneva, which trains its teaching staff for all levels at the university. The

universities of teacher education usually offer study programmes for train-

ing as teaching staff at primary level, lower secondary level, sometimes

also at higher secondary level as well as for specialised professions in the

area of special needs education. Education is completed with an academic

degree at Bachelor’s or Master’s level. The actual professional qualification

is evidenced by a teaching diploma for the respective school level, which

is recognised by the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education

(EDK)

. With this recognition procedure, the EDK guarantees standard-

ised minimum requirements for the training institution, for the admis-

sion conditions for study, for the training and for the qualifications of the

3 Regulations on the recognition of teaching qualifications for teaching at primary level, lower

secondary level and Baccalaureate schools of 28 March 2019

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294

universities of teacher education Institutions

lecturers. It thus ensures nationwide freedom of movement for access to

the profession as well as international recognition of the training. The

completely revised recognition rules have been in effect since 1/1/2020.

The 15 universities which offer programmes of study for teaching at

compulsory school level are accredited today as “universities of teacher

education” according to the Higher Education Act (HEdA). In addition,

there are also two specialised higher education institutions: the Univer-

sity of Curative Education (ICUCE) and the Swiss Federal University for

Vocational Education and Training (SFUVET), which are both recognised

as “universities of teacher education”. Together, they train the vast major-

ity of teachers in Switzerland

(→ figure 316)

316 Students

at universities of teacher education, 2021/22

Only students in diploma, Bachelor’s or Master’s study programmes, without further education, of all universities of teacher education in Switzerland

accredited according to HEdO (including corresponding departments at the universities of applied sciences as well as the ICUCE and the SFUVET)

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

PH ZH

FHNW

PH BE HEP VD PH LU

HfH

PH SG

PH TG

HEP

BEJUNE

EHB

PH FR

DFA HEP VS PH SZ

SUPSI

PH GR

PH ZG

PH SH

Primary level

Upper secondary level (voc. education)

Lower secondary education

Special needs education

Upper secondary level (gen. education)

Other

Apart from the institutional diversity,

figure 316

also shows the hetero-

geneity of the sizes of the various universities. The five largest universities

of teacher education with more than 2000 students each train two-thirds

of all future teaching staff, while the remaining eleven universities with

sometimes less than 500 students train the other third. In the last few

years, the market shares of the individual universities of teacher educa-

tion changed, but this development did not take any specific direction.

Accordingly, both large and small universities lost or gained market shares

(→ figure 317)

. Neither a trend towards an equalisation of student num-

bers nor a trend towards a greater concentration of students at the largest

universities of teacher education can thus be observed.

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Institutions universities

of teacher education

295

317 Development

of the market shares of the universities of

teacher education, 2011–2021

Market shares measured as a share of the Swiss total of students in the primary level area

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

PH FHNW

Changes in the market share 2021 compared with

2011 in percentage points

HEP VD

PH ZH

DFA SUPSI

PH SZ

BEJUNE

HEP FR

PH SH

PH GR

HEP VS

PH ZG

PH TG

PH LU

PH BE

-1

-2

-3

PH SG

10%

Market share 2011

15%

20%

One possible explanation of this constant heterogeneous situation is in

the cantonal sponsorship of practically all universities of teacher educa-

tion. For most of the small cantons, it is not necessarily worthwhile to run

a university of teacher education that is as large as possible – especially as

this involves high infrastructure costs – if this meant that they would train

increasing numbers of teaching staff who would afterwards be employed

in a different canton. Most cantons run small universities of teacher edu-

cation, with the hope of being better able to cover their own requirements

for teaching staff and not having to poach staff from a different canton.

Small or peripheral cantons in particular count on the fact that it is sim-

pler to obtain teaching staff if they can train them in their own canton.

Otherwise the students would first have to leave their canton, and after

they have completed their studies need to be coaxed to return home again

(Oggenfuss & Wolter, 2019).

Whether this strategy is successful cannot be

verified empirically at present.

Inter-cantonal mobility of students

In principle, cantons promote the free movement of students in the choice

of their universities. The competition for students generally entails perfor-

mance- and quality-enhancing incentives for the universities. To cover the

costs, the cantons where the students are residents make contributions to

the costs of education to the sponsors of universities. The inter-cantonal

financial burden sharing in the area of the universities of teacher educa-

tion is performed through the Inter-Cantonal Agreement on Universities

of Applied Sciences (IAC-UAS)

. Small cantons are thus faced with the

choice of financing the education of the members of their canton themselves

Inter-Cantonal Agreement on Universities of Applied Sciences (IAC-UAS) of 12 June 2003

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universities of teacher education Institutions

with their own university or dispensing with it altogether. If the second

solution is chosen, the cantons must pay the sponsors UAS agreement con-

tributions (IAC-UAS) for the training in non-cantonal universities.

On average throughout Switzerland, only about 20% of students resi-

dent in a specific canton or in a region with a university of teacher educa-

tion are educated outside of their region of origin. However, as not all can-

tons run universities of teacher education, 30% of future teaching staff do

not study at a university of teacher education of their supporting canton or

their supporting region. The share of international students, in compari-

son with the other university types, is relatively low at around 5% and this

percentage varies strongly from one university to another

(→ figure 318)

Some universities are successful in reducing their negative migration bal-

ance somewhat with foreign students. Financially, however, acquiring

students from abroad does little to contribute towards offsetting costs,

because these students are not subject to UAS agreement contributions.

Foreign students only pay somewhat higher tuition fees.

Possible explanations for the different quotas in the mobility of stu-

dents at the individual universities must be sought in the individual study

decisions and self-selection mechanisms of the students. These are likely

to be influenced not least by institutional and cultural factors or by the

reputation of a university. However, this university data does not allow an

empirical verification of these hypotheses.

318 Origin

of the UTE students, 2021

Share of the UTE students (primary level) who come from outside the supporting region

and the students who study at a UTE outside the supporting region, relative to the total

of the UTE students of the supporting region, net balance: only students in Switzerland

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

Share of students relative to the supporting region

40%

20%

-20%

-40%

-60%

-80%

PH GR

BEJUNE

PH BE

HEP VD

HEP VS

PH TG

PH LU

DFA SUPSI

PH FHNW

PH ZH

PH ZG

PH SH

PH SG

PH FR

PH SZ

400

200

-200

-400

-600

-800

Admissions of foreign-educated applicants

Proportion of foreign-educated applicants

relative to the number of students from the

supporting canton

Departures of students to other cantons

Proportion of the students studying outside

the supporting canton, relative to the number

of students from the supporting canton.

net balance (domestic)

Proportion of students from outside the

supporting canton (resident in Switzerland)

minus the number of students who study

outside the supporting canton.

Admissions of foreign educated students

Admissions of students from outside the canton

Departures of students to other UTE

Net balance (domestic), secondary axis on the right

legend

Measured by the number of UTE students from Canton Zug, more than 100% of students

at the UTE Zug come from another canton or abroad. At the same time, a good 35% of the UTE

students from Canton Zug attend a UTE outside Canton Zug for their education.

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Students (absolute)

Admissions of students from outside

the canton

Proportion of students from outside the

supporting canton (resident in Switzerland)

relative to the number of students from the

supporting canton

120%

100%

80%

60%

1200

1000

800

600

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Institutions universities

of teacher education

297

Admission to the universities of teacher education

The admission practice of the universities does not only influence the

selection by the universities themselves, but also the self-selection of the

students and thus the future composition of the teaching staff. Nationwide

requirements exist for admission, which, however, allow the individual

universities of teacher education a relatively wide scope.

According to the revised EDK recognition rule, admission to training

for teaching at compulsory school level requires an academic baccalaureate

or a University Aptitude Test qualification (Passerelle). Holders of a recog-

nised specialised baccalaureate in education are admitted for the primary

level degree programme. In addition, the rule provides for specific pro-

cedures with examination and equivalent verification for the admission

of professionals and for persons who are changing careers. The EDK thus

follows the admission requirements for the universities of teacher educa-

tion (see Art. 24 of HEdA) already defined in the HEdA. The consequence

of these institutional specifications is that the students at universities of

teacher education can provide a more heterogeneous profile with regard to

their prior education at higher secondary levels than students in university

degree programmes. Thus ten years ago, for example, at least 40% of the

students who entered the study programmes for pre-school and primary

level did not have an academic baccalaureate

(→ figure 319)

. This propor-

tion has increased strongly since then and is over 60% today. The relation-

ship between students holding an academic baccalaureate and those with

other qualifications has thus been reversed. In the lower secondary level

study programme, the situation has changed significantly less over time.

The increase in intake of students without an academic baccalaure-

ate in the primary level study programme has been particularly affected

by efforts to enhance admission of vocational school leavers

(→ chapter

Upper-secondary specialised school, page 179).

The vocational school cer-

tificate was originally the prevalent entrance qualification to pre-school

level teaching training (kindergarten). According to the HEdA, an aca-

demic baccalaureate, a specialised baccalaureate or an equivalent qualifi-

cation are now required for the study programmes at a university of teacher

education. Since the revised EDK recognition rules came into force on 1

January 2020, there is no longer separate training for the pre-school level

(kindergarten), for which in the past, a certificate of secondary education

was sufficient. Today, the pre-school level is subsumed under the primary

level; the corresponding study programmes thus also include the lower

level. This means that since 2020 all young people who want to enter a uni-

versity of teaching education via the specialised school first have to obtain

the specialised baccalaureate in education.

Entrance via a specialised baccalaureate is chosen by a large proportion

of women

(Leemann et al., 2021).

Men, on the other hand, who do have

an academic baccalaureate and who wish to obtain an education in teach-

ing have more frequently acquired a vocational baccalaureate

(→ figure 320)

After the vocational education and training programme and the vocational

baccalaureate, however, they have to pass the university aptitude test for

enrolment in a Swiss academic university (Passerelle) or attain a qualifi-

cation equivalent to the aptitude test or the specialised baccalaureate by

sitting an internal entrance examination set by the university in question

(

→

margin text, page 298)

Graduates of the basic professional training

319 Entrants

by admission

qualification, 2011 and 2021

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

Prim

2011

2021

Sec I

2011

2021

25%

50%

75%

100%

Academic baccalaureate

Specialised school/specialised bac.

Vocational baccalaureate

Other admission qualification

320 Proportion

of men

by admission qualification, 2021

Proportion of men by UTE entrants

by admission qualification and study

programme

Data: FSO

sBac/FMS

Bac

other

vBac

50%

100%

Primary level

Lower secondary education

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298

universities of teacher education Institutions

321 Entry

into UTE after

discontinued university studies,

2021

Entry to a university of teacher education

with academic baccalaureate (Bac) and prior

education at an academic university (UNI),

2021

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

thus form a possible recruitment pool which could enable more men to be

recruited for the teaching profession

(Leemann et al., 2021).

A considerable proportion of first-year students only arrive at a uni-

versity of teacher education after discontinuing studies at an academic

university. Longitudinal analyses of higher education institution data

can be used to show that the study programmes for the primary level and

lower secondary level contain around 10% to 13% of the students with an

academic baccalaureate who changed to a university of teacher education

after discontinuing their studies at an academic university

(→ figure 321)

Sec I

Flexible forms of study

In order to attract more people for education in the teaching profession, the

universities of teacher education offer more flexible forms of study. These

include the option of part-time study, in other words, reduced presence.

Self-study, individual guidance and online courses enable students to com-

plete their education in addition to family commitment and work. In addi-

tion, professionals from the age of 30 are enabled to change careers and join

the teaching profession. In this case, the ability to study is clarified as part

of a documented, individual procedure “on file”. The training is usually

accompanied by some degree of teaching practice within the framework of

a part-time position at the target level from the second year of studies (see

Art. 8, Paragraph 4 of Recognition Rule). In the whole of Switzerland, just

under 10% of all students in 2021 in the primary level study programme

started their training as career changers or in a part-time variant.

Prim

25%

50%

75%

100%

Bac direct

Degree UNI

Discontinued UNI

No Bac

examination-free admission

to study programme primary level

at the uTe Bern

The Grand Council of Canton Bern

has resolved, as a result of the

revision of the Act on German-speak-

ing universities of teacher education

of 8 March 2022, that holders of

a vocational baccalaureate can be

admitted without an examination to

the study programme for primary level

at the university of teacher education

in Bern. In particular, this rule is jus-

tified by the need for new recruitment

options for teaching staff. However,

the new admission rule is in contra-

diction to the HEdA and to the revised

recognition rule of the EDK.

The training is thus not associated

with the nationwide EDK recognition.

Self-selection in the universities of teacher education

The various training programmes at upper secondary level either demand

explicitly different academic achievements or are selected by young people

with different abilities

(→ chapter Upper-secondary education, page 111).

As the distribution of performance in the various types of training in

the upper secondary level heavily overlap, it is not clear from the outset

whether students at a university of teacher education differ with regard to

their technical competences, depending on their admission qualification.

Unfortunately, competence data on students at the time of completion of

the upper secondary level is not available. Only the (PISA) competencies

measured at upper secondary level can be used as proxy variables. Appro-

priate analyses are possible via the longitudinal data of the PISA cohorts

2012 (SEATS data), which show the following: Students at a university

of teacher education who have an academic baccalaureate are recruited on

average from the second quartile of the PISA performance in mathematics,

in reading they correspond to the median, relative to all young people who

hold an academic baccalaureate. Young people with a specialised baccalau-

reate are recruited on average from the third quartile of those who took a

specialised baccalaureate. Students at a university of teacher education who

have entered the university via an academic baccalaureate thus on average

have a below average PISA performance compared with the performance of

all baccalaureate school pupils at the end of the compulsory school period –

at least in mathematics. They are thus still, on average, superior to their

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Institutions universities

of teacher education

299

colleagues with a specialised baccalaureate who scored above average in

PISA for their school type (specialised baccalaureate school). According

to this data, however, the vocational baccalaureate students at the univer-

sities of teacher education are negatively selected, with regard to the dis-

tribution of performance within the school type vocational baccalaureate.

The difference between specialised and vocational baccalaureate, however,

is considerably lower among the prospective primary teachers than that

between specialised and academic baccalaureate and only significant in

reading.

(→ figure 322)

. The difference in cognitive ability of the prospec-

tive teachers is relevant with regard to system effectiveness, as numerous

studies show that the cognitive abilities of teachers are strongly related to

students’ achievement growth.

(Enzi, 2017; Hanushek et al., 2019).

322 PISA

performance of the UTE students by baccalaureate

qualification

PISA points (2012) and current training by university type, 2021

Data: SEATS; calculations: SCCRE

660

640

620

600

PISA points

580

560

540

520

500

480

460

legend

The mean test performance (median) of all

graduates with an academic baccalaureate in

PISA (mathematics) is 610 points (blue bar).

The median performance of graduates with a

general baccalaureate who enter a UTE is 595

points (red dot).

Maths

Reading

Maths

Reading

Maths

Reading

Academic Baccalaureate

Specialised Baccalaureate

Voc. Baccalaureate

■

middle 50% (2

and 3

quartile),

■

median

■

median of the UTE students (primary level)

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300

universities of teacher education Institutions

The diversity of students who qualify potentially for admission to a univer-

sity of teacher education according to the EDK recognition rule means that

the composition of the student population with regard to their previous

schooling at the individual university is widely varied. It thus reflects var-

ious cantonal and regional practices

(→ figure 323)

. Access to teacher educa-

tion has different regional traditions. This has not least to do with the fact

that the proportion of students who attend the various general education

programmes at the upper secondary level are different from one canton to

another. In cantons with an expanded range of specialised baccalaureate

schools – such as in Northwestern Switzerland – this access plays a corre-

spondingly more significant role; in addition, there are still cantons that

do not offer any technical education at upper-secondary schools.

323 UTE

entrants by admission qualification and UTE, 2021

UTE entrants in the primary level study programme (Bachelor’s degree programme,

without further education)

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

PH GR

BEJUNE

HEP VD

HEP VS

PH TG

PH BE

PH FHNW

CH-Mittel

PH LU

PH FR

DFA SUPSI

PH ZH

PH ZG

PH SZ

PH SH

PH SG

Academic baccalaureate

Vocational baccalaureate

Foreign qualification

Specialised baccalaureate/SB qualification

Other Swiss certificate

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Effectiveness universities

of teacher education

301

effectiveness

The effectiveness of the universities of teacher education is measured by

how well the universities have provided the prospective teachers with the

skills and competences relevant for practising the profession which ena-

ble them to optimally support their pupils’ learning and to improve their

competences. An effectiveness determined in this manner would have to

be based on a causal chain, which would first have to establish a causal link

between the higher education and the teachers’ skills and secondly, a sim-

ilar one between teachers’ and pupils’ skills. For this purpose, it would

have to be possible to take into account the personal, cognitive and moti-

vational requirements of the students at the start of their studies as well

as the corresponding requirements of the children and young people they

teach. Research is far from being able to causally identify such relation-

ships. Enormously complex panel data must be available for this purpose

which needs to be collected over a long period of time. Collecting this data

would also require a variety of potential influencing factors to be taken

into account. It is correspondingly difficult to assess the effectivity of the

education at universities of teacher education in Switzerland.

Up to now, it has mainly been the second correlation which has been

better investigated: There are answers to the questions of which character-

istics and skills of teaching staff positively influence the acquisition of com-

petencies by the learners

(Bacher-Hicks et al., 2019; Baumert et al., 2010;

Brühwiler et al., 2017; Kane & Staiger, 2008; Rockoff, 2004; Rockoff et al.,

2010).

The research of the causal contribution of training to prospective

teachers’ professional skills is more difficult in the absence of correspond-

ing data. Not least because no consensus exists regarding which are the

relevant output variables of teacher training, in other words, which are

the job-relevant skills to be taught and how should these be measured. Up

to now, there have been different conceptualisations for ascertaining the

complexity of acquiring professional skills in teacher training

(Blömeke

et al., 2008; Helsper, 2016; Kauper et al., 2018; Rothland et al., 2018; Voss

et al., 2015).

Considered empirically, research so far has been mostly based

on self-reported assessments with regard to the output values, which can

be distorted.

Descriptors of the training process, aspects of the effectiveness of train-

ing as well as factors, from which it is assumed that they have an impact on

efficiency, will be presented and discussed below on the basis of Swiss data.

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302

universities of teacher education Effectiveness

Study success rates

For the Bachelor degree programmes of the universities of teacher edu-

cation, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reports a study success rate of

88% on average, based on the 2006 – 2009 cohorts. In comparison with the

average study programmes at the universities of applied sciences, this is

six percentage points higher. The quota is thus similar to that of the study

programmes of Healthcare and Social Work at the universities of applied

sciences

(→ figure 324)

An evaluation by gender, however, reveals a striking gender-specific

difference: In the universities of teacher education, the success rate of men

is 10 percentage points lower than that of women. The question is why men

are less successful at the universities of teacher education than women. Is

this due to poorer study requirements of men, to less motivation or do men

generally have a higher tendency to drop out of studies?

324 Study

success by subject area and gender

Study success (graduation in the same subject), 2018 of the cohorts 2006 – 2009;

deviation from the gender-specific average of the universities of applied sciences

in percentage points

Data: FSO

legend

The success rate of female students in the

subject area Healthcare is around 6 percentage

points higher than the average success rate

of the female students at the universities

of applied sciences. With the female students

at the universities of teacher education, it is

roughly 4 percentage points above the average.

With the men, the success rate at the UTEs

and with the business students is lower than

the average for all students at universities

of applied sciences.

Social work

Healthcare

Teacher training (UTE)

Applied psychology

Business and services

-10

-5

Deviation from gender-specific average in percentage points

Men

Women

Teaching activity during studies

It is generally considered to be conducive to starting a career if students

actually have relevant practical experience during their studies. Students

at universities of teacher education are in this case usually employed as

teaching staff at schools, either in long-term part-time positions or as

substitutes. The question is, however, how well students are qualified for

such assignments, in particular when they take place right at the start of

studies. Regular secondary employment on a larger scale also harbours

the danger that the working students become overloaded and cannot

meet the requirements set in their education. A professional employment

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Effectiveness universities

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303

independent of studies might particularly conflict with the practical voca-

tional training if it suggests to freshmen students that they already pos-

sess the required teaching skills and thus undermines the demand for

science-based professionalisation

(Bäuerlein et al., 2018; Cramer, 2013;

Hascher, 2011).

Teaching activities independent of studies of students vary depending

on the field of study. In the analysis, only graduates below the age of 30 are

taken into account; thus career changers who sometimes exercise a paid

teaching position as part of their training are not taken into account. In the

study programmes for the upper secondary level or even in special needs

education, in other words, in fields of study which are usually completed

as part-time studies, it is 50% and more of students who teach on a regu-

lar basis. With the students in the primary level study programme, it is

14% on average for Switzerland as a whole; at some universities of teacher

education however, it is up to 30%. In the lower secondary level study pro-

gramme, almost half of the students regularly perform a teaching activity

(→ figure 325)

Finally, the analysis of the graduate survey shows that prospective

teachers who regularly teach during their studies assess their training

differently than other students. This finding indicates that a teaching

activity during training which is independent of studies and thus un-

supported can be relevant for assessing the training and its effectiveness.

Accordingly, teaching activities independent of studies would also have

to be given greater consideration by the universities of teacher education

(Bäuerlein et al., 2018).

325 Paid

teaching activity

during studies

Paid employment related to studies during

the studies; survey of university graduates

2017 – 2021; only persons who were below

30 years old at the start of the survey.

Data: FSO (EHA); calculations: SCCRE

Primary level

Lower secondary

education

Special needs

education

Sec II

(Bacc. school)

Sec II

(VET)

Regular

25% 50% 75% 100%

Occasional

Never

Competence acquisition

In order to enable representative analyses, the research on competence

acquisition and professionalisation during teacher training would have to

be based on extensive data with test results in individual areas of compe-

tence, which should be designed and standardised as uniformly as possible.

Programmes in Germany, such as the COACTIV study

(Kunter et al., 2013)

or the more recent project Effective Competence Diagnosis in Teacher Edu-

cation

(Lohse-Bossenz et al., 2021; Rutsch et al., 2018),

do this on a large scale

and use longitudinal study designs to identify professionally relevant com-

petences of teaching staff and to describe the interaction of teaching meth-

odology and science.

There are no similar studies in Switzerland. Regarding the question

of the efficiency of teaching training, the findings of research here are

restricted to sub-aspects of competence acquisition, namely to the area of

practical vocational training

(Baumgartner, 2018; Winkler & Grüning, 2018)

or teaching methodology. However, the skills examined in these studies

are surveyed in different ways. Qualitative and quantitative surveys are

deployed, as well as experts’ observations and pupil surveys, as well as

actual tests; the results of the individual studies are difficult to compare

with each other.

An alternative would also be the graduate survey in Switzerland, which

on the basis of representative data from career starters provides indications

to their subjective assessment of the effectiveness of their training. For the

universities of teacher education, for example, the question of how these

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304

universities of teacher education Effectiveness

persons assess their training with regard to career entry and the fulfilment

of current professional tasks is relevant. The values shown in

figure 326

are based on regressions with the data from graduates of the study pro-

gramme at primary level, who are teaching in the compulsory school level

one year after graduation. What is striking is the high level of heterogene-

ity between the universities, which results from outliers at the extreme

ends of distribution. Only the four universities placed at the bottom devi-

ate significantly from the average, as well as the university placed right at

the top

(→ figure 326)

326 Assessment

of the training by the graduates

Assessment of training with regard to a) career entry and b) the fulfilment of the current work

assignments; scale 1–5; only graduates of a study programme at primary level at universities

of teacher education who are employed at compulsory school level one year after graduation

Data: FSO (EHA, 2017, 2019 and 2021); calculations: SCCRE

5.0

4.5

4.0

Mean

3.5

3.0

2.5

SUPSI

PH GR

PH TG

PH BE

BEJUNE

PH LU

HEP VD

HEP VS

PH FHNW

PH SH

PH ZH

PH ZG

PH FR

PH SZ

PH SG

Career start

Fulfilment of current work assignments

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Effectiveness Universities

of teacher education

305

entry to the teaching profession and retention

From the perspective of the education system, the career entry and reten-

tion of trained teaching staff represents an effectiveness criterion. If a con-

siderable proportion of graduates from the universities of teacher education

were to decide against teaching in the school area or to give up a teaching

position soon after they had started, this would indicate either a low attrac-

tion for the profession or an inadequate preparation for the profession or

both together. However, only the second would be decisive for assessing

the performance of the universities of teacher education.

Personal attitudes and self-efficacy convictions are key for career entry

(Hecht & Weber, 2020; Keller-Schneider, 2020a, 2020b).

If teachers see them-

selves as competent and if they attribute this acquisition of competence

to the training, then these would be indications of a level of efficiency of

the education at a university. The significance of self-efficacy is empiri-

cally demonstrated by the fact that career starters who estimated the train-

ing one year after graduation as supportive with regard to the fulfilment

of their professional assignments are more likely to be still active in the

teaching profession five years later.

The vast majority of UTE graduates from the universities of teacher

education take up a teaching post within a year of completing their studies,

but with considerable differences according to education level. 83% of

teachers with a training for the primary level take up teaching activ-

ities which are appropriate to their level, while this is only around 77 %

for trained teaching staff at lower secondary level and for academic and

vocational baccalaureate school teachers is only about 60%

(→ figure 327)

Regarding the secondary level teaching staff, more than one-third take

up a further course of studies or training after graduating from a univer-

sity of teacher education. In the case of baccalaureate school teachers, the

high proportion of those who teach on another level probably indicates

difficulties in finding a job.

327 Employment

situation

of graduates by teaching level

Data: FSO (EHA), initial surveys 2021;

calculations: SCCRE; graduates one year after

graduating

Prim

Sec I

Sec II

25%

50%

75%

100%

Teaching activity appropriate to training

Teaching activity at another level

Employment in another profession

Further education

Not employed

Prim

Sec I

Sec II

primary level, including pre-school level

lower secondary level

upper secondary level

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306

universities of teacher education Efficiency/costs

efficiency/costs

Statements about the efficiency of resources used in UTEs demand both

comparable data on the various inputs (real and monetary) as well as suit-

able output measurements. Because, as already mentioned in the previous

section, there is no generally applicable measure of output for the area of

teacher education, it is likewise not possible to make statements about the

efficiency of education. The following remarks are therefore limited to a

cost comparison (monetary input).

Training costs per person

If the costs of study of the individual universities of teacher education are

compared for each student – measured in full-time equivalents (FTE) – for

the programme of study of the primary level, a very large heterogeneity of

costs can be established, which, however, cannot be explained by the size

of the university

(→ figure 328)

. There are various explanations for these

differences, such as heterogeneous supervision relationships, differences

in the training models, a wide range of heterogeneity in the range of stud-

ies, diverging wage costs, unequal staffing structures as well as in general

the diversity of the organisational structure of the universities. However,

an exact analysis of the determinants of the rather large costs differences

is not available.

328 Costs

of education per student and number of students

by university, 2021

Staff costs for basic training in the primary level study programme for each student (in FTE)

and number of students (in FTE) in the primary level study programme (basic training)

12,000

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Operating costs per FTE (deviation from mean value)

10,000

8,000

6,000

PH TG

4,000

2,000

PH SH

- 2,000

HEP VS

- 4,000

PH BE

- 6,000

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Students in full-time equivalents

PH ZG

PH GR

HfH

BEJUNE

PH SZ

DFA SUPSI

HEP FR

PH SG

PH LU

HEP VD

PH ZH

PH FHNW

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Efficiency/costs universities

of teacher education

307

If one considers not only the expenditure for teaching but the overall

costs of the university of teacher education for each student (in FTE), no

correlations between the cost ratio of training and research and the over-

all costs per FTE can be established. Thus universities with very similar

overall costs per FTE (such as SUPSI, HEP VS and UAS SH) show very

different cost ratios between training and research and vice versa. In other

words, research-intensive universities of teacher education – with regard to

the overall costs per student – are not expensive, but also not less expensive

than less research-intensive universities of teacher education

(→ figure 329)

329 Distribution

between training and research costs

per FTE by university, 2021

Relationship between costs for training and for research and development per FTE;

overall costs (operating costs) per FTE

Source: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

PH GR

HfH

PH TG

HEP BEJUNE

PH BE

PH FHNW

HEP VD

HEP VS

HEP FR

PH ZG

PH ZH

PH LU

PH SZ

DFA SUPSI

PH SH

PH SG

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

Operating costs in CHF per FTE

Training

Research and development

Total costs per FTE (right scale)

Cost structure of the universities of teacher education

If the staff costs are further differentiated according to the four areas of

performance (basic training, further education, applied research and devel-

opment as well as services), no correlation with the size of the univer-

sity can be observed either. The differences in the cost structure between

the universities of teacher education can be explained accordingly not by

the size of a university, as there are small (Schaffhausen) as well as large

(Zurich) universities of teacher education with a proportionately large

allocation of resources in the area of training. In the third-party funded

area (further education, research and development, services), the various

universities also have different profiles.

It must, however, be taken into consideration, that even small increases

in staff, for example, in the area of research and development, can have a

strong impact on the overall ratio at small universities due to the pro rata

consideration

(→ figure 330)

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308

universities of teacher education Efficiency/costs

330 Staff

costs by performance type and university, 2021

Source: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

HEP FR

HEP VS

HEP BEJUNE

PH SZ

PH ZG

PH BE

PH FHNW

DFA SUPSI

HEP VD

PH SG

PH GR

PH SH

PH ZH

HfH

PH TG

PH LU

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Basic education

Applied research and development

Continuing education and training

Services

Financial sources of the universities of teacher education

The universities of teacher education are primarily financed by fixed

contributions from their sponsors (cantons). In addition, there are con-

tributions from other cantons as part of the inter-cantonal agreement on

universities of applied sciences (ICA-UAS), as well as tuition fees, third-

party funds and other income. The combination of the various financial

sources is different according to the area of performance. However, the

earnings structure of the entire university of teacher education over all

areas of performance will be considered below

(→ figure 331).

The increase in students from outside the canton has an impact on

the financial resources of the host universities. On average, the universi-

ties of teacher education receive 14% of their operating costs in the form

of inter-cantonal compensation payments

(→ figure 331)

. Basic financ-

ing by the sponsors is on average around 70%. The less that a university

of teacher education is able to acquire students from outside their can-

ton and thus UAS agreement contributions as well as third-party fund-

ing, the greater the proportion of financing which the sponsoring canton

needs to provide. With regard to the third-party funding, this depends on

whether it covers the expenditure which would have also been incurred

without it, or whether the third-party funding initiates activities which

without it, would not have taken place. If the latter is the case, the share

of sponsorship of the costs decreases on a percentage basis, but not on an

absolute basis, while in the first case, both would decrease. The size of the

sponsor contributions varies – dependent on these factors – very widely

between the universities of teacher education; it ranges from less than 50%

in the case of the UTE Lucerne up to 80% in the case of the UTE BEJUNE.

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Equity universities

of teacher education

309

331 Operating

revenues by financial source in percentage

of the operating costs, 2021

Source: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

Basic financing by the sponsors:

without

infrastructure costs

ICA internal:

ICA contributions for students

within the sponsoring region (imputed)

ICA external:

ICA contributions for students

outside the sponsoring region

Third-party funds:

research funds, tuition

fees, other revenuesw

PH LU

PH SG

PH ZG

PH GR

PH FHNW

PH SZ

PH BE

PH ZH

PH SH

HfH

PH TG

DEA SUPSI

HEP VD

HEP FR

HEP VS

HEP BEJUNE

Sponsor

20%

ICA internal

40%

60%

ICA external

80%

Third-party funds

100%

equity

Equality of opportunity at the UTEs is discussed in this chapter in addi-

tion to the analysis of the university system as a whole

(→ chapter Ter-

tiary-level education, page 193)

– mainly from the perspective of access

to training. Disparities between different social groups, genders and Swiss

and foreign students are highlighted.

Social background

The social disparity tending to be prevalent in the Swiss higher education

system between the university and the non-university sectors

(Denzler,

2011; Diem, 2021)

can also be seen in the various study programmes at the

universities of teacher education. However, the latter make a contribution

to improving equal opportunities in access to higher education with an

admission practice that is, in comparison with the academic universities,

considerably more open, as well as with alternative access for persons with-

out a university admission qualification. Thus the proportion of gradu-

ates in the programme of study of primary level at universities of teacher

education whose father has a degree from a university is around half that

of university graduates. The proportion then increases in the study pro-

grammes for the secondary level and is highest in that for prospective aca-

demic and vocational baccalaureate school teaching staff

(→ figure 332)

; it

is lowest for teaching staff of the vocational training part of the upper sec-

ondary level. This pattern reflects not least the different parts of the admis-

sion qualifications which are required in the individual study programmes.

The lower the proportion of academic baccalaureates, the less frequently

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310

universities of teacher education Equity

the students come from families in which at least one of the parents is

a university graduate. However, the figures also show that the teaching

staff do not form a homogeneous group with regard to social background,

but rather a reflection of the social background of the pupils which they

teach. For the compulsory school level, the teaching staff correspond with

regard to their social background, for example, rather to the social aver-

age of the population than the average of holders of a degree at university

level. An interesting observation is that the prospective academic and voca-

tional baccalaureate school teachers come considerably less frequently from

academic families than the average of the other graduates from academic

universities, who were their fellow students during the specialised studies.

332 Social

background of the university graduates

by study programme, 2021

This shows the proportion of graduates whose father holds a degree from a university

(UNI, UAS, UTE).

Source: FSO (EHA); initial surveys 2017, 2019 and 2021; calculations: SCCRE

Sec II (vocational education)

Pre-school and primary level (UTE)

Healthcare (UAS)

Humanities and social sciences (UAS)

Universities of teacher education (UTE)

Sec I (UTE)

333 Students

by previous

education and social

background

Students with and without basic voca-

tional education and training (VET) before

commencing studies; father with degree

from a higher education institution (with HEI)

and without degree from a higher education

institution (without HEI)

Data: FSO (EHA), initial surveys 2017, 2019

and 2021

Universities of applied sciences

Sec II (baccalaureate school)

Humanities and social sciences (UNI)

Academic Universities (UNI)

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

UTE

With HEI

Without HEI

UAS

With HEI

Without HEI

UNI

With HEI

Without HEI

25%

50%

75%

100%

Access to higher education via the VET programme to the university,

which is actually a feature of the universities of applied sciences, also causes

a reduction in social disparity. At the universities of teacher education,

almost a quarter of the students from non-academic families have com-

pleted basic vocational education and training before commencing studies.

At the academic universities, this

‑

is less than 10%

(→ figure 333)

VET before start of studies

No VET before start of studies

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Equity universities

of teacher education

311

Gender

The study programmes of the universities of teacher education are tradi-

tionally characterised by a high proportion of women, which decreases

from education level to education level for which training is provided.

The highest quota of women is over 87 % in the study programme special

needs education, while the fewest women are in the study programme for

the upper secondary level

(→ figure 334)

. However, it can be established

that the proportion of women in the study programmes of primary and

lower secondary level has decreased by around 7 percentage points over

the last decade. The reasons for the growing proportion of men are not

completely clear, even though it has been observed that the universities of

teacher education themselves have taken various measures to make them-

selves more attractive for men.

Fears that too few men in the teaching profession, in particular for the

male pupils, would bring disadvantages, could be refuted with reference to

various studies, which suggested that neither boys nor girls are at an advan-

tage if they are taught by a teacher of the same gender (SKBF, 2018). A large-

scale quasi-experimental study with Finnish data now shows that a more

balanced gender ratio in the schools is associated with better academic per-

formance, a better transition to post-compulsory education and a higher

employment rate at the age of 25 for both male and female pupils. The

authors surmise that the observed effects are, on the one hand, conveyed

by a higher complementarity in the team and on the other hand by certain

non-observed skills in the male teachers

(Schaede & Mankki, 2022).

334 Development

of female

proportion of UTE entrants

by course, 2010–2021

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020

Primary level

Lower secondary education

Upper secondary education

Special needs education

Migration status

The proportion of teaching staff with a migration background is generally

regarded as a yardstick for the successful integration of foreigners in the

Swiss education system. In addition, teaching staff with a migration back-

ground are seen as having a special potential in dealing with the cultural

heterogeneity in the educational institutions with regard to cultural diver-

sity in schools

(Syring et al., 2019).

However, the proportion of foreign students at universities of teacher

education is very low. Altogether, only around 5% of students at univer-

sities of teacher education who have acquired their university qualifica-

tion entrance in Switzerland have foreign nationality (known as Swiss-

educated applicants). However, it is important to consider that when

taking into consideration the nationality, the proportion of students with

a migration background is underestimated due to naturalisation before

their studies

(→ chapter Baccalaureate schools, page 155).

In addition to

the 5% mentioned, there are another approximately 5% of foreigners who

come to Switzerland for education (known as foreign-educated applicants).

However, starting out from quite low proportions, the share of foreign-

ers who were living in Switzerland before commencing their studies and

have acquired their university entrance qualification here has increased

(→ figure 335)

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312

universities of teacher education Equity

335 Origin

of foreign students, 2011 and 2021

Proportion of foreign students by nationality; only Swiss-educated applicants have been taken

into account, in other words, persons of foreign origin who had their residence in Switzerland

at the time that they obtained university admission.

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

Western Balkans

Germany

Portugal

Türkiye

France

Austria

Spain

Italy

Other countries

2011

2021

With regard to equal opportunities, further clarification is needed on

whether foreign nationals are also confronted with other barriers, in

addition to the admission conditions, which could lead, for example, to

them discontinuing their studies more frequently than Swiss nationals

(Besa & Vietgen, 2017).

Based on the available data and the current research,

no signs of such disadvantages can be identified.

The fact that the universities of teacher education are less attractive than

the academic universities for foreign-educated applicants who first come

to Switzerland to study can be explained as follows: On the one hand, the

academic universities enjoy a wider international reputation, with which

it is easier for them to attract foreign students

(→ chapter Tertiary-level

education, page 193).

On the other hand, the degrees (with exceptions)

are better recognised on the international labour market than those from

universities of teacher education.

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Equity universities

of teacher education

313

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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PROFESSIONAL

EDUCATION

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316

Professional education Context

and Overview

Context and Overview

336 Length

of professional

experience by training type

Exam cohort 2018

Data: FSO

CollHE

FDHE

aFDHE

years

Professional experience in field of training

Total professional experience

Professional education (PE) is provided at tertiary level B, alongside train-

ing and education at cantonal universities, Federal Institutes of Technology

(ETH and EPFL), universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher

education, giving professionals with a federal VET diploma the ability to

access tertiary-level education without a (vocational) baccalaureate. It also

provides a source of experienced professional and managerial personnel for

business. The aim of professional education and training is to “enable the

transfer and acquisition of competencies needed to carry out the complex

tasks and decision-making associated with a given profession” (Article

26 para. 1 VPETA

). Compared with other educational programmes, PE is

more closely aligned with the requirements of the labour market. Students

on professional education programmes often have many years of profes-

sional experience behind them

(→ figure 336)

and more frequently pursue

their studies alongside a job, which can be an advantage, especially when

it comes to developing social skills

(Bolli & Renold, 2017).

Federal examinations (Federal Diploma of Higher Education FDHE

and Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education aFDHE) assess can-

didates’ professional skills and equip them to perform at a level requir-

ing more than the successful completion of vocational education to federal

VET diploma level. The Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education

have higher requirements than the Federal Diploma of Higher Education

within a particular sector. They qualify graduates as managers or experts

in a specific field. In the case of the FDHE and aFDHE, the professional

organisations specify the skills to be attained in the exam regulations and

assess them at centrally-administered exams. Graduates receive a Federal

Diploma of Higher Education (FDHE) or an Advanced Federal Diploma of

Higher Education (aFDHE). There are no regulations governing the prepa-

ration for these exams.

Broad, generalist colleges of higher education (CollHE) provide stu-

dents with practice-oriented skills for taking on professional and man-

agement responsibility. In terms of qualifications from CollHE, profes-

sional organisations work alongside education providers to develop the

core syllabus for each course of study. Providers obtain federal recogni-

tion for their courses on the basis of the core syllabus, administer the final

qualification process and issue the diploma.

1 Federal Act on Vocational and Professional Education and Training (Vocational and Profes-

sional Education and Training Act, VPETA) of 13 December 2002.

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Context and Overview Professional

education

317

337 Overview

of professional education in Switzerland

Data : CSRE

Admission requirements

Federal Diploma of Higher education

(FDHe)

Upper-secondary qualification

and a certain number of years’ work

experience in the relevant field

Duration

Provider

Qualification

nQF

VPQ

5 – 6

Federal examinations

unspecified since

attendance on pre-

paratory courses

(part-time) is voluntary

voluntary attendance

on preparatory courses

provided by education

institutions and pro-

fessional organisa-

tions, as well as public

and private schools

Federal Diploma of Higher Education

(FDHE), e.g. Specialist in Business

Administration and Applied Technical

Management, FDHE; HR Specialist,

FDHE; Chartered Specialist in

Accounting and Financial Management,

FDHE

Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher

Education (aFDHE), e.g. Swiss Certified

Accountant, aFDHE; Licensed

Electrical Installation and Safety Expert,

aFDHE; Master Farmer, aFDHE

Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher

education (aFDHe, also mastership

examination)

Federal professional examination

and a specific number of years’ work

experience in the relevant field

4 – 8 semesters

(full-time or part-time)

Private and public

schools

6 – 8

College of higher education (CollHe)

Upper-secondary qualification and work

experience

in some cases

Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher

Education (aFDHE), e.g. Registered

Nurse, aFDHE; aFDHE in Business

Administration; Social Worker, aFDHE

NQF VPQ National Qualifications Framework for Vocational and Professional Qualifications

Development of qualifications

Professional education is of great quantitative significance to the tertiary

education sector. Approximately 25,000 professional education quali-

fications are awarded each year; in 2020 this corresponded to 43% of all first

qualifications at tertiary level

. Over the last year, development of federal

examinations remained constant, while the number of CollHE diplo-

mas increased

(→ figure 338)

. However, the number of qualifications from

UASs increased strongly over the same period, with the relative share of

professional education across all tertiary qualifications decreasing consi-

stently since the introduction of UASs. This competition from UASs is

also named by providers in the professional education sector and individ-

ual stakeholders as the greatest challenge facing the further development

of PE

(Neukomm et al., 2020).

The FSO anticipates that, in terms of students, past development is set

to continue in the next decade. It predicts that HEIs will experience an

increase in student numbers of approximately 12% between 2019 and 2029,

while for CollHE

, the increase will be just under 5%. CollHE will largely

see more students in subjects such as social welfare, nursing and health-

care, as well as IT and communication technologies; meanwhile a decline is

anticipated in subjects such as finance, banking and insurance

(FSO, 2021k).

338 Development

of qualifications

by education type, 2002–2021

College of higher education diploma without

post-diploma; in 2009, a large number of

qualifications previously unregulated by the

Confederation were converted into CollHE

qualifications; the decline in 2020 is driven

by the pandemic

(→ Effects of the Covid-19

pandemic, page 318)

Data: FSO

Number of qualifications in 1000s

2003

2009

FDHE

aFDHE

CollHE

UAS BAs & Diplomas

2015

2021

Bachelor’s level and licentiate, diplomas from universities, UASs and UTEs.

Due to a lack of data, scenarios for federal examinations are currently unavailable.

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318

Professional education Context

and Overview

Since the establishment of UASs, the proportion of people in gainful

employment aged between 25 and 64 has also increased, while the pro-

portion with a professional education qualification has remained relatively

constant. This development indicates that only the HEIs, in particular

UASs, have benefited from the growing trend towards tertiary education

(→ figure 339)

. This is not least connected to the expansion of new bac-

calaureates (vocational baccalaureate schools, specialised baccalaureate),

which has given significantly more people access to higher education. The

constant proportion of holders of professional education qualifications in

gainful employment indicates that the trend towards a greater number of

HEI qualifications has not come at the cost of professional education and

instead complements it

(Aepli et al., 2021).

339 Development

of the highest completed education

of 25–64 year olds permanently resident in Switzerland

Data: FSO

Proportion of 25–64 year olds

permanently resident in Switzerland

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

Professional education

Compulsory education

HEIs

Upper secondary education

effects of the Covid-19 pandemic

Professional education was also heavily impacted by the COVID-19

pandemic. In 2020, a number of federal examinations had to be rescheduled

which, for the FDHE, led to a tangible decline in qualifications

(→ figure 338)

However, the year after, this pandemic-related decline was no longer

evident.

Similarly, at colleges of higher education, the rapid transition to remote

teaching was associated with great expense. Learning support and exams

were disrupted, with teachers claiming that students learned less through

remote teaching. At the same time, teachers also saw remote teaching as a

way of improving digital competencies

(Aeschlimann et al., 2020).

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Institutions Professional

education

319

Institutions

Unlike HEIs, in professional education, it is not the individual institu-

tion that receives accreditation. Rather, in the case of the federal exams,

only the qualifications themselves are recognised by the Confederation

through the exam regulations. In the case of colleges of higher education,

courses of study are recognised through the course’s core syllabus. There-

fore, there are CollHE courses and preparatory courses for federal exami-

nations available at a variety of education providers, both private and pub-

lic. These providers usually offer more than preparatory courses or CollHE

courses. Almost half, for instance, are primarily active in vocational educa-

tion and training

(Frey et al., 2021).

This also explains the high number of

education and training providers in comparison to universities. In the last

decade, the number of active providers of professional education increased

by 16%

(→ figure 340)

, although there was no substantial increase in stu-

dent numbers.

340 Development

of the number

of education and training

providers

Data: FSO

400

380

360

340

320

300

Number of institutions

Institutional developments

After the new Federal Vocational and Professional Education and Training

Act (VPETA), which came into effect in 2004 and includes professional

education, the strategic project “Strengthening higher vocational educa-

tion” (launched in 2013) came to an end. It covered several key areas. In

the case of federal examinations, public support for education seekers was

introduced by means of subject funding in early 2018. However this direct

federal funding for graduates of preparatory courses for federal examina-

tions mostly replaced cantonal funding for preparatory course provid-

ers

(→ Efficiency/costs, page 326).

Alongside changes to funding, pro-

fessional education qualifications were further classified, together with

VET programmes, in the National Qualifications Framework (NQF ) for

Vocational and Professional Qualifications

(→ figure 337)

. This classifica-

tion helps ensure differentiation between VET qualifications. At the same

time, they also reflect the positioning of professional education qualifica-

tions at tertiary level and their equivalence with HEI qualifications. The

NQF for Vocational and Professional Qualifications was based on the Euro-

pean Union’s European Qualifications Framework, thereby also improv-

ing international comparability. In contrast to the ISCED classification,

the NQF for Vocational and Professional Qualifications also differentiates

among and between the federal examinations.

Furthermore, in 2015, the SERI introduced new English titles for voca-

tional and professional qualifications to ensure optimum labour mobil-

ity for holders of those qualifications, even overseas. Finally, accessibil-

ity between professional education and UASs was examined. Although

admissions to programmes at UASs are the responsibility of each indi-

vidual institution, the Swiss Conference of Rectors of Higher Educa-

tion Institutions (swissuniversities) has developed recommendations (best

practice) in this area, whereby graduates of CollHE can be admitted onto

programmes at UASs without needing to pass an exam, while holders of

a Federal examination may be admitted after passing an entrance exam. If

the course at the UAS is in a different field of study to the professional

education qualification, an additional admissions requirement of at least

2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020

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320

Professional education Institutions

one years’ professional experience in an occupation related to the field of

study is also recommended.

Alongside the aforementioned developments, there were also reforms

specifically relating to colleges of higher education. In the 2015/2016 aca-

demic year, the new Intercantonal Agreement on Funding Contributions

for Study Programmes at Professional Education Institutions (ICA-PEI)

came into effect, followed in 2017 by a complete revision of the Minimum

Requirements for the Recognition of Study Programmes and Continuing

Education and Training at Professional Education Institutions (MiR-PEI)

(→ Efficiency/costs, page 326).

With the ICA-PEI, funding for courses

at PEIs was also put in place, easing the financial burden on students,

regardless of their canton of residence. The MiR-PEI was revised to align

more closely with the needs of the labour market and quality develop-

ment. Action points in terms of the positioning of CollHE were reviewed

on the basis of political initiatives. According to the study

(Neukomm

et al., 2020)

commissioned by the SERI, action is still needed at CollHE,

especially in terms of recognition, connectivity and profile. The present

“Positioning colleges of higher education” project clarifies provider struc-

ture

(Frey et al., 2021),

distinctions within professional education and in

comparison to UASs, as well as funding and the distribution of responsi-

bilities between the Confederation and cantons. Measures for promoting

national recognition and international mobility were also discussed.

Colleges of higher education

Courses of study at colleges of higher education are based on core sylla-

bus for 55 professions

(Frey et al., 2021).

These are developed and adopted

by professional organisations in collaboration with providers of educa-

tion and training. They are authorised by the SERI. The core syllabus must

be reviewed and approved every 7 years. CollHE also offer post-diploma

courses, which are also recognised by the Confederation. Quantitatively,

qualifications from CollHE focus on a few courses of study. The five most

commonly attended

(→ figure 341)

make up almost half of all qualifications;

for post-diploma courses, this amounts to just over 57 %.

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Institutions Professional

education

321

341 The

five most common qualifications at PEIs, 2019

Diplomas and post-diplomas

Data: FSO

Figures 341, 343 and 344 show 2019 numbers,

as in 2020, the number of qualifications was

impacted intermittently by the COVID-19

pandemic and was therefore distorted; this was

compensated for in 2021.

Registered Nurse

Diplomas

Business Administration

Social Worker

Mechanical Engineering

Business Process Management

Business Management

Intensive Care

Post-diplomas

Anaesthetic Nursing

Emergency Care

Corporate Governance

500

1000

1500

2000

Share of CollHE diplomas (2019–2021)

In geographical terms, most qualifications at CollHE are in German-speak-

ing Switzerland. This is largely due to the greater prevalence of VET pro-

grammes in this part of the country. Cantons with the highest proportion

of VET programmes also have the highest proportions of qualifications

from CollHE per resident aged 25–30 years

(→ figure 342)

. Unlike federal

exams

(SCCRE, 2018),

the presence of a cantonal offering doesn’t seem to

play a decisive role, as the example of Appenzell shows: Although there

are no providers of professional education in either of the two Appenzell

cantons (Ausserrhoden and Innerrhoden), the proportion of people with

CollHE qualifications in that area is the highest in Switzerland.

342 Cantonal

share of CollHE

diplomas

Number of diplomas (average 2019–2021)

per resident/aged between 25–29 years,

versus cantonal share of VET programmes

Data: FSO; calculations: SCCRE

30%

60%

70%

80%

Federal examinations

In contrast to CollHE, whose courses are recognised by the Confederation,

federal recognition of the federal examinations extends only to the qualifi-

cation. The initiative of creating a new Federal examination always comes

from a professional organisation. These organisations set the content, i.e.

the skills to be assessed in the exam, while the Confederation is respon-

sible for oversight of the exams and approving the exam regulations. The

relevant professional associations set the exams annually or biannually. In

2022, the SERI professional directory listed approximately 260 different

Federal Diploma of Higher Education and 160 different Advanced Fed-

eral Diploma of Higher Education. There are no regulations governing the

preparations for these exams; the candidates are free to choose themselves

how they prepare. However, the overwhelming majority attend a relevant

preparatory course. In the 2018 exam cohort, 94% of candidates studied for

a FDHE and 95% of candidates worked towards an aFDHE

(FSO, 2020b).

40%

50%

Share of vocational education

(2020/21)

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322

Professional education Institutions

As with colleges of higher education, the number of Federal examination

qualifications is heavily concentrated in a few areas (

figure 343

and

figure 344

Approximately half of all candidates are working towards a Federal

Diploma of Higher Education in “Business, Administration and Law”. A

further 20% are working towards a diploma in “Engineering, Manufactur-

ing and Construction”.

343 Federal

Diploma of Higher Education:

The top 10 qualifications, 2019

Data: FSO

HR Specialist

Business Admin. & Applied Technical Manag.

Police Officer

Specialist Accounting and Financial Manag.

Social Insurance Specialist

Trainer

Real Estate Administrator

Marketing Specialist

Project Manager for Electrical Installation

Specialist in Long-term Care and Assistance

200

400

600

800

1000

344 Advanced

Federal Diploma of Higher Education:

The top 10 qualifications, 2019

Data: FSO

Complementary Therapist

Accountant

Electrical Installation Expert

Expert Financial & Manag. Accounting

Master Farmer

Naturopathic Practitioner

Sales Director

Real Estate Administrator

Tax Expert

Certified Fiduciary

100

150

200

250

300

The proportion of qualifications in several established federal examina-

tions has remained relatively constant over the years. Overall, however,

much momentum can be seen, particularly with the termination of old

exams and the creation of new ones. For example, in 2016, exams in Com-

plementary Therapies were held for the first time, with 619 qualifications

in the first year. A year later there were still 130 qualifications; in 2018 there

were just 80.

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Effectiveness Professional

education

323

effectiveness

exam success

81% of students sitting an exam in professional education in 2018 were

successful. At colleges of higher education, which organised and marked

the exams themselves, 94% candidates passed. In Federal Diploma of

Higher Education examinations, 76% of candidates were successful. In the

case of Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education examinations, the

percentage was 73%

(FSO, 2020b).

Success rates also vary by subject. For

example, success rates for students in teacher education and social sciences,

as well as services, were above average. However, these rates only indicate

differences in terms of likely exam success; it is unknown whether simi-

lar differences exist for the proportions of students registered or unregis-

tered for the exams.

labour market integration

With regards to labour market integration, success rates for professional

education graduates are above average. The unemployment rate (as defined

by the International Labour Organisation, ILO) one to four years after

graduation is approximately 2% (CollHE) and slightly over 1% (FDHE and

aFDHE,

figure 345

). Even during the pandemic-induced economic crisis of

2020, the unemployment rate among newly graduated professional edu-

cation students was low at 1.4%

(FSO, 2022c).

In comparison, people aged

25–39 years old have, on average, an unemployment rate of approximately

5%. However, the low unemployment rate immediately after professional

education isn’t solely on account of that training, since the rate of unem-

ployment for professional education graduates is already disproportion-

ately low even before commencing studies. On the one hand, this arises

from the requirement for previous practical experience and, on the other,

the fact that many professional education courses are cofinanced by the

employer, whereby employability is, to a certain extent, a requirement

even before training begins. Furthermore, training agreements are often

made between the employer and employee and compensation payments

are scheduled in the event that the employee leaves the employer before a

certain time period has elapsed.

The employment rate for people with a professional education qualifi-

cation is high immediately after training but also when taking into account

all holders of such a qualification. Approximately 95% of graduates are in

employment

(Aepli et al., 2021).

A similarly high employment rate is seen

in those who have completed higher education (university, UAS or UTE)

after a VET programme. However, in those who have attended a school

with general education programmes prior to tertiary-level education, the

employment rate is significantly lower at approximately 90%. Interestingly,

this is also the case for those who have completed professional education

after attending a school with general education programmes

(Aepli et al.,

2021).

345 Unemployment

rates

for the 2016 exam cohort

Before the start of professional education

and 1 year and 4 years after graduation

Data: FSO

3.0

Unemployment rate

2.0

1.0

0.0

CollHE

FDHE

aFDHE

before professional education

1 year after professional education

4 years after professional education

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324

Professional education Effectiveness

Professional education versus

universities

Which educational path do employees

prefer in applications? In order to

answer this question, fictitious appli-

cation files for various different jobs

are being assessed by employers in a

new study

(Rageth & Sritharan, 2022),

where the education of the applicant

was varied randomly. This shows that

for entry level positions, vocational

training tends to be preferred over

baccalaureate schools (without further

training). For more challenging

positions (Sales Manager or Head

of IT) persons with advanced Federal

Professional Examinations tend to be

preferred over those with a university

degree (Bachelor) or a university of

applied sciences degree (Master) and

are more likely to be invited for an

interview, but only for the position of

Sales Manager. The effect – in other

words, the higher probability of being

invited to an interview – is more pro-

nounced among employers who have

good knowledge of tertiary level B

(professional education and training).

Professional education courses – in keeping with the aims of this training

type – are often linked to a change in the graduate’s professional status too.

The proportion of employees with management responsibilities increases

in students at a CollHE from 14% prior to training to 33% one year after. In

those who have passed a FDHE examination, it increases from 29% to 44%,

and in those with an aFDHE examination, from 48% to as high as 62%. The

latter often takes the step into self-employment too, a step linked to voca-

tional courses with a certificate of master craftsmanship. Before training,

approximately 7 % are self-employed; one year after training it is already

13% and after four years, approximately 18%

(FSO, 2022h).

effects on wages

Just as the effects of training on employment can only cautiously be inter-

preted as causal, wage increases cannot always be attributed to it either. The

effects on wages are also difficult to confirm because the heterogeneity of

the qualifications – in addition to the fact that the number of qualifications

is sometimes very small – meaning that general statements are difficult

to make. Comparing the wage increase for professional education gradu-

ates with that of VET graduates, the difference amounts to approximately

7 % after completion of professional education. In the years following, it

increases to approximately 10–18%

(Sander & Kriesi, 2019).

The descriptive analysis of wage data also indicates that professional

education is already reflected in wages immediately after graduation.

The median salary one year after the completion of training is approxi-

mately 20% higher than before training

(→ figure 346)

. A portion of this

wage increase can be explained by a change in profession, as well as an

orientation towards roles with a management function, whereby promo-

tion could again be a consequence of training. However, even without a

promotion, professional education qualifications often lead to a shift into

a higher wage bracket, especially in the public sector and in healthcare and

social care

(Ecoplan, 2013).

The absolute level of income for the various training types (CollHE,

FDHE and aFDHE) cannot be compared directly, as unlike the pre- and

post-training comparison, we are not dealing with the same group of

people or age ranges. For example, at 28 years old, graduates from CollHE

are significantly younger than those with a FDHE (33 years old) and an

aFDHE (36 years old)

(FSO, 2020b).

However, even comparing the same

age category for all training types, differences between each group may

influence income, for example with regards to sector or region.

4 “Before training” is defined as six months prior to the first course or six months prior to the

start of preparations for the final exam.

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Effectiveness Professional

education

325

before

after

CollHE

FDHE

aFDHE

347 Median

wage development after the highest qualification

Data:

Aepli et al. (2021)

12,000

11,000

Monthly median wage (FTE)

10,000

9,000

8,000

7,000

6,000

5,000

4,000

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

Highest qualification

lower sec:

Lower secondary education

(no upper-secondary level qualification)

VeT:

Vocational education and training

Ge-Pe:

Completion of professional education

after general education

VeT-Pe:

Completion of professional education

after vocational education

Ge-u/uAS/uTe:

Degree from a higher

education institution after general education

VeT-uIT/uAS/uTe:

Degree from a higher

education institution after vocational education

FTe:

Full-time equivalent

GE-PET

GE-U/UAS/UTE

Lower secondary education

VET-PET

VET-U/UAS/UTE

VET

When comparing the average income for various types and levels of edu-

cation, it should be noted that income dispersion also varies. The higher

average income of people with university degrees can be explained by the

much higher incomes of the top 20% of the income distribution. Excluding

the top 20% of both training types, people with professional education

would have a similar income on average to university graduates

(Aepli

et al., 2021; Sander, 2020).

Differences are also apparent in relation to the

sector and activity performed. The returns on professional education are

greater in sectors where such training leads to an increase in the share of

analytic, interactive and, interestingly, manual, non-routine activities

(Sander & Kriesi, 2019).

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after

If medium- and long-term wage developments are also taken into account,

people with professional education have a considerably higher income than

people without tertiary education. However, they earn slightly less than

HEI graduates

(→ figure 347)

. Since the length of training is usually shorter

than in the latter, the return on education, i.e. the life-time wage advan-

tage gained through one year of training, is just as high for professional

education graduates.

On the other hand, whether someone has completed professional edu-

cation or general education prior to tertiary education has no bearing on

their wages. Immediately after completing tertiary-level education, those

who had previously completed vocational education report significantly

higher income than those with a general education. This can be explained

by the lack of labour market experience of people coming from general edu-

cation. The wage benefits for people with a vocational qualification prior

to tertiary education disappear relatively quickly, however, and five years

after graduating from a tertiary level course, there is no observable differ-

ence

(Oswald-Egg & Renold, 2021).

346 Standardised

gross income

for 30–34 year olds

Before and 1 year after training. This data

comes from the exam cohort 2018; The green

boxes correspond to the 25% and 75% quar-

tiles. The blue line corresponds to the median.

Data: FSO

Gross income in CHF 1000

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326

Professional education Efficiency/costs

However, as shown in a non-representative survey of users of an appren-

ticeship platform, some potential students appear to be unaware of the

wage outlook for professional education qualifications

(Bolli et al., 2020).

this survey, there was a tendency to underestimate the income for all train-

ing types, however professional education qualifications were underesti-

mated the most. The income for UAS qualifications was underestimated

the least.

efficiency/costs

348 Income

of education

and training providers, 2018

Data:

Frey et al. (2021)

22%

28%

46%

Tuition fees

Contributions from canton in which the

school is located

Contributions from other cantons

Other income

The efficiency of professional education is more difficult to assess than

other forms of training. Aside from the lack of data, the highly heteroge-

neous nature of professional education is also a factor. There are many dif-

ferent qualifications, numerous providers of education and training and,

in some fields, only a small number of graduates with similar or compa-

rable training. However, from a public sector perspective, compared to

HEIs, professional education is at least cost-efficient. In 2019, the Confed-

eration and cantons spent CHF 503 million on professional education, cor-

responding to 1.26% of total public training spending. If these public costs

are distributed to the number of students, according to the FSO, training

spending per person amounts to just over CHF 13,000 per year. This cor-

responds to approximately one third of the public cost of students in HEIs.

The public costs represent only one part of the total costs, as the stu-

dents, often supported by their employer or family, cover a considerable

proportion of the costs themselves. However, even considering these costs,

professional education courses are comparatively cost-efficient. Consider-

ing the positive outcomes, such as labour market integration, professional

education is thus more efficient than other tertiary qualifications from a

societal perspective.

Funding of colleges of higher education

The Intercantonal Agreement on Funding Contributions for Study Pro-

grammes at Professional Education Institutions has been in place since

the 2015/16 academic year. It ensures that all interested parties have equal

access to education. In the case of students from outside the canton, the

canton in which the school is located receives compensation in accordance

with the agreement. These contributions make up approximately 22% of

the schools’ total revenue, while the canton of the school covers almost

half of the costs

(→ figure 348)

A further 28% is financed through course fees. These course fees vary

significantly by course and institution, with the high average cost being

the result of several very expensive courses. For example, a course in

“Hospitality Management” costs CHF 34,000 over the whole year, while

course fees in “Healthcare and Social Care” come to just CHF 4700

(FSO,

2020b).

Some of these differences arise from the fact that the public sector

contributes 50% of the average cost of a course, but up to 90% in the case of

increased public interest. The median semester fee is CHF 2400

(Frey et al.,

2021).

Approximately half of these course fees are covered by the students

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Efficiency/costs Professional

education

327

Semester costs per person in CHF 1000

themselves; just under half is financed by the employer

(FSO, 2020b).

It is

notable that total course fees are higher when there is just a small number

of providers for a specific profession

(→ figure 349)

The competitive environment among providers differs not just by

profession but by region, although not to the same extent. The highest

number of providers per profession is in Espace Mittelland and Zurich, and

the lowest in Tessin

(→ figure 350)

. At the same time, proximity to place of

residence is one of the most important criteria when it comes to choosing

a provider

(FSO, 2020b),

which may discourage those in outlying regions,

with few or no providers, from pursuing studies. Meanwhile, those who

have completed studies are mostly happy with their living situation

(FSO,

2020b).

349 Average

costs

and number of courses

Per profession

Data:

Frey et al. (2021)

Number of courses

Funding of federal examinations

In 2020, Federal Diploma of Higher Education and their preparation

courses cost an average of CHF 15,000, while Advanced Federal Diploma of

Higher Education were more expensive on average, at CHF 19,700. In 2018,

subject-oriented funding for preparation courses was introduced by the

Confederation, and students can now apply for federal funding amount-

ing to 50% of attributable tuition fees (max. CHF 9,500 for a FDHE and

CHF 10,500 for an aFDHE). Since its introduction, contributions have

risen continuously. This is also tied to the removal of cantonal funding,

which had been available prior to this point

(→ figure 351)

A point of interest in terms of education policy is whether or not sub-

ject-oriented funding will ultimately ease the burden on students or

whether employer contributions will decrease due to federal funding,

subsequently being replaced by subject-oriented funding. A final assess-

ment of this question is not currently possible and requires further obser-

vation. Considering the share of funding in this initial phase, we see that

both the student’s own and the employer’s shares have fallen since the

introduction of federal contributions

(→ figure 352)

. However, employer

contributions have decreased somewhat more sharply than self-funded

contributions. At the same time, it is not yet possible to say whether the

prospect of federal subsidies encouraged individuals into training, who

generally could expect less support from their employer, or whether federal

subsidies in fact replaced employer support.

350 Market

competition

by region

Data:

Frey et al. (2021)

Northwestern CHE

Espace Mittelland

Lake Geneva region

Eastern CHE

Central Switzerland

Ticino

Zurich

50%

CollHE professions

No provider

Several providers

One provider

100%

351 Federal

funding

by exam type and year

Data:

FSO (2021g)

Contributions in CHF millions

2018

FDHE

2019

aFHDE

2020

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328

Professional education Social

background and gender distribution

352 Sources

of funding before and after the introduction

of federal funding

Data:

FSO (2020b)

FDHE

2016

2018

2020

aFDHE

2016

2018

2020

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Share of funding

Self-finance

Employer

Federal funding

Other

Social background

and gender distribution

University admissions are more socially selective than UASs or UTEs due

to socio-demographic selection at baccalaureate schools

(→ chapter Ter-

tiary-level education, page 193).

Professional education qualifications

are socially selective in a similar way to UAS admissions, as students are

often admitted from VET programmes

(FSO, 2020b; Nägele et al., 2018):

When taking into consideration the highest level of education for the par-

ents of all students in professional education, a similar picture emerges to

students at UASs

(FSO, 2020b).

In terms of gender distribution, individual professional education

courses reflect the gender distribution in VET programmes. Fewer profes-

sional education qualifications are obtained by women because the propor-

tion of women on VET programmes is also lower. However, the proportion

of women among those who obtain a professional education qualification

after vocational training has virtually doubled in the last twenty years from

around 17 % to one-third.

In each individual course of study, gender distribution is often highly

concentrated. Thus, on the one hand, approximately 90% of exam candi-

dates in “Information and Communications Technology” and “Engineer-

ing, Manufacturing and Construction” are men. On the other, the propor-

tion of women in healthcare and social care is more than three quarters

(FSO, 2020b).

However, when gender distribution between the various

education types is compared using the segregation index

(→ chapter Voca-

tional education and training, page 125),

professional education is not

more segregated than vocational education

(→ figure 353)

. It is therefore

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Social background and gender distribution Professional

education

329

difficult to prove specific preferential treatment or discrimination towards

one gender when it comes to accessing professional education. As far as

Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education are concerned, the distri-

bution of qualifications by gender varies considerably in some cases. This is

mostly the case with new qualifications, especially healthcare. These qual-

ifications temporarily lead to a sharp increase in numbers and compensa-

tory moves in the following years.

353 Gender

segregation index

By training type and year

Data: FSO (LABB); calculations: SCCRE

0.70

0.65

Segregation index

0.60

0.55

0.50

0.45

0.40

2012

2014

aFDHE

CollHE

2016

2018

FDHE

VET

2020

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COMPULSORY EDUCATION

UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION

TERTIARY-LEVEL EDUCATION

CONTINUING EDUCATION AND

TRAINING

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CONTINUING

EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

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332

Continuing education and training Context

Context

In view of technological and social change as well as the internationali-

sation of labour markets, continuing education and training (CET ) has

become of crucial importance for highly developed knowledge societies.

Structural shifts and labour market dynamics result in rapidly changing

adjustments to qualification requirements, and at the same time cause

skills to become obsolete quickly

(Lentini & Gimenez, 2019).

Moreover,

demographic shifts and rapidly ageing societies mean that the average age

of the working-age population is constantly rising, which in turn means

that new knowledge and skills are less and less likely to reach the labour

market and companies quickly via young workers. Finally, technological

change is making it increasingly difficult for people with no qualifications

above compulsory schooling to prevail in the labour market long term,

which in turn increases their need to catch up by completing formal edu-

cation programmes as adults. This also applies to immigrants with little

formal education who enter the country at an age at which formal educa-

tion has normally been completed. To help such immigrants integrate into

the labour market permanently, it is necessary to first address any deficits

in their formal compulsory education.

CET pursues a range of goals. First, it serves to maintain work-related

knowledge and skills, which constantly become obsolete due to the changes

mentioned above. This is possible on the job itself, or through educational

programmes in institutional settings. Second, CET makes it possible for

individuals to learn new skills with which to advance their career in a field

they already know well. Third, people learn new skills also with the aim of

creating opportunities for themselves in other fields – for example when

structural shifts threaten their accustomed line of work or make another

field more lucrative and attractive. Fourth, CET is often also an urgent and

necessary measure, driven by individual needs or labour market shifts; for

example, as a way of regaining a foothold in working life after having lost a

job or following a period of unemployment. Fifth, CET helps to close gaps

in basic skills among adults. Sixthly and finally, people tend to continue

their development and general education for personal reasons. Non-voca-

tional, general CET, as well as adult education, covers practically all areas of

life, from politics to leisure, as well as in fields relating to culture and sport.

The function and target group of this type of CET are consequently varied.

The term “continuing education and training (CeT)”

The term “continuing education and training” – understood as part of life-

long learning – refers to non-formal educational activities. This refers to

organised learning taking place outside the formal education system, i.e.

in places other than those that award formal qualifications. Non-formal

education includes courses, conferences, seminars, private lessons and

on-the-job training

(FSO, 2017b).

Strictly speaking, preparatory courses

for the examinations of the Federal diploma of higher education part of

professional education (PE) are not part of formal education. Participation

in such courses is voluntary, unlike the examination, which is a compul-

sory part of the formal qualification. Therefore, training itself is consid-

ered non-formal education and falls under CET

(→ chapter Professional

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Context Continuing

education and training

333

education, page 315).

Similarly, CET at universities and institutes of tech-

nology (UNI) falls under non-formal education, even if such programmes

have their own certificates, such as the Master of Advanced Studies (MAS).

These CET qualifications do not count as formal educational qualifications.

Finally, non-formal learning (such as individual study of professional lit-

erature), i.e. that takes place outside of a structured setting and is not part

of an explicit programme, also falls under CET.

Most non-formal education activities take place for professional reasons

(→ figure 354)

. Among the working-age population, only around 13% of CET

activities in 2021 were not related to work. However, non-vocational CET

is gaining in importance for those who retire, even if such activities among

the older population are low.

This chapter focuses mostly on non-formal education for the employed.

This is due, on the one hand, to the importance CET has for the labour

market, both from a personal and societal perspective. On the other hand,

methods reasons play a key role as well: Reviewing the effectiveness, effi-

ciency and equity in CET as part of education monitoring makes it neces-

sary to categorise CET activities as consistently as possible in accordance

with clear educational policy objectives.

354 Vocational

vs. non-vocational

CET

Reason for attending CET programmes, 2021

FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

25–39 years

40–54 years

55–64 years

65+ years

Dynamic labour market

The Swiss labour market is known to be very dynamic. This is not only

a consequence of rapid job creation, but also due to relatively high turn-

over rates within current workforce segments. Accordingly, many work-

ers change their jobs every year. This dynamic could be the reason for the

strong demand for CET programmes. Such a correlation can be empiri-

cally shown based on international data

(→ figure 355)

. Countries whose

labour markets have high employee turnover rates (i.e. those with a high

Vocational

50%

100%

Non-vocational

355 Proportion

of new positions taken up and CET participation

Proportion of employees with less than one year of tenure as a percentage of total employees;

participation share in CET (last 4 weeks), age 25 – 64, 2021

Data: Eurostat; calculations: SCCRE

35%

30%

CET participation share

25%

20%

15%

10%

15%

20%

25%

= 0.55

Proportion of employees with tenure of less than 12 months

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334

Continuing education and training Context

proportion of employees who started a new job less than a year ago) have

higher CET shares. The direction of causality, however, remains unclear:

Do high turnover rates drive demand for training or are they the conse-

quence of high training intensity? The latter would imply that training

is what makes it possible for someone to change his or her job in the first

place. Regardless of the causal direction, empirical data suggests the fol-

lowing: The more dynamic a labour market is, the greater the need among

all workers to ensure their employability. High turnover rates, however,

do not force only the gainfully employed themselves to remain employa-

ble through CET. Companies also need to provide incentives in the form

of CET opportunities to retain their existing staff. In the absence of such

efforts, companies will have to replace the skills and expertise lost through

churn by training new employees.

The high proportion of new jobs filled annually in Switzerland com-

pared to other countries is not only due to people changing jobs but also

due the effects of structural shifts driven by technological change. This is

expressed in the quantity of new jobs created each year as well as in the

new skills that are in demand. While automation first eliminated routine

manual tasks in industrial production

(Machin, 2001)

and replaced them

with tasks requiring higher cognitive skills, digitalisation has been spur-

ring a similar process in the service professions for several years: Routine

cognitive activities are being replaced by non-routine ones that usually call

for other skills, which can be acquired increasingly only through tertiary

education.

356 Change

in employment shares over the last 20 years

by occupational group

Change in shares of employees by occupational group between 2000 and 2020

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

Managers

Science occupations

Technicians

Operators/

assembly occupations

Manual occupations

Office occupations

Skilled agriculture/

forestry workers

Service and sales

Support staff

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

Change in percentage points

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Context Continuing

education and training

335

This trend can be seen in Switzerland through quantitative shifts in the

occupational categories (ISCO classification). An increasing number of

workers are employed in the science professions and as managers. At the

same time, fewer and fewer people are needed for jobs that do not require

a tertiary education. This applies, for example, to crafts, office work, plant

and machinery operation, and assembly

(→ figure 356)

Globalisation and technological change have led to a strong polarisation

in the labour market, especially in the English-speaking countries: While

the number of jobs with medium qualifications has declined, the number

of jobs for weakly qualified and thus poorly paid people has increased. On

the other hand, jobs on the other end of the qualification spectrum have

been created as well. In Switzerland, the decline in medium qualifications

can be observed, but not an increase in the number of jobs with low quali-

fication requirements

(Breemersch et al., 2019; Müller & Salvi, 2021).

Unlike other countries, Switzerland has been better able to prevent the

gainfully employed with medium qualifications from slipping into jobs

with low requirements. This is probably due to the economy’s structure,

which has successfully prevented major disruptive shocks since the late

1990s

(Müller & Salvi, 2021).

Continuous technological change – unlike

rapid and abrupt change – is better and easier to manage by offering tar-

geted CET programmes and recruiting well-trained workers

(→ figure 357)

In addition, for a considerable proportion of people with medium qual-

ifications, a proficient level of education also entails the opportunity to

qualify for more challenging jobs by completing a specific CET pro-

gramme – for example also in the area of PET

(→ chapter Professional edu-

cation, page 315).

357 Departure

rates in relation to employment

Voluntary and involuntary departures from a job, relative to employment

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations:

Müller & Salvi (2021)

25%

20%

Departure rate in %

15%

10%

1997

1999

2001

2003 2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

Low-skilled workers

Highly qualified workers

Medium-skilled workers

All

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336

Continuing education and training Context

358 Change

in employee composition by occupation category

and education level, 2000 – 2020

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

Science occupations

Managers

Technicians

Office occupations

Skilled agriculture/

forestry workers

Service and

sales occupations

Operator/

assembly occupations

Manual professions

-40

-30

-20

-10

Change between 2000 and 2020 in percentage points

University

Professional education (tertiary level)

Upper-secondary level

359 Change

in the qualification

structure of foreign population

Foreign population, age 25 – 64, 2000 to 2020,

by highest education qualification

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

50%

45%

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

The structural change, which is expressed by a sharp increase in demand

for those with tertiary qualifications

(→ figure 358)

, can hardly be absorbed

solely by natural turnover or further training. Such shifts in the structure

of qualifications are possible only if, above all, people who are still in formal

education invest even more heavily in such programmes, i.e. by enroll-

ing in longer and more challenging education and training courses. This is

reflected not only in the general and steadily rising rate at which tertiary

qualifications are awarded in Switzerland

(→ chapter Tertiary-level educa-

tion, page 193.),

but also specifically in the increasing number of people

with a university degree, which is particularly evident among the foreign

population

(→ figure 359)

Digital skills

Technological progress requires virtually all employees to acquire new

skills. This applies in particular to those in communication and infor-

mation technologies (ICT). According to a 2021 survey on internet use by

the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), however, digital skills are distributed

very differently based on educational achievements and age. While in the

middle age segment (30 – 59 years) more than 60% of those with tertiary

education believe they have advanced digital skills, the figure for people

without post-compulsory education is only 14%. There are also signifi-

cant differences in the use of digital technologies: 70 – 80% of respondents

with tertiary education state that they use word processing and spreadsheet

programmes, while among those without post-compulsory education the

share is 10 – 20%

(→ figure 360)

The significance of these findings for CET nevertheless remains unclear,

due to a lack of information about whether these skills are actually used

2000 2004 2008

2012

2016

2020

Lower-secondary level

Upper-secondary level

Tertiary level

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Context Continuing

education and training

337

with the same frequency and intensity by everyone regardless of educa-

tional background and age. If such skills are used only rarely, they are usu-

ally not worth acquiring, as they would quickly become obsolete and for-

gotten due to their infrequent use. At the same time, it also remains unclear

whether the acquisition of such skills would raise the chances for older or

less qualified individuals of getting a new job or being assigned new tasks

in their current job where such skills are called for.

360 Use

of digital technologies by education level, 2021

Educational levels are shown for individuals from age 25; no distinction is made by educational

level for those below age 25. Among this generation, the use of digital everyday technologies on

average is about as widespread as among people above age 25 who have a tertiary education.

Data: FSO (OMN 2021); calculations: SCCRE

Use a word processor

Use a spreadsheet

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Share in % of total population

Without post-compulsory education (from age 25)

Upper-secondary level (from age 25)

Tertiary level (from age 25)

Below 25

Devaluation and preservation of skills

Skills tend to decrease with a person’s age. Various analyses with data on

adult skills show that such a decline already sets in at middle age, although

the rate of decline varies depending on the level of education, labour mar-

ket status – not to mention the striking differences among age cohorts and

countries. The fastest decline in skills occurs among those with low cog-

nitive abilities and among the employed. Employees with higher qualifi-

cations show a lower rate of decline

(Barrett & Riddell, 2016; Martin, 2018;

OECD, 2016; Paccagnella, 2016).

The fact that better qualified workers find it easier to maintain their

skills may seem surprising since parts of a broader skill set are more likely to

become obsolete. Such workers are thus under more pressure to use CTE as a

way of maintaining their skills. On the other hand, they mostly benefit from

having better chances of working in a demanding job that offers opportuni-

ties to acquire new skills. Findings in Switzerland also indicate that the more

demanding an occupational category is in terms of cognitive skills, the more

likely it is that the gainfully employed will participate in CET programmes.

The following also applies within an occupational group: The better educated

people are, the more likely they are to complete a CET programme

(→ figure 361)

361 CET

by occupational group

and educational qualification,

2021

Participation in vocational CET courses,

employed population, age 25 – 64, weighted

percentage values

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

Science

Management

Agriculture

and forestry

Technology

Services

and sales

Ofﬁce

Assembly

Manual work

10%

20%

30%

40%

Upper-secondary level

Tertiary degree

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338

Continuing education and training Context

When considering that the average age of the gainfully employed in Swit-

zerland continues to rise due to demographic shifts and that consequently

there are more and more people in the labour market who acquired their

formal education a long time ago, it is reasonable to expect that average

participation in CET will continue its upward trend. However, this is not

the case, at least as far as the local population is concerned. On the other

hand, an upward trend in CET participation can be observed among work-

ing population segments that immigrated to Switzerland from abroad

and whose average age is below that of the native Swiss population. Their

average age has nevertheless increased more rapidly than that of the Swiss

population over the last decade

(→ figure 362)

362 CET

participation and average age by nationality, 2010 to 2021

Gainfully employed individuals aged 25 – 64; CET during the last 4 weeks; weighted percentage

values; only those with at min. post-compulsory education; the sharp decline in CET participation

in 2020 is due to the measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic

(→ COVID-19 pandemic,

page 339).

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

30%

25%

CET participation (share)

20%

15%

10%

Age (average)

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

CET (Switzerland)

Age (Switzerland)

CET (abroad)

Age (abroad)

363 Weakly

qualified individuals

by nationality, 2000 and 2020

Share of weakly qualified individuals

in the total of all weakly qualified workers

per age group, taking into account different

cohort size

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

Share ofof weakly qualified persons in age cohort

Share weakly qualified persons in age cohort

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

Individuals with weak qualifications

Among the employable population, those with weaker qualifications

and no post-compulsory education constitute a special group that poten-

tially has a strong need for CET. However, the size of this group has been

decreasing steadily in recent years. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of

Swiss without post-compulsory education practically halved across all age

groups, and in 2020 it made up only 2% of those aged 25 – 34. Among foreign

workers with weak qualifications, the decline comes to about one third,

albeit starting from a higher level. The youngest cohort shown here still

accounts just under 14% without post-compulsory education

(→ figure 363)

This trend illustrates the success of the education policy, which aims for

a completion rate of 95% at upper-secondary level

(→ chapter Upper-sec-

ondary education, page 111).

Swiss nationals up to the middle age groups

25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64

Abroad 2000

Abroad 2020

Switzerland 2000

Switzerland 2020

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Context Continuing

education and training

339

have currently reached this goal – unlike residents with a foreign nation-

ality. The new migration policy

(Cattaneo & Wolter, 2015),

which makes

selection more contingent on qualifications, is also reflected in a general

decline in the number of low-skilled individuals. Nevertheless, between

20% and 30% of foreigners aged 35 have not completed their upper-sec-

ondary education.

In terms of CET policy, this means that the problem for those with weak

qualifications is of decreasing importance – especially as far as the Swiss-

born are concerned; however, it will not solve itself, even in the medium

term. Ten years from now, the proportion of Swiss with weak skills is

expected to drop below 5%. Among those of foreign nationality, practically

every fifth person will still be in the weak skills category in ten years from

now. Measures to address this problem must begin with the formal edu-

cation of those migrants who have completed at least part of their school-

ing here

(→ chapter Upper-secondary education, page 111),

as well as

with specific CET programmes for those who immigrated to Switzerland

as adults. This would mean promoting basic skills as well as closing gaps

in formal education, and, above all, creating more opportunities to acquire

formal educational qualifications (such as PET programmes for adults).

COVID-19 pandemic

The Federal Council’s measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the

spring of 2020 caused enrolment in CET programmes to plummet in 2020

(FSO, 2021c).

For the providers of CET programmes, the ban on in-per-

son events, in effect from the first lockdown in March until June 2020, led

to a sharp decline in the number of events held. The median participa-

tion share in CET courses in the second quarter of 2020 fell by over 40%

against the previous year. The second half of 2020 saw some recovery due

to the general easing of restrictions, but the recovery did not compensate

the loss. This probably also relates to the fact that the pandemic caused

some institutions to close again from November 2020 until April 2021,

whereby providers of CET programmes were again forced to discontinue

in-person events.

Overall, the participation share in CET in 2020 thus remained far below

the level of previous years, and significant losses were also recorded in 2021

due to restrictions in the first quarter

(→ figure 364)

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340

Continuing education and training Context

364 CET

during the COVID-19 pandemic

Participation in CET by quarter, 2018 – 2021, employed population, age 25 – 64;

participation during the last 4 weeks

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

The new Eurostat regulations of 2021 also led

to changes in SLFS analyses. The year 2021

can thus be compared with previous years

only to a limited extent. From 2018 to 2020,

CET included only courses; as of 2021, it also

includes seminars, conventions and private

lessons.

30%

25%

20%

CET share

15%

10%

2018

2019

2020

2021

365 Evaluation

of the economic

situation, 2021

Evaluation of the economic situation

by the providers, before March 2020,

at the time of the survey in April 2021

and as an outlook to 2022

Source: (SVEB 2021)

A survey by the Swiss Association of Further Education (SVEB) of such

providers found an average decline in the volume of offers of around 38%

for 2020. About a third of the providers were able to run less than half of

their programmes. In the wake of the ban on in-person instruction, the

vast majority of institutions adjusted their offers to the new situation by

means of digital technologies

(Gollob et al., 2022),

but this was not enough

to compensate for the decline in demand. In spring 2021, the providers’

economic situation on average was seen as significantly worse than before

the pandemic

(→ figure 365)

, a view derived mainly from the smaller pro-

viders. Because of the decline in the volume of programmes and courses

on offer, many providers had cancelled contracts with freelancers, thus

avoiding for the most part having to lay off permanent employees

(Gollob

et al., 2022).

In addition, developing and designing CET programmes, espe-

cially for online events, has become much more demanding for planners

(Haberzeth & Dernbach-Stolz, 2022).

Before

2020

2021

2022

Very good

Medium

Very bad

50%

Good

Bad

100%

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Institutions Continuing

education and training

341

Institutions

The Continuing Education and Training Act (CETA) has been instrumen-

tal in defining the principles of CET and determining the general require-

ments for financial assistance from the federal government since 2017. The

federal government supports all areas of CET activities through a series of

special laws

(→ Financing, page 347).

The CETA ensures that subsidies

are available for certain CET services by organisations and for cantonal pro-

grammes so that learners can acquire and maintain basic skills in reading,

writing, local language, everyday mathematics and the use of information

and communication technologies.

366 Sponsorship

of CET

providers, 2021

Data: FSO (MET, 2021)

13%

39%

CeT market

The Swiss CET market is strongly characterised by private sponsors, which

include civil-law, for-profit and not-for-profit institutions. Besides private

providers, companies are the most frequent sponsors of CET programmes.

For them, CET, which is usually managed internally for the benefit of the

workforce, is not the main goal of their economic activities. Accordingly,

their programmes are not publicly accessible. Besides private sponsors, the

federal government and the cantons also sponsor institutions that offer

CET programmes. These include vocational schools, PET colleges, univer-

sities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education, as well as uni-

versities and institutes of technology

(Schläfli & Sgier, 2014).

Overall, the private sponsors of for-profit and not-for-profit CET insti-

tutions tend to dominate, whereby employers make up at least a quarter of

the offers. The remaining CET offers (almost 50%) are sponsored by private

CET institutions. This also includes non-profit, charitable providers such

as associations, trade associations, social partners and religious institu-

tions

(→ figure 366)

In the case of public sponsors, universities and institutes of technology

are of primary importance, and their mandate also includes CET, besides

training and research. In 2021, CET courses at universities and institutes

of technology, universities of applied sciences, and universities of teacher

education had roughly 14,000 participants in total. At universities of

applied sciences, CET course participants made up roughly 11% of all BA

students in 2021

(→ figure 367

). In terms of programme intensity, how-

ever, CET participants at universities and institutions of technology play

a much smaller role. The number of CET courses completed at universities

of applied sciences and universities of teacher education in 2021 declined

because of restrictions relating to the pandemic.

Proportion of CET participants

19%

20%

Employer

Private providers

Freelancers

Other

Public sponsors

367 CET

at universities

and institutes of technology

Proportion of CET participants in relation

to all BA students, 2018 and 2021

Data: FSO (SHIS); calculations: SCCRE

14%

12%

10%

UNI

2018

UAS

2021

UTE

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342

Continuing education and training Effectiveness

368 CET

topics

Activities attended by the permanent

resident population age 25 – 64

Data: FSO (MET 2021)

In CET courses, content relating to labour market topics tends to domi-

nate, whereby the fields of business, employment, science and technology,

as well as IT make up over half of the courses

(→ figure 368)

26%

effectiveness

Any statement about CET effectiveness would have to address the extent

to which an offer reached its goal. This would require not only a previously

defined set of goals, but suitable measures for gauging the output, i.e. the

degree to which the goal was reached (e.g. that certain skills were in fact

acquired). Both requirements are hard to meet in CET, especially in view of

the diversity of the activities, whose goals vary as much as the participants

themselves. In addition, CET activities cover a range of content, scope and

intensity. Unlike formal education, non-formal education has hardly any

explicit educational policy guidelines with learning objectives that could

serve such a purpose. Policy goals are therefore formulated mostly in very

general terms, usually by focusing on ways of promoting CET (such as in

the Federal Council’s legislative plan) with a view to better utilising the

potential in the domestic labour force or offsetting the negative effects of

structural changes

(Federal Council, 2020).

The lack of uniform curricular specifications also makes it mostly

impossible to determine the extent to which the objectives were reached. In

some cases, participant surveys are used, which often involves a personal

assessment of the success of the course or how well certain skills were

taught. Such surveys also analyse outcomes, such as how well certain con-

tent can be applied in everyday working life vis-à-vis prior expectations

on the course. However, such information is available only for individual

CET activities and is not standardised at the place of origin. In other words,

it does not provide a comprehensive view of the outputs and outcomes of

CET activities in Switzerland. Accordingly, there are efforts underway to

measure the effectiveness – especially in vocational CET – by means of

objective data on labour market integration and success. The focus here

is on questions concerning a person’s employment status after complet-

ing a CET programme, how much he or she earns, and about issues con-

cerning his or her career at this point. From a broader perspective, however,

it is impossible to make conclusive statements about CET effectiveness

because even standard before-and-after comparisons fail to capture the

causal effects of CET because of the way participants are selected.

Statistical observations usually operationalise the output of the CET

system in the form of quotas, whereby a ratio is established between partic-

ipants in non-formal activities and the total population over a defined ref-

erence period

(→ figure 369)

. However, such a ratio is not very meaningful

because it does not include the type of educational activity (courses, sem-

inars, conferences or others) or the duration. These uncertainties are par-

ticularly problematic when course participation shares are compared across

different populations or countries.

17%

14%

Business/work

Health

Sport/art

Other

Science/Tech.

Social skills

Languages

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Effectiveness Continuing

education and training

343

369 Participation

in CET, 2021

Data: FSO (MET, 2021; SLFS 2021); calculations: SCCRE

Different concepts and surveys for recording

participation in continuing education.

Reference period SLFS (blue bars):

last 4 weeks; MET (green bars),last 12 months.

Non-formal education (SLFS)

Non-formal education, professional (SLFS)

Non-formal education (MET)

CET courses (MET)

CET courses, professional (MET)

Seminars, professional (MET)

On-the-job training (MET)

10%

20%

30%

CET share

40%

50%

60%

From a societal perspective, there is strong consensus on education pol-

icy, as well as an interest in having people without post-compulsory edu-

cation improve their labour market skills through CET. Policy makers are

thus willing to increase public funding for educational measures for these

groups. This consensus, which is shared internationally, is an expression

of the federal government’s aim, as laid out in the CETA, as well as in can-

tonal legislative efforts and programmes. The effectiveness of these efforts

is often gauged by the success in encouraging individuals with weak quali-

fications to participate in CET programmes. An international comparison

of CET shares of persons with weak qualifications identifies two things

(→ figure 370)

: Firstly, the larger the proportion of the population with-

out post-compulsory education, the larger the gap between the CET share

of those without post-compulsory education and those with an upper-

secondary education

. This may be related to the fact that labour mar-

ket integration is weak (low participation share) in countries whose pro-

portion of people without post-compulsory education is high, as well as

because the economy is geared more closely to those with weak qualifica-

tions. This has a negative effect on the willingness of investors to fund CET

programmes, both in the case of employers and (prospective) employees.

Secondly, it can be seen statistically that Switzerland is an outlier compared

to EU countries, in the sense that the gap in CET shares is particularly large

given the relatively small proportion of people without post-compulsory

education. Even if this is more the result of an above-average CET share for

those with an upper-secondary education than of a below-average share for

those without a post-compulsory education, it still shows that the latter

group benefits less from the overall strong CET activities in Switzerland

compared to those with a higher education.

Excluding Switzerland, the coefficient of determination (R

) increases to 0.37

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344

Continuing education and training Effectiveness

370 Proportion

of weakly qualified individuals

and their participation in CET, 2021

The CET participation share of people with weak qualifications is represented as the difference

between the participation share of those with an ISCED level 0 – 2 qualification (without post-

compulsory education) and those with an ISCED level 3 – 4 qualification (post-compulsory

education) in percentage points; the two axes (red) represent the mean value.

Data: Eurostat; calculations: SCCRE

legend

The disparity between people with weak

qualifications and those with post-compulsory

education in Poland is 1 percentage point,

with a weak-qualification share of 7% of the

population. The participation share of people

with weak qualifications is thus 1 percentage

point lower than that of people with post-

compulsory education. In Portugal, where 40%

of the population has weak qualifications,

the difference in participation shares is over

5 percentage points.

Difference in CET share ISCED (3-4)-(0-2)

10%

AT IS

20%

30%

40%

= 0.24

50%

Share of population without post-compulsory education

Switzerland’s overall high CTE share can also be explained by the coun-

try’s strong economic performance

(→ figure 371)

. However, it must be

noted that a strong correlation between a country’s economic performance

and the population’s CET patterns says nothing about causality. On the

one hand, strong CET participation may be an effect of an economy that

generates considerable added value and thus would have a stronger need for

CET for reasons relating to labour market integration. On the other hand,

strong CET participation can be a cause of strong economic performance,

because having cutting-edge skills serves as a driver for the intense rate at

which such an economy adds value.

CTE patterns of the population can be depicted more precisely by also

taking the number of hours of CTE into account, besides the participa-

tion share. In occupational fields where the gainfully employed partici-

pate in CET more frequently, CET programmes, on average, are shorter

(→ figure 372)

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Effectiveness Continuing

education and training

345

371 GDP

per capita and participation in CET, 2021

GDP per capita in euro; CTE participation share (reference period: last 4 weeks)

Source: Eurostat; calculations: SCCRE

20%

18%

16%

CET participation share

14%

12%

10%

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

R² = 0.3478

120,000

140,000

GDP per capita (EUR)

372 Participation

and duration of vocational CET

by occupational group, 2021

Participation shares and total CET programmes attended during the last 4 weeks

(in number of hours), employees age 25 – 64

Data: FSO (SAKE); calculations: SCCRE

35%

Science

30%

Management

25%

CET share

20%

15%

10%

Duration of CET course attended in the last 4 weeks (in hours)

Agriculture &

forestry

Support staff

Manual work

Total

Technology

Service & sales

Office

Operation &

assembly

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346

Continuing education and training Effectiveness

effect of CeT on labour markets

Methods for addressing the

endogenicity of CeT participation

in research on the effects of CeT

A range of methods exist for

addressing non-random participa-

tion in CET: Fixed-effects panel data

makes it possible to include unob-

served variables in the analyses

(e.g. Ehlert, 2017).

Another possibility

is matching techniques or balancing

regression analyses that use covariates

to create a balanced control group

(Goux & Maurin, 2000; Muehler et al.,

2007; Novella et al., 2018; Ruhose

et al., 2019). Finally, there are quasi-

experiments with trial comparison

groups

(Görlitz, 2011; Leuven & Oost-

erbeek, 2008)

or explicit field experi-

ments with a random allocation

of test subjects, for example by means

of vouchers

(Görlitz & Tamm, 2016;

Schwerdt et al., 2012).

Coefficient and 95% confidence interval

The empirical evidence for the effect of CET on wages and employment

has so far been based solely on studies conducted abroad, solely with a

focus on causality. However, without considering the fact that, as a rule,

more motivated and capable people choose CET programmes or are

selected for such by their employers, the effects of CET are systematically

overestimated.

Some studies that use various approaches and rely on empirical evidence

for the causal effects of non-formal education indicate wage effects between

3% and 12% in comparison to non-participants in CET

(Muehler et al., 2007;

Novella et al., 2018; Ruhose et al., 2019).

The observed effects vary widely,

depending on gender, age, education type, and industry

(Blanden et al.,

2012; Ehlert, 2017).

However, there are also experimental studies that iden-

tify no causal effects

(Görlitz, 2011; Görlitz & Tamm, 2016; Goux & Maurin,

2000; Leuven & Oosterbeek, 2008)

but still take into account the selectiv-

ity of companies’ training practices and the mobility of workers.

Schultheiss and Backes-Gellner (2021)

use data from Switzerland to

establish the effects of CET on labour markets. Depending on the field of

employment and the type of applied skills, these effects apply to wages

12%

and employment. For Switzerland, initial analyses with a research method

10%

already used in a study with German data

(Ruhose et al., 2019)

indicate that

there are causal effects between CET courses on wages and the likelihood

that a jobholder will remain employed

(→ figure 373)

373 Labour

market effects of CET

-2%

Data: FSO (MET), ZAS (AHV), SECO (ALV); calculations: Denzler et al. (2022).

-4%

2016

2013

2015

2017

2018

Wages

legend

Compared to the control group, those who

attended a vocational CET course in 2015

earned significantly higher wages in subse-

quent years (plus 5% at average); their unem-

ployment risk fell by an average of 2.5%.

12%

10%

-1%

-2%

-3%

-4%

-5%

-6%

Unemployment

Coefficient and 95% confidence interval

-2%

-4%

2016

2013

2015

2014

2017

2018

2019

Coefficient and 95% confidence interval

2014

2016

2013

2015

2017

Coefficient and 95% confidence interval

-1%

-2%

-3%

-4%

-5%

-6%

2018

2016

2013

2015

2017

2014

2019

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2019

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Efficiency/costs Continuing

education and training

347

efficiency/costs

The difficulties in assessing CET effectiveness also make it impossible to

gauge CET efficiency. Therefore, the following section covers only the cost

picture. Considering only costs by themselves does not allow for conclu-

sions about the benefits or CET efficiency. Consequently, high costs are

not an indication of strong benefits and low costs are not a sign of high

efficiency.

374 Cost

breakdown of CET,

2021

Financing of vocational CET courses; employ-

ees age 25 – 64

Data: FSO (MET 2021)

CeT costs

12%

10%

Participants in CET courses incur both direct (participation fees, course

fees, documents, expenses, etc.) and indirect costs. The latter includes

mainly opportunity costs in the form of forgone income and free time.

Forgone income is often the highest cost item, especially for those whose

employers do not support CET, and thus constitutes the main disincentive

to attending a CET event.

However, participants generally pay only a small part of the costs of

vocational CET. Only about 22% of the gainfully employed pay for the costs

of their continuing education courses themselves, either in full or in part,

with employers making the largest contribution

(→ figure 374)

The FSO’s Microcensus Education and Continuing Education 2021

survey found that working individuals who cover the costs of vocational

CET courses themselves pay on average at least CHF 1,800 per course and

year. However, the amounts vary strongly: Half of all courses cost less than

CHF 654 (mean). For the top decile, the amounts range from CHF 2,000

to CHF 16,000.

74%

Paid in full by others

No costs

Self-paid

Partially self-paid

375 ET

expenditures by the

federal government and social

insurers, 2018

In CHF million, rounded

Source: SERI; calculations: SCCRE

Financing

Cantons usually fund CET either on the basis of their CET or VET laws.

There are no nationwide statistics on such commitments on funding, and

it is thus not possible to provide an overview. The Federal Continuing

Education and Training Act aims to better coordinate measures between

the federal government and the cantons. In addition, the federal govern-

ment can contribute to cantons by funding measures and programmes

so that adults can acquire and maintain basic skills. These contributions

are the federal government’s only direct subsidies for CET, which is made

available based on the provisions of the CETA.

In 2018, CHF 3.9 million were paid on the basis of the CETA

(→ figure 375)

which is less than 1% of the CHF 474 million that the federal government

and social insurers spent on CET. Roughly 20% of the funds are distributed

on the basis of the Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act

(VPETA), whereby most of the amount subsidises preparatory courses for

PET examinations

(→ chapter Professional education, page 315).

More than half of the federal government’s funds for CET are used for

measures under unemployment insurance to help job-seekers find work

and for measures under disability insurance to assist others with retrain-

ing and integration. Distribution of the remaining approx. 20% is based on

various federal laws that regulate CET in specific areas.

216

CETA

FNIA

CPDA

UIA

Other

AgricA

VPETA

ArmG

DIA

SpoPA

AgricA

ArmA

CETA

CPDA

DIA

FNIA

SpoPA

UIG

VPTEA

Agriculture Act

Armed Forces Act

Continuing Education and Training Act

Civil Protection and Civil Defence Act

Disability Insurance Act

Foreign Nationals and Integration Act

Sports Promotion Act

Unemployment Insurance Act

Vocational and Professional Education

and Training Act

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Continuing education and training Efficiency/costs

The federal government and the cantons cooperate to promote basic skills

by subsidising up to 50% of the total costs of cantonal programmes for

helping learners acquire basic skills in mathematics, reading, writing, local

language, and information technologies (ICT). These funds cover the cost

of courses as well as accompanying measures (coordination, administra-

tion, awareness building, counselling, etc.).

The federal government also subsidises short courses to promote basic

skills through companies and trade associations as part of the “Simply

better!.. at the workplace” promotional programme. The funding priority

was launched under the policy on skilled labour, for which the Vocational

Training Act and the Continuing Education Act provides the legal basis

(econcept, 2020).

The focus is on older employees with weak, basic skills. In

the courses, employees can acquire basic skills relevant to the workplace

and learn how to better deal with workplace challenges. In general, the

aim is for workers to maintain their ability to prevail in the labour market

(econcept, 2020).

Finally, CET organisations receive financial assistance under the Con-

tinuing Education and Training Act

. For example, in the 2017 – 2020 fund-

ing period, service agreements worth approx. CHF 10 million were signed

with CET organisations, whereby approximately half of the amount went

to the Swiss Association for Continuing Education (SVEB), the umbrella

organisation.

Subsidies for assisting workers with weak skills

The public sector finances a range of CTE programmes to help learners

acquire basic skills. Most cantons have launched such programmes in

recent years. Based on the Continuing Education Act, the federal govern-

ment supports such cantonal offers by covering up to 50% of the costs,

whereby amounts are earmarked for each canton in relation to its popu-

lation size. These funds cover the cost of courses as well as of accompany-

ing measures, coordination, administration, awareness building, counsel-

ling, etc. For the 2017 – 2020 funding period, CHF 13.5 million were paid to

cantons under CETA provisions, while the figure in 2020 was just under

CHF 5 million.

2 Art. 12 Continuing Education and Training Act (CETA): Grants to CET organisations;

1. The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) can grant financial assis-

tance to CET organisations and enter into service agreements with them for information and

coordination tasks, quality assurance and development, and for developing CET within the

scope of the authorised credits.

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Equity Continuing

education and training

349

CeT over the course of employment

All CET surveys indicate that participation shares decrease as the age

of participants rises

(→ figure 376)

. When distinguishing by educational

level, only a slight increase among those with tertiary education becomes

apparent on entry in the labour market, otherwise the CET activities of

employees aged 25 and above decline. The reasons for more CET activities

among those with a tertiary degree are mainly because university gradu-

ates, unlike those with vocational qualification, start to acquire job-specific

skills only after they enter the labour market.

Wage-trend analyses also show that labour productivity in Switzerland

tends to decline from the age of 45 and that further investments in human

capital would be needed to offset the decline. However, this is not reflected

in average CET patterns, which decrease continuously with rising age.

This finding can be explained by the fact that employees’ CET costs

tend to rise with age. Opportunity costs, especially, will increase, e.g. in

the form of wages forgone while attending the course. Furthermore, the

return from CET for employees and employers will also decline because the

period during which the costs of such programmes can be recouped short-

ens with increasing age. The phenomenon of CET participation declining

with age thus does not necessarily indicate a form of discrimination against

older workers but is more likely to be related to profitability considerations

(→ Devaluation and preservation of skills, page 337).

376 CET

in the course

of employment, 2020

CET, last 4 weeks, only gainfully employed

persons age 25 – 64

Data: FSO (SAKE); calculations: SCCRE

35%

Participation shares

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

15–24

Participation shares

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

40–54

25–39

55–64

40–54

65 plus

55–64

25–39

15–24

65 plus

Age groups

Without post-compulsory education

Sec II (VET)

University (UNI, UAS, UTE)

equity

Persistent differences in CET shares based on the highest level of formal

education indicate a potential equity problem

(→ figure 377)

. However,

whether this in fact constitutes an equity problem, i.e. whether those

with lower formal education are less effective in exploiting their potential

for acquiring further skills, cannot be answered conclusively. The reasons

for the differences in participation shares are also hard to determine. It is

unclear, for example, how much the difference in CET participation is due

to those with a weak educational background facing higher access barriers

to CET than those with a strong educational background. Furthermore,

whether different educational preferences give rise to these differences has

also not yet been determined. The fact that skills acquired during formal

education lose their value over time suggests that those with higher lev-

els of education will need to invest more in CET to maintain their current

skills as required by the job than people with a lower formal education

level, a fact that must also be considered.

377 Participation

in CET

after graduation

Gainfully employed individuals aged 25 – 64;

vocational CET during the last 4 weeks

Data: FSO (SAKE); calculations: SCCRE

35%

30%

CET participation share

25%

20%

15%

10%

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Max. Sec I

Max. Sec II

Tertiary degree

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350

Continuing education and training Equity

378 Collapse

of the CET share

in Q2 of 2020 by education level

Change in participation share between Q1

and Q2, 2020, in percentage points (left scale)

and in percent (right scale); gainfully employed

population, age 25 – 64

Data: FSO (SLFS), anforderungsprofile.ch;

calculations: SCCRE

Change in percentage points

-10%

-20%

-30%

-40%

-50%

-60%

Tertiary

Sec II

Sec I

Rate of change in percent

-1

-2

-3

-4

-5

-6

-7

-8

In percentage points

In percent

Regardless of these questions, two observations can be made. First, CET

does not compensate for differences between formal education. In fact, the

opposite applies: There are indications that such differences will remain

the same or even increase. Second, the government’s CET strategies with

focus on groups with low levels of formal education do not seem to have

succeeded in narrowing these differences over time.

The ban on in-person instruction due COVID-19 restrictions led to

a larger absolute decline (in percentage points) in the CET participation

share among those with tertiary education than among those with weaker

qualifications. For the latter group, though, the relative decline was even

more pronounced

(→ figure 378)

In terms of educational disparity among groups with various levels of

formal education, Switzerland is only average compared to other countries

(→ figure 379)

. In Switzerland, those with tertiary education have an advan-

tage over those with weaker qualifications in terms of access to CET: The

probability of such a person completing a CET programme is 5.3 times

higher. In recent years, Switzerland has not improved the relative oppor-

tunities for those with weak qualifications to participate in CET measures.

While some countries (such as Germany or Spain) have narrowed this gap

in recent years, the gap in Switzerland has remained constantly high.

379 International

comparison of educational disparity, 2021

Advantage in CET participation of individuals with tertiary education compared to persons

with no post-compulsory education (blue bars) and those with upper-secondary education

(green bars)

Data: Eurostat; calculations: SCCRE

Denmark

Sweden

Norway

Finland

Netherlands

Hungary

Austria

France

Belgium

Luxembourg

Spain

EU 27

Germany

Switzerland

Portugal

Italy

Poland

Odds ratio

Max. lower-secondary education

Upper-secondary education

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351

A comparison of absolute shares of various education groups indicates that

Switzerland’s shares of individuals with weak qualifications are in mid-

range in a European comparison. In terms of Switzerland’s average CET

participation share, participation by the weakly qualified is below average,

while that of the highly qualified is above average, which explains the large

disparity. By contrast, Germany has a smaller disparity among the educa-

tional groups, yet their members participate in CET significantly less often

overall

(→ figure 380)

380 International

comparison of participation shares, 2021

The figure shows the participation shares of the weakly qualified (Y-axis) and of those with

tertiary education (X-axis); individuals aged 25 – 64; the green axes are the respective averages.

Data: Eurostat; calculations: SCCRE

18%

16%

BE FI

381 Employer

support by gen-

der, 2021

Participation in at least one CET activity,

fully paid by the employer; resident population,

25 – 64- years old

Data: Eurostat; calculations: SCCRE

14%

CET share ISCED (0- 2)

12%

10%

100%

95%

90%

85%

-2%

-4%

10%

15%

80%

75%

70%

65%

60%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

55%

50%

Men

All

Women

CET share ISCED (5-8)

Only full-time employees

Significant gender differences are apparent in the support that employers

provide for CET, whereby men are more likely than women to benefit from

employer funding. The fact that women work part-time more frequently

than men does not explain this difference because the gap is the same for

women and for men who work full-time

(→ figure 381)

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352

Continuing education and training Equity

Under the Federal Act on the Elimination of Discrimination against

Persons with Disabilities

, those with disabilities should have equal access

to CET offers. However, obtaining relevant statistics on this issue remains

a challenge. The Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS) has only approximate

figures on the degree to which impaired health affects a person’s ability

to participate in CET. They nevertheless indicate that people with health

impairments are less likely to participate in CET activities

(→ figure 382)

There is no information about the reasons for the gaps in participation

shares.

382 Disability

and CET, 2015 – 2021

Participation in CET based on degree of impairment; population age 25 – 64

Data: SLFS; calculations: SCCRE

Not impaired

Not severely impaired

Severely impaired

10%

15%

20%

25%

Participation shares

2015

2021

3 Federal Act on the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Disa-

bility Discrimination Act), of 13 December 2002

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CUMULATIVE

EFFECTS

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356

Cumulative effects Introduction

Introduction

What is referred to as non-cognitive

skills includes personality traits as

well as social skills. However, in the

absence of a universally valid defi-

nition, uniform concepts are applied

neither theoretically nor empirically.

Mostly, non-cognitive skills include

those that cannot be attributed to

intelligence or that fall under academ-

ic studies. With respect to education,

it is mainly changeable, non-cognitive

skills that are of interest because they

can be acquired in addition to those

taught at schools, and to a lesser

degree character traits that either

cannot be changed or that lie outside

of educators’ scope of influence. The

literature is rife with countless de-

scriptions of personality and character

traits. In many empirical studies, the

five-factor model (known as the Big

Five according to

Goldberg, 1971)

has

prevailed, which describes personality

based on five main dimensions: Extra-

version, agreeableness, conscientious-

ness, openness to new experiences,

and neuroticism. However, new terms

are constantly being added, such as

the tendency to compete

(Niederle &

Vesterlund, 2007)

or what is referred

to as

grit (Duckworth & Yeager, 2015),

especially if they adequately explain

educational success and decisions

in parallel with established concepts

of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities.

The term “cumulative” in the chapter title has a range of meanings per-

taining to education. Firstly, it covers all investments in education and

skill acquisition throughout an educational career. Secondly, it refers to

knowledge acquired not only during formal education but also outside

of school and time spent in formal education. Thirdly, besides connoting

cumulative skill acquisition, the term also refers to the overall returns to

education at the individual and societal levels. Finally and fourthly, returns

to education refers to both the monetary and the non-monetary effects

derived from education. The chapter thus follows on from earlier educa-

tion reports and is based primarily on new research findings. Citations of

studies already mentioned in previous education reports are largely omit-

ted. As a new, special topic and in addition to themes such as cognitive and

non-cognitive skill acquisition and the monetary and non-monetary ben-

efits of education, the report also examines homogamous aspects relating

to education whereby people tend to form partnerships based on the sim-

ilarities in their educational background.

Acquisition of non-cognitive

and cognitive skills

Children begin acquiring cognitive and non-cognitive skills already at the

time of birth, years before any formal schooling begins, and such acquisi-

tion is shaped in particular by the home

and the immediate social envi-

ronment

(Shure, 2021).

While the family environment, which plays a deci-

sive role in a child’s ability to develop cognitive and non-cognitive skills, is

difficult to change, it can at least be positively influenced by interventions

and complementary activities. Early childhood programmes, i.e. meas-

ures for early childhood education and care

, can help to lessen family-re-

lated differences in performance among children, enabling them to benefit

similarly when they start school

(Jeong et al., 2021; Joo et al., 2020; Murano

et al., 2020).

A recent programme in Switzerland, for example, is an adapted

version of the

“Parents as Teachers”

intervention that originated in the

US in the 1980s. Evaluations of the pilot programme in German-speak-

ing Switzerland show that, compared to a control group, children of fami-

lies in the programme were better able to adjust their behaviour, and their

developmental level and language skills had improved significantly by

the age of three

(Schaub et al., 2019).

But interventions at a later stage that

aim to improve cognitive and non-cognitive skills can also be successful.

The randomised intervention Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies

(PATHS) among eight-year-old school children in the city of Zurich aimed

at helping them develop patience, self-control, social problem-solving,

1 A Danish study

(Lundborg et al., 2021)

probably for the first time causally indicated that

especially the mother’s level of education is decisive for the children’s future academic perfor-

mance, while the father’s level of education has practically no influence on it.

For an overview of early childhood programmes, please refer to

Elango et al. (2016).

The terms “abilities” and “skills” are used synonymously in this chapter.

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Educationally homogamous partnerships Cumulative

effects

357

self-esteem, emotional intelligence and academic engagement. The results

indicate that four years after the intervention, the children were 4.4 per-

centage points more likely than those in the control group to enter a bacca-

laureate school and 7.1 percentage points more likely to also graduate from

that school. Further analysis also showed that the effect of the intervention

on educational attainment was due to changes in the children’s socio-emo-

tional skills rather than to improved cognitive skills

(Sorrenti et al., 2020).

The development of cognitive skills often correlates strongly with that

of non-cognitive skills

(Wanzer et al., 2019).

At the same time, it is not

always clear whether this correlation is due to one effect or to the simul-

taneous effects of several factors involving both skill types, or whether

the skill types influence each other mutually. Empirical evidence indicates

that both mechanisms are involved. For example, a good family setting can

simultaneously result in motivation as a non-cognitive trait and develop

reading skills as a cognitive trait. At the same time, weak cognitive skills

can reinforce less desirable personality traits, while weak non-cognitive

skills can hamper the development of academic skills at a later stage. In

principle, research indicates that non-cognitive abilities generally also lead

to cognitive ones, and conversely that a significant part of any achieve-

ments involving cognitive abilities are dependent upon or furthered by

non-cognitive abilities

(Heckman et al., 2022).

During the school years , in addition to the educational institutions,

teachers as well as parents, classmates also decisively influence the devel-

opment of cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Such peer effects can in turn

originate from cognitive and non-cognitive skills or from the behaviour of

classmates

(Balestra et al., 2021, 2022).

educationally homogamous

partnerships

A person’s education level influences not only his or her monetary and

non-monetary return and the economic, cultural and social capital of the

children in line with how genes are passed on across generations, it also

plays a role at a previous stage in how the family is formed through the

choice of the partner. What is referred to as

assortative

mating, i.e. the

preference of a partner with a similar level of education, in turn has con-

sequences for the income of the partners, and subsequently across genera-

tions for any children the couple may have. While the behaviour in choos-

ing partners is well documented empirically, it is also partly gender-specific

(e.g. Neyt et al., 2019)

and subject to change over time. For example, data

from the US, Denmark, Germany, the UK and Norway show that the num-

ber of assortative matings is declining among those with tertiary education,

while individuals with lower levels of education are increasingly in part-

nerships that are similar in terms of education

(Eika et al., 2019).

For Switzerland, census data from 1970 to 2000 on the other hand indi-

cates that while the proportion of educationally homogamous partnerships

remained relatively stable, heterogamous partnerships increased in the

lower educational groups, as did homogamous partnerships in the mid-

dle and higher educational groups

(Becker & Jann, 2017).

At the same time,

Neyt et al. (2019)

studied how edu-

cation level influences a person’s suc-

cess with finding a partner on a dating

app. In line with previous research,

their results indicate that a gender-

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358

Cumulative effects Educationally

homogamous partnerships

related effect from the education level

does influence the likelihood of finding

a partner. Women attach greater

importance to a potential partner’s

level of education than men. Contrary

to previous literature, however, the

authors also found that men are not

deterred if a woman has a higher

level of education. Finally, the authors

found no indication that app users

would specifically prefer a partner

with a similar level of education.

The study, however, is about how

people get to know others by means

of a dating platform and not about

how they enter into marriage.

the proportion of those without a partner increased in the total population.

The tendency towards homogamy was nevertheless more pronounced in

the lower educational groups than in the higher ones, and especially in the

middle ones. Analyses of data from the Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS)

and the Swiss Household Panel showed that the number of those who

chose a partner with the same level of education and salary had increased

(Ravazzini et al., 2017).

Homogamous couples in which both spouses have

a tertiary degree made up around 3% of all household types in 1992, and

just under 13% in 2014. The proportion of couples in which the woman

married a more highly educated partner fell from 28% to 20% in all house-

hold types – not least because of the growth in education among women,

whereas the proportion of couples in which a woman had married someone

with less education increased almost symmetrically from 7 % to 12% in all

household typ es. Using the same data, it was also found that the increase

in assortative mating was more likely among those with low levels of edu-

cation than those with tertiary education. Women with tertiary education

were more likely to live in single households than men.

A look at recent trends

(→ figure 383)

indicates, in line with the rising

share of tertiary degrees among the youngest cohorts, an increase in the

proportion of educationally homogamous couples with a tertiary edu-

cational background and a decrease in educationally homogamous cou-

ples with another educational background. While the actual proportion

of educationally homogamous couples remained stable across all educa-

tional levels, the proportion of potential educationally homogamous cou-

ples increased from about 65% in 2000 to about 80% in 2020 due to the

harmonisation among the degrees. The trend among couples in which the

man is more educated than the woman has been tapering off over the last

twenty years, unlike the trend among couples in which the woman is more

educated than the man.

383 Proportion

of educationally homogamous and educationally

heterogamous partnerships

Persons aged between 25 and 70 years

Data: FORS (Swiss Household Panel); calculations: SCCRE

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

Same education (tertiary)

Woman more educated than man

Potential educational homogamy

Same education (upper and lower sec.)

Man more educated than woman

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Educationally homogamous partnerships Cumulative

effects

359

The last twenty years saw an increase in the proportion of single parents

or those in single households, especially women with tertiary education

(→ figure 384)

. However, this trend began well before the proportion of

women with tertiary degrees started to increase.

384 Proportion

of singles and people living alone in Switzerland,

by gender and education

Persons above age 40

Data: FORS (Swiss Household Panel); calculations: SCCRE

18%

16%

14%

12%

10%

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

Men, lower sec.

Men, tertiary

Women, upper sec.

Men, lower sec.

Women, lower sec.

Women, tertiary

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360

Cumulative effects The

monetary benefit

The monetary benefit

Individuals benefit monetarily from education because by acquiring skills

they can improve their chances in the labour market and pursue work with

better pay. When applied to society as a whole, the collective acquisition

of skills determines a country’s competitiveness and thus the growth and

performance of its economy. Finally, the state and society benefit from

having people with better and longer education who earn higher incomes,

thus generating higher tax revenues, which in turn spur public investment

in education and other areas and thus reduce the burden on the welfare

system.

employment

Education influences the likelihood of a person being active in the labour

market in three non-exclusive ways. Firstly, having a better education

increases the likelihood of someone finding a job in the first place.

While

this generally depends on the economic situation, the improved job pros-

pects of those with a better education are arguably even more pronounced

during economic downturns than during booms. Secondly, people might

voluntarily refrain from working even if there are job vacancies. Lower

levels of education can, depending on the social system and family status,

increase the likelihood of a person intentionally not working, as this person

would find only jobs with low pay and relatively poor working conditions.

This, however, can also have a reverse effect whereby better education

can result in pay levels that allow someone to substitute his or her work-

ing time with leisure time. Thirdly, skills lose their value over time, and

hence the risk of unemployment can depend on how rapidly skills acquired

originally lose their value. However, the question of which form or level

of education is especially affected by the risk of such devaluation cannot

be answered unequivocally. On the one hand, the originally acquired skill

type plays a role. A study for Switzerland shows that higher occupational

specialisation is associated with lower occupational mobility and longer

periods of unemployment. However, the more specialised occupations are

also associated with higher wages

(Rinawi & Backes-Gellner, 2021).

This

suggests that a trade-off exists between the risk of and returns to educa-

tional investments from very specific skills. On the other hand, the rate of

technological change in a particular occupation plays a role in how easily

the skills in question can be substituted

(Aepli et al., 2017).

Even though digitalisation may threaten high-skilled and low-skilled

jobs, it can be assumed that people with higher levels of education are

better prepared for meeting the challenges ahead

(Aghion et al., 2022;

Dillender & Forsythe, 2022).

While certain technologies may require and

complement highly specialised skills

(Felten et al., 2019),

workers with

better training are also able to learn new skills more quickly and thus are

more likely to adapt to the new technologies. Non-cognitive skills, too, play

a role in a person’s ability to adapt. Analyses of data from Germany show

Aepli et al. (2021)

found significant differences among the employment rates of various

educational groups. The lowest employment rates were among those without a post-compul-

sory education or with a baccalaureate ( 70 – 75 %), the highest rates were among those with a

tertiary degree (90%), and in between were the rates for those with vocational training (85%)

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361

that workers who are more open to experiences and ego-centred, compet-

itive and emotionally stable tend to be less vulnerable to the negative con-

sequences in the labour market from digitalisation

(Bode et al., 2019).

Wages

Educational differences affect not only the likelihood of a person find-

ing work in the first place but also the wages to be earned through gainful

employment

(Deming, 2022).

Wage discrepancies due to educational dis-

parities can be explained by differences in productivity among individuals

on account of their training and skill levels. This reflects not only in pro-

ductivity in a particular activity but also in whether complex or frequently

changing tasks can be managed more effectively. In a work environment

where routine tasks are increasingly being replaced by non-routine ones

(→ chapter General context of the swiss education system, page 9),

the

more educated tend to be more productive due to their ability to adapt

more quickly to changes in the environment

(Deming & Noray, 2020; Gers-

bach & Schmassmann, 2019).

An employee’s productivity is usually difficult

to gauge before he or she takes up a job, which is why employers look at a

candidate’s level of education as an indication of their productivity

(Spence,

1973).

This leads not only to different wage offers but is also increasingly

used as an indicator to gauge whether an applicant should be considered

in the first place

(Piopiunik et al. (2020); Fossati et al. (2020)

specifically for

the apprenticeship market in Switzerland)

On the other hand, education-related wage differences can arise if, due

to the levels of technology used, more productive jobs tend to be given to

more highly qualified workers. This is because high-skilled workers are

not only more productive but also able to perform more complex tasks on

average.

The wage differences resulting from an increasing number of years

in formal education are denoted as the private returns to education.

Determining how additional education affects wages has remained a chal-

lenge since the first calculations in the late 1950s, because the selection of

more able individuals to longer education periods and into higher-wage

jobs tends to distort and overestimate the return on education.

In Switzerland, wage advantages of between 7.5% and 8.5% per addi-

tional year of education are achieved on average

(→ figure 385)

. At 8%, this

means, for example, that someone with an MA degree (five years of educa-

tion) from a university can expect a wage advantage of around 40% on aver-

age in each year of employment, compared to someone who entered the

labour force with a baccalaureate but no further education. The estimated

average return to education has been subject to cyclical fluctuations over

the past two decades but remains relatively stable, and even tends to show

a slight upward trend. In other words: The general rise in education level

among the working population has so far not led to an oversupply of

education that would have eroded the profitability of the investment for

an individual

(→ chapter Tertiary-level education, page 193).

However,

the average return fails to take relatively high heterogeneity into account.

When calculating the return on education at each level for those among the

For a literature review, see for example

(Psacharopoulos & Patrinos, 2018).

A study in Denmark about a nationwide

change in the grades’ scale at Danish univer-

sities indicated that the rise in university

grades, brought on by the revision and unrelat-

ed to students’ ability, led to higher earnings

immediately after graduation in the short term.

However, the effect tapered off in subsequent

years, suggesting that employers quickly

caught on to students’ true productivity

(Toft

Hansen et al., 2021).

According to human capital theory, a person

will invest in education until the benefits from

it have offset the additional cost he or she

incurred. Since it is difficult to obtain informa-

tion about the actual benefits (wages) and the

actual cost and to make projections, education

decisions are based on wage expectations

(Arcidiacono et al., 2012; Beffy et al., 2012;

Wiswall & Zafar, 2021).

Whether these will

hold true in the future cannot be verified, but

comparisons with current wages in relation to a

particular field or education level indicate that

under- and overestimations may occur

(Lerget-

porer et al., 2021).

In a study,

Fernandes et al.

(2021)

found that students of both genders at

the University of Applied Sciences in Bern and

the University of Fribourg overestimated the

wages they could expect. A broad survey of the

Swiss population confirmed the finding that

both genders (men more so than women) tend

to overestimate the wages of those with an

academic degree, but that both men and wom-

en tend to underestimate the wages of those

with a background in vocational education and

training

(Cattaneo, 2022).

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362

Cumulative effects The

monetary benefit

lowest earners (first wage decile) and for those among the highest earners

(ninth wage decile) and then examining the relation among these returns,

it becomes clear that in terms of income distribution the returns at the

top of the wage scale are always significantly higher than those at the bot-

tom. This difference in favour of those who always earn the most, regard-

less of education level, has increased from around 20 to around 100% since

1990, i.e. the return to education has doubled. After that, however, the

advantage decreased again and levelled off at around 50%. This comparison

shows two important aspects of the return on education: firstly, invest-

ing in education pays off significantly more for the more productive indi-

viduals than for the lowest earners at each education level; secondly, the

return risk increases with additional education because the spread in wages

widens with increasing education levels. The average return thus loses in

meaning as the duration of education increases.

385 Return

to an additional year of education

Return for median income and the relationship between return on education of the first and ninth deciles

The figures reflect the moving average over two years in each case.

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

10.0%

9.5%

Median of return to education

9.0%

8.5%

8.0%

7.5%

7.0%

6.5%

6.0%

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

2.4

2.2

Ratio of percentile returns

2.0

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8

Median return

Ratio of 90/10 percentiles

When interpreting time series based on SLFS data, it is important to bear in mind that from 1991 to 2009 data was collected in the second quarter

of each year, and from 2010 onwards it was collected quarterly as a continuous survey. In 2021, the SLFS was also changed from a telephone-only

survey to a multi-mode online survey using a revised questionnaire. These changes led to breaks in the time series, which may at least partially

influence the results.

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363

Today, the returns to education per year in education and by education type

are on average about 15 to 20% higher for those with a secondary educa-

tion and about 45 to 50% higher for those with a tertiary education than

for those without post-compulsory education. While these differences are

slightly higher than in the 1990s, they have remained relatively constant

over the past decade

(Aepli et al., 2021).

When interpreting such figures, it is important to note that time spent

in education also differs for those with a secondary or tertiary qualifica-

tion. A calculation of the wage differences per additional year of school-

ing

(→ figure 386)

indicates that those with a tertiary degree (university

or university of applied sciences) earn about 6.5 to 7.0% more than those

without post-compulsory education. In contrast, those with basic voca-

tional training (apprenticeship) earn on average only about 4.5 to 5.0%

more per additional year of schooling, while the returns for those with

a PET qualification are highest at about 7.0 to 7.5% per additional year of

training. It should be noted that these figures represent only average values

calculated on the assumption of typical training durations per training

programme type. However, the individual return on education can vary

greatly depending on the programme type and subject as well as on other

cognitive and non-cognitive skills.

386 Returns

for an additional year of education in 2021,

by education type

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

Vocational

education and

training

Baccalaureate Fed. and Adv.

school

Fed. Prof. Exam

PET college

University of

applied science

University

Women

Men

The returns to education in figure 386 are

calculated for those with average incomes

relative to the incomes of those without

post-compulsory education. The calculation

is based on assumptions about the addition-

al training years required for each training

programme type. The return for those with

a baccalaureate is probably overestimated

since on average half of them drop out of the

programme, and the duration of their training

can thus be assumed to be correspondingly

higher

(SCCRE, 2018).

The returns in figure 385

were calculated relative to the median and not

to the average wage and assume linearity per

additional school year. The differences within

the wage distribution per education category,

and especially among individuals without

post-compulsory schooling, explains why the

return on education in figure 386 is slightly

lower than that in figure 385.

Even initial wage estimates used for calculating the returns to education

(Mincer, 1974)

showed that productivity is not only influenced by the level

of formal education but also by experience, which increases during a per-

son’s working life. Turning experience into increased productivity and

thus higher wages, whether through learning

on the job

or a further edu-

cation programme, in turn depends on education

(Heckman et al., 2003;

Lemieux, 2006).

Higher levels of formal education at the beginning of a

person’s working life will enable this person to increase his or her wages

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Cumulative effects The

monetary benefit

387 Returns

to professional

experience by highest

qualification

Data: FSO (SLFS); calculations: SCCRE

Logarithmised annual salary

11.8

11.6

11.4

11.2

11.0

10.8

10.6

10.4

12 16 20 24 28

Years of work experience

Compulsory education

Upper sec.

Tertiary education

through experience in the labour market

(→ figure 387)

. There are manifold

reasons for this: Firstly, the better a person is trained, the more likely it is

that he or she can apply the acquired skills more effectively and quickly in

a specific job and thus become more productive and earn a higher wage.

Secondly, better trained individuals are more likely to continue learning

over the years, which results in higher productivity and thus allows for

wage increases

(→ chapter continuing education and training, page 331).

Thirdly, people with higher levels of education are more likely to have

access to occupations and jobs with higher productivity potential.

Growth, externalities and fiscal returns

In addition to individual monetary benefits, education also generates a

monetary benefit for society as a whole, which manifests itself in higher

economic growth and generally higher wage levels, not only for the indi-

viduals educating themselves, and in higher tax revenues. On the one hand,

the fiscal benefit results from more highly educated people becoming more

productive, earning higher wages and thus paying significantly more taxes

due to tax progression. On the other hand, the fiscal return is favoured by

the fact that more educated individuals receive fewer state transfer pay-

ments (social benefits, etc.). The fiscal return on education can thus be

viewed as the benefits in terms of higher tax revenues and lower govern-

ment transfers relative to the public expenditures on education. However,

there are two reasons why the fiscal return on education is difficult to inter-

pret without further correction. Firstly, it needs to be considered that many

people would have invested in their education even if they had no or only

little state support; in other words, the potential of fiscal returns is rarely

fully exploited. Only once reduced government support results in lower

demand for education would tax revenues start to decrease, but not the

returns themselves. In this case, limits to such reductions would be intro-

duced quickly, for equity reasons. It thus becomes clear that the individual

and fiscal returns mirror each other, whereby an increase in one inevita-

bly leads to a decrease in the other, and vice versa. Secondly, as in the case

of individual returns to education, the causal relationship between educa-

tion and returns must be considered: The actual fiscal returns to education

would be overestimated if those with higher levels of education could have

increased their income also without the higher education levels. This point

is quantitatively significant, even if the overestimation cannot be meas-

ured precisely. Depending on the study, it can be assumed that returns to

education are overestimated by 20 to 50% due to selection biases among

those participating in education.

Besides the individual and fiscal returns, the social return on educa-

tion must be considered as well. On the cost side, it essentially includes

all private and public investments; on the benefit side, it includes higher

wages, higher tax revenues, and possibly lower social expenditures. How-

ever, the social return can be more than just the balance between private

and public costs and yields. This becomes apparent when education results

in external benefits for individuals without education, or when it helps to

prevent negative externalities, i.e. costs that the non-educated incur and

pass on to society partially or fully. The positive externalities are mostly

referred to as spillover effects, thanks to which less-educated workers earn

legend

The average logarithmic wage with 10 years

of work experience compared to that with

11 years increases by only about 0.004 points

(from 10.969 to 10.973) for those with com-

pulsory schooling, a relative wage increase

of 0.4%. The corresponding increases, on the

other hand, are just under 1.3% for those with

a secondary education background and about

2.1% for those with a tertiary background.

Wage increases are higher at the start of a

career than with increasing work experience.

This well-known phenomenon is mainly due

to the higher learning effects and productivity

gains at the beginning of a professional career

(Heckman et al., 2003; Lemieux, 2006).

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The monetary benefit Cumulative

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365

higher wages when they work with more educated colleagues. Such spillo-

vers can occur either because less-educated workers become more produc-

tive when collaborating with better educated ones or because the latter pass

on part of their progress in productivity to them.

A meta-analysis based

on 32 empirical studies on spillovers effects from education onto produc-

tivity, wages and rents in 15 countries shows that the effect decreases with

rising economic development

(Cui & Martins, 2021).

On the other hand,

spillovers tend to increase when the education within a workforce polar-

ises, i.e. when there is an increase in the number of those with a very good

education or with low levels of education and a decrease in between among

those with average educational qualifications.

Reduced negative externalities, such as less environmental damage

because of more sustainable practices, less disease due to preventive health

care, and fewer political conflicts on account of more consensual conduct,

can affect all levels of education. However, the potential for reducing neg-

ative externalities is particularly high when transitioning from a very low

to an intermediate level of education, i.e. a qualification at the post-com-

pulsory level. As a rule, this substantially reduces the risk to society from

having to pay social benefits over longer periods of unemployment or from

having to bear the cost incurred from criminal behaviour, for example.

While all of these factors may generate monetary benefits for society as a

whole, many of them also have a dominant non-monetary benefit, espe-

cially for individuals, and they are thus dealt with in more detail in the

following section on non-monetary educational benefits.

6 Spillover effects do not always have to originate from well-educated individuals and affect

others with less education. The reverse is also possible when, for example, someone with a lower

level of education takes a course, thus enabling his or her better-educated colleagues to become

more productive by freeing up time they would previously have had to spend on fixing mistakes

and giving instructions (e.g.

Espinosa & Stanton, 2022).

Another possibility of spillover effects

from workers with less formal education onto those with better formal education can occur

when the skills of both complement each other

(Backes-Gellner et al., 2017).

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Cumulative effects The

non-monetary benefits

The non-monetary benefits

Education and skills in general influence many aspects of life, beyond

the world of work. Better education is expected to have positive effects

on health and thus on life expectancy, personal satisfaction, peaceful

coexistence, political participation and various other life outcomes. The

following sections refer to the most important of outcomes on which

education can have a positive effect.

Health

In Switzerland, for example, the number of

lung cancer cases is higher among those with

low education levels. The same correlation

exists between smoking and social status or

education level. Similarly, those with com-

pulsory education have a higher risk of being

hospitalised for diabetes, heart failure, chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma than

those with a tertiary education. The risk of

being hospitalised for osteoarthritis or back

problems also increases significantly by about

30% for those without a tertiary qualification,

presumably because they work in other occu-

pations

(Bayer-Oglesby et al., 2020).

The positive effect of education on a person’s health and life expectancy

is seen as among the most important non-monetary outcome

(Bijwaard,

2022; Fletcher & Noghanibehambari, 2021; Fonseca et al., 2020; Savelyev

et al., 2022).

The influence can be observed directly or indirectly in differ-

ent ways. Firstly, more education directly promotes health awareness, such

as knowledge about the consequences of behaviour that damages health.

Secondly, those with better education are more efficient in maintaining

their health; for example, they often know better which preventive meas-

ures serve them best in terms of their health

(García & Heckman, 2021).

Thirdly, education increases the opportunity cost of illness, which in turn

reduces the incentives for unhealthful behaviour and increases those for

healthful behaviour (such as healthy eating and exercise). Similarly, edu-

cation reduces the likelihood of someone having to work in an unhealthy

environment and increases the likelihood of this person pursuing

health-promoting activities, also while still in education.

In addition to these direct effects, education can also influence health

indirectly

(Kamhöfer et al., 2019),

especially through higher income

(Grossman, 2015 ; Werbeck et al., 2021).

Conversely, unemployment, low

income, and financial problems associated with lower levels of education

can cause stress with direct negative effects on a person’s health and life

circumstances (social exclusion, risk of divorce, etc.), thus adversely affect-

ing his or her wellbeing.

Despite the many direct and indirect ways in which education can pos-

itively affect, or in which a lack thereof can negatively affect the health

of individuals, the causal relationship between education and health

remains difficult to quantify, and not every correlation necessarily is evi-

dence of a causal effect. This is for the same reasons that other correlations

between outcomes and education do not always indicate a causal relation-

ship

(Bijwaard et al., 2019; Galama et al., 2018; Heckman et al., 2018).

Firstly,

there are selection effects

(Bolyard & Savelyev, 2021),

i.e. those who educate

themselves more are also likely to be the ones with healthful habits, even

without longer education. Secondly, there are unobserved third-party var-

iables that influence education levels and health positively, thus giving rise

to only a spurious correlation between education and health. These include

many non-cognitive areas

(Carter et al., 2019; Savelyev et al., 2022),

such as

locus of control, self-control, agreeableness or conscientiousness

(Atkins

et al., 2020; Botha & Dahmann, 2022; Christensen et al., 2019; Wagner et al.,

2019).

And finally, there is also an empirically proven form of reverse cau-

sality, i.e., people with poorer health have less time to educate themselves

for precisely this reason

(Grossman, 2015 ; Oskorouchi et al., 2020).

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Various studies, for example

Meghir et al. (2018)

in Sweden and

Malamud

et al. (2021)

in Romania, that use school reforms as a means of identify-

ing causal effects have not found any direct causal influence of education

on health. It is important to take a close look at the causal effects because

correlations between education and health often suggest a strong poten-

tial return to more education, which however is not realised when educa-

tional programmes are expanded. Most studies that do not find a causal link

between more education and better health tend to limit their analysis to

a quantitative expansion of education, i.e. to an extended duration rather

than to better quality, as by means of new educational content, for example.

Recent studies have managed to address these limitations at least partially.

For example, a study that examined the causal and simultaneous connec-

tion between cognitive and non-cognitive skills and addictive behaviour,

found that an additional year in school reduces the likelihood of smoking

by four percentage points at age 20 and by eight percentage points at age

30. At the same time, the study shows that the chance of enrolling in a uni-

versity increases among those who decided not to start smoking. Accord-

ing to the study, an adolescent’s non-cognitive skills are more likely to

help him or her avoid forming unhealthful habits. However, among those

with healthful habits, cognitive skills have a stronger effect on educational

success than non-cognitive skills

(Hai & Heckman, 2022).

The following evaluations of current data from Switzerland should

be viewed with the caveat that the connections between education and

health are not always causal in nature. Data from the Swiss Household

Panel 2010 – 2020

(→ figure 388)

show the proportion of people with fre-

quent depressive symptoms, broken down by educational background. On

average, people with no post-compulsory education (ISCED 1/2) are sig-

nificantly more likely to have depressive symptoms than those with a VET

background (ISCED 3B/5B) or those with general education and a tertiary

degree (ISCED 3A/5A/6).

Contrarily, data on the subjectively perceived state of health

(→ figure 388)

indicates that health increases with education level and is best among those

with general education and a university degree. It is also interesting to note

the range of concerns during the first COVID-19 wave in 2020

, although

both results (Figure

388

and Figure

389

) were only short-term, transitory

slumps that disappeared again once the first restrictions for the pandemic

were lifted. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the effects must be

linked primarily to the impact on working life.

388 Proportion

of people with fre-

quent depressive symptoms, by

educational background

Data: FORS (Swiss Household Panel); calcula-

tions: SCCRE

55%

50%

45%

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

2018

2019

2016

2015

2017

Covid-19

2020

Compulsory education

Vocational education and training

Tertiary education

389 Proportion

of people with good

to very good subjective health,

by educational background

Data: FORS (Swiss Household Panel);

calculations: SCCRE

90%

85%

80%

75%

70%

65%

2017

2018

2019

2016

2015

Compulsory education

Vocational education and training

Tertiary education

7 The Swiss Household Panel conducted a supplementary survey from mid-May to mid-June

2020 to obtain specific information about the period of the first COVID-19 wave, in addition to

the results from the main survey. This data was used in

388

and

389

, in addition to that from

regular surveys, which usually run from September to February each year. In Figure

388

and

389

, for example, the information for 2019 covers the survey period from September 2019 to

February 2020 (the same as for the other years).

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Cumulative effects The

non-monetary benefits

Well-being and happiness

As in the case of the effects on health, there are potentially a number of

direct and indirect mechanisms enabling education to influence well-be-

ing.

Moreover, especially health and life-satisfaction have a strong posi-

tive correlation. On the one hand, the knowledge acquired through educa-

tion can be viewed as a benefit in itself, thus enhancing self-contentment.

At the same time, education can improve our ability to reflect on our situa-

tion and that of others, thus increasing our chances of better managing our

life in general or of dealing with strokes of fate, which in turn boosts con-

tentment. The attainment of a certain level of education and the associated

education-based identification with a certain group can also have a benefi-

cial psychological effect and thereby increase contentment

(Kuppens et al.,

2015).

On the other hand, a higher level of education can lead to higher

expectations of oneself, of others, or of life in general, expectations that are

harder to meet, and where a failure to do so can negatively affect self-con-

tentment

(Stewart-Brown et al., 2015).

Besides the direct influences of education on self-contentment, indi-

rect influences must also be borne in mind. Education can generate greater

contentment through the income the person earns

(Easterlin, 2021; Fitz-

roy & Nolan, 2018; Killingsworth, 2021; Lindqvist et al., 2020)

or through the

occupation itself, as well as through the mere fact of working and being

healthy

(Bakkeli, 2021; Clark et al., 2019; Steptoe, 2019).

Here, too, the range

of direct and indirect influences make it difficult to precisely identify

empirically the origins of the effects. For this reason and because educa-

tion can have both a positive and a negative effect on subjectively perceived

satisfaction, the effects of education on self-contentment have not yet been

clearly demonstrated empirically. Moreover, here, too, there is possibil-

ity of reverse causality, i.e. the possibility that those who are less satisfied

will spend less time in education. In the case of the influence on health,

the problem of measurement lies primarily in the countless metrics and

expressions of health; in the case of satisfaction, the problem is that sci-

ence remains ambiguous as to how to measure it in the first place

(Blanch-

flower & Oswald, 2011; Chen et al., 2019).

The following empirical analyses

for Switzerland need to be seen against the background of these limitations.

In terms of average life satisfaction, almost no differences between the var-

ious education categories existed, at least until 2017

(→ figure 390)

. What is

striking, however, is that the sharp drop in self-contentment during the

COVID-19 pandemic did not affect those with a VET background (ISCED

3B/5B), unlike in the case of those in the other education categories. On

the other hand, those in all education categories felt a drop in job satisfac-

tion

(→ figure 391)

. As with the analyses for health, it is striking that the

values very quickly returned to pre-pandemic levels after the lockdown.

390 Average

life satisfaction,

by educational background

Data: FORS (Swiss Household Panel);

calculations: SCCRE

Life satisfaction is measured on a scale of

0 (not at all satisfied) to 10 (fully satisfied).

8.2

8.1

8.0

7.9

7.8

7.7

7.6

7.5

2018

2019

2016

2015

2017

Covid-19

2020

Compulsory education

Vocational education and training

Tertiary education

391 Average

job satisfaction,

by educational background

Data: FORS (Swiss Household Panel);

calculations: SCCRE

Job satisfaction is measured on a scale of

0 (not at all satisfied) to 10 (fully satisfied).

8.2

8.0

7.8

7.6

7.4

7.2

7.0

2018

2019

2015

2016

2017

Compulsory education

Vocational education and training

Tertiary education

8 This report uses the terms self-contentment, wellbeing and happiness interchangeably,

although their meanings are not necessarily identical. See also

Bucher (2018)

and

Veenhoven

(2018).

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Crime

The positive effects of education also include an education-related drop

in criminal and other socially harmful behaviour

(Baier, 2019; Baron et al.,

2022; Cano-Urbina & Lochner, 2019; Dragone et al., 2021; Entorf & Sieger,

2010).

Here, too, a number of direct and indirect means of influence exist,

some of which have been well documented empirically. Education can not

only directly strengthen cognitive and non-cognitive characteristics and

skills, such as patience, hard work, and risk aversion, but also boost well-

being, which in turn can reduce the likelihood of anti-social and criminal

behaviour

(Beelmann & Lösel, 2021; Jackson et al., 2020).

A direct connec-

tion between education and crime can also be seen when young people

who spend more time in school have less time and thus less opportunity

to commit a crime in the first place. Several studies have confirmed this

based on changes in compulsory education

(Anderson, 2013; Bell et al.,

2016).

Extending compulsory schooling or expanding upper secondary

education has proven particularly effective in keeping young people in

school during a phase of life in which the risk of delinquency, viewed over

the person’s entire lifespan, is temporarily very high. One way in which

education can affect crime indirectly is through the income and career

opportunities that it opens up, which significantly increase the opportu-

nity costs of socially undesirable behaviour and, at the same time, reduce

the incentives for acquiring income and recognition illegally

(Ferraz et al.,

2021; Machin et al., 2011).

Since potential income from criminal behaviour

is highly uncertain and involves a great deal of risk compared with the rel-

atively certain income from investments in education, it can be assumed

that more risk-averse individuals will choose not to behave in this way.

However, the effect of the opportunity cost of reducing criminal behaviour

may be lowered if the person perceives the gains to be much higher than

the risk of getting caught. This is used, for example, to explain the phe-

nomenon whereby there tends to be a positive correlation in white-collar

crime between education level and the probability of a crime being com-

mitted

(Baier, 2019; Lochner, 2004).

The possibility of reverse causality exists in crime as well. While edu-

cation can influence the probability of a person committing a crime, there

is also the possibility that a criminal act, especially by an adolescent, can

reduce the likelihood of the offender starting and completing a longer or

better education programme. For example, someone is more likely to drop

out of school if those he or she associates with personally or socially at a

very young age were frequently involved in crime

(Dragone et al., 2021).

Finally, non-cognitive skills or personality traits also play an important role

and can contribute to a spurious correlation between education and crime

(Heckman et al., 2017; O’Riordan & O’Connell, 2014).

Thanks to this, inter-

ventions with a positive effect on the personality and behaviour of young

people can both promote education and reduce crime

(Beelmann & Lösel,

2021).

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370

Cumulative effects The

non-monetary benefits

environmental knowledge and behaviour

According to a study, an additional year of

education leads to 1% more emissions from

buildings and to 5% more emissions from

mobility. In contrast, emissions from food

decrease by 1% with each additional year of

education

(Bruderer Enzler & Diekmann, 2015).

Another study analysed the effect of personal-

ised information about a person’s CO

footprint

for the United Kingdom. The results show

that while the intervention significantly raised

awareness of ways in which participants could

reduce their CO

footprint, this awareness

did not lead to any change in habits that meas-

urably affected energy consumption at home

or through travel

(Büchs et al., 2018)

(about the

effect of information in this context, cf.

Taube

et al., 2021).

Education can have a potentially positive effect if it raises ecological aware-

ness and develops behaviours that protect the environment. The most

direct approach involves teaching content relating to the environment and

ecology in schools, as is the case in all compulsory school curricula of the

three language regions of Switzerland.

Even if formal education raises environmental awareness, there still

may be gaps between such awareness and a person’s actual behaviour

towards the environment. For example, a study for Switzerland shows

that while those with better training are more knowledgeable about and

committed to environmentally-friendly behaviour, their conduct is still

associated with higher greenhouse gas emissions

(Bruderer Enzler & Diek-

mann, 2019).

While for other non-monetary returns, the positive effect of education

on income often produces favourable knock-on effects when incomes rise,

this is only partially the case for environmental behaviour, and may even

lead to negative effects. Income can influence environmental behaviour

positively when environmental quality is seen as a desirable good (for

example, products from organic farming or high-end appliances with lower

energy consumption) that individuals with higher incomes are more will-

ing and able to afford. At the same time, the generally higher consump-

tion associated with higher incomes (for example living space, travel and

commuting) also goes hand in hand with a higher environmental impact

(→ figure 392)

. In summary, education can bring about a direct effect, which

in the best case positively carries over to environmental behaviour. On

the other hand, the indirect effect of education through income can lead

to positive and negative consequences in that higher income creates more

options for environmentally conscious behaviour, but at the same time also

tends to spur consumption, which may in turn be environmentally harm-

ful. These outcomes result in an ambiguous overall effect of more educa-

tion on environmental behaviour.

9 A study for the United Kingdom came to similar conclusions. Although more education

brings about a better understanding of climate change and its causes, there is little causal evi-

dence that this leads to more environmentally-friendly behaviour

(Powdthavee, 2020).

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The non-monetary benefits Cumulative

effects

371

392 Environmental

behaviour by educational level

Data: FSO (Omnibus survey 2019)

Use of aircraft (never)

Use of bicycle (at least once a week or more)

Use of public transport (at least once a week or

more)

Use of car, motorbike (less than once a month or

never)

Consumption of food from organic production

(always or mostly)

Think about electricity consumption when buying

smaller electrical devices and light bulbs (always

or mostly)

Reduce the heating temperature if apt. is unused

for at min. 2 days (always or most of the time)

Lower sec.

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Tertiary education

Upper sec.

Political participation

The expected effect of education on individuals’ knowledge and behav-

iour in the context of citizenship is one of the most important element for

peaceful coexistence within a society and for a functioning democracy. As

with environmental knowledge, an attempt is made to steer this behaviour

directly via the education provided at school. This raises two fundamental

questions: Can schools influence knowledge about and attitudes towards

political participation in the first place? And does more knowledge in fact

result in a higher level of political participation? As with other forms of

non-monetary benefits of education, a distinction must be made between

more education, i.e. especially longer duration of education, and the spe-

cific educational content. There is evidence that a knowledge of political

science can have a lasting effect on the civic engagement of young people

(Briole et al., 2022; Campbell, 2019).

However, various studies also indi-

cate a positive relationship between a person’s level of education and his or

her political activity. Even if certain channels suggest a causality between

a higher level of education and an increase in political activity, here, too,

statistical correlations are not necessarily the same as causal effects. Stud-

ies that in turn use school reforms to identify causal effects show that even

strong correlations between educational level and political activity do not

always pass the test of a causal relationship

(Bömmel & Heineck, 2020;

Lindgren et al., 2019; Persson et al., 2016).

A study for Switzerland comes to

a similar conclusion

(Stadelmann-Steffen & Sulzer, 2018).

The study exam-

ined the influence of school-based political education on young people’s

interest in politics. The authors analysed three dimensions of political

education (knowledge, skills, and arousing interest in politics) and found,

descriptively and by considering political and demographic factors, that

in classes with a strong emphasis on knowledge acquisition – for exam-

ple, about political institutions, Swiss politics, and the legal aspects of

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372

Cumulative effects The

non-monetary benefits

politics – student’s interest in politics tends to be below the average of all

classes. In contrast, interest in political topics increases when skills such as

competence to judge, as well as competence to act and factual competences

are given more emphasis. Differences in learning methods in this study are

strongly driven by the school type. Whereas the classes in baccalaureate

schools have more emphasis on arousing a general interest in political top-

ics, vocational education focuses more on knowledge acquisition.

As with other outcomes, political participation shows that non-cogni-

tive skills play a crucial role and can be of greater significance than academic

skills

(Cohodes & Feigenbaum, 2021; Heckman et al., 2017; Holbein, 2017;

Holbein et al., 2020).

This raises the question of whether non-cognitive

skills delivering a positive effect are themselves the result of additional

education or are the reason why someone chose to spend more time in

education. Unfortunately, many studies cannot answer this question con-

clusively. The answer to this question is essential, however, because in

the latter case the selection effect, people with better non-cognitive skills

choosing longer education, would merely lead to a spurious correlation

between education and political participation.

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BUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 148: Udvalgsrejse til Schweiz i uge 10 - afrapportering og evaluering af rejsen BUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 148: Udvalgsrejse til Schweiz i uge 10 - afrapportering og evaluering af rejsen BUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 148: Udvalgsrejse til Schweiz i uge 10 - afrapportering og evaluering af rejsen

ANNEX

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398

Annex Abbreviations

Abbreviations

aFDHE

AFPE

Bac

BFH

BKZ

CAS

CIIP

CollHE

D-CH

ECTS

EDK

EDK-IDES

EHA

eHBB

EPFL

ESD

ETH

F-CH

FDHE

FFA

FHGR

FHNW

FHV

FHO

FMS

FOPH

FPE

Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education

Advanced Federal Professional Examinations

Aargau

Appenzell Innerrhoden

Appenzell Ausserrhoden

Austria

(Academic) baccalaureate

Bern

Belgium

Berner Fachhochschule

Bulgaria

Bildungsdirektoren-Konferenz Zentralschweiz

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Stadt

Certificate of Advanced Studies

Switzerland

Conférence intercantonale de l’instruction publique

de la Suisse romande et du Tessin

College of Higher Education

Calendar week

Cyprus

Czech Republic

German-speaking Switzerland

Germany

Denmark

European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System

Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of

Education

Informations- und Dokumentationszentrum der EDK

Estonia

Graduate Survey

Survey on professional education

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Spain

Education for sustainable development

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

European Union

Federal Constitution

French-speaking Switzerland

Federal Diploma of Higher Education

Federal Finance Administration

Fachhochschule Graubünden

Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz

Universities of Applied Sciences Agreement

Fachhochschule Ostschweiz

Finnland

Upper-secondary specialised school

Federal office of public health

Federal Professional Examination

SKBF | CSRE Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education

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Abbreviations Annex 399

FSIO

FSO

FTE

GDP

HEdA

HEP-BEJUNE

HES-SO

HfH

HSLU

HTW

HSS

I-CH

ICT

IHEID

ILO

ISCED

ISCO

IUV

LABB

LCH

LENA

MAS

MZB

OdA

Fribourg

France

Federal Social Insurance Office

Federal Statistical Office

Full-time equivalents

Gross domestic product

Genève

Glarus

Graubünden

Greece

Federal Act on the Funding and Coordination of

the Higher Education Sector

Haute Ecole Pédagogique Berne, Jura, Neuchâtel

Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale

Hochschule für Heilpädagogik

Croatia

Hochschule Luzern

Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft

Humanities and social sciences

Hungary

Italian-speaking Switzerland

Communication and information technologies

Ireland

Institut de hautes études internationales et

du développement

International Labour Organization

Iceland

International Standard Classification of Education

International Standard Classification of Occupations

Italy

Intercantonal University Agreement

Jura

Pre-school

Längsschnittanalysen im Bildungsbereich

Dachverband Lehrerinnen und Lehrer Schweiz

National platform for apprenticeship

Lithuania

Luzern

Luxembourg

Latvia

Master of Advanced Studies

Malta

Microcensus on education and training

Numerus clausus

Neuchâtel

Netherlands

Norway

Nidwalden

Labour organizations

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400

Annex Abbreviations

OECD

OST

PER

PIAAC

PISA

Prim

sBac

SCCRE

SEATS

Sec I

Sec II

SECO

SEMP

SEnOF

SER

SERI

SFUVET

ing

SHIS

SHIS-PERS

SHK

SLFS

SLMS

SNSF

SSEE

SSP

STEM

SUPSI

SZH

TREE

UAS

ÜGK

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Ostschweizer Fachhochschule

Obwalden

Professional education

Plan d’études romand

Programme for the International Assessment of

Adult Competencies

Programme for International Student Assessment

Poland

Primary school

Portugal

Romania

Specialised Baccalaureate

Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education

Sweden

Swiss Education Attainment and Transition Study

Lower-secondary education

Upper-secondary education

State Secretariat for Economic Affairs

Swiss-European Mobility Programme

Service de l'enseignement obligatoire de langue française

Syndicat des enseignantes et des enseignants de

Suisse romande

State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation

Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Train-

St. Gallen

Schaffhausen

Swiss Higher Education Information System

Hochschulpersonal

Swiss Conference of Higher Education Institutions

Slovenia

Slovakia

Swiss Labour Force Survey

Schulleitungsmonitor Schweiz

Swiss National Science Foundation

Solothurn

Social and Economic Conditions of Student Life

Statistik des Schulpersonals

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics

Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana

Schwyz

Schweizer Zentrum für Heil- und Sonderpädagogik

Thurgau

Ticino

Transitions from Education to Employment

Universities of Applied Sciences

Verification of the Attainment of Basic Competencies

United Kingdom

SKBF | CSRE Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education

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Abbreviations Annex 401

UNI

USA

UTE

vBac

VET

vetC

vetD

WLAN

ZFH

(Conventional) universities

Uri

United States of America

University of Teacher Education

Federal Vocational Baccalaureate

Vaud

Vocational education and training

Federal VET Certificate

Federal VET Diploma

Valais

Wireless Local Area Network

Zürcher Fachhochschule

Zug

Zurich

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402

Annex Coordination

Committee forEducation Monitoring (CC EM)

Coordination Committee for

education Monitoring (CC eM)

Susanne Hardmeier

Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education

Josef Widmer

State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (until end 2021)

Rémy Hübschi

State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (from 2022)

Markus Schwyn

Federal Statistical Office

Sybille Bayard Walpen

Department of Education of the Canton of Zurich

Division for Educational Planning

François Modoux

Département de l'enseignement et de la formation professionnelle, Canton

Vaud

SKBF | CSRE Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education

BUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 148: Udvalgsrejse til Schweiz i uge 10 - afrapportering og evaluering af rejsen

Acknowledgement Annex 403

Acknowledgement

We thank the following informants and experts for their valuable cooperation:

Manuel Aepli

Mehmet Aksözen

Chantal Andenmatten

Benjamin Anderegg

Domenico Angelone

Franca Armi

Jacques Babel

Sheron Baumann

Marius Beerli

Johannes Berens

Jörg Berger

Claudio Biffi

Samuel Bobst

Christine Böckelmann

Hervé Bribosia

Zoé Brosy

Antoine Bula

Daniel Cabalzar

Stéphane Capelli

Alain Chassot

Amanda Crameri

Michaela Crespi Branca

Urs Dietrich

Olivier Dinichert

Stefan Donati

Jakob Eberhard

Franz Eberle

Noëmi Eglin

Michele Egloff

Daniel Elmiger

Julie Falcon

Philipp Fischer

Miriam Frey

Reto Furter

Laurent Gaillard

Katharina Gallizzi

Alexander Gehret

Alexander Gerlings

Walter Goetze

Daniel Goller

Christian Gschwendt

Leslie Hansen

Marcia Hermann

Robin Hull

Kathrin Hunziker

Francis Kaeser

Tobias Keller

Florian Keller

Fabienne Kiener

Andrea Kronenberg

Andreas Kuhn

Theres Kuratli

Francesco Laganà

Romain Lanners

Alice Leibundgut

Peter Lenz

Eva Leuenberger

Viridiana Marc

Véronique Meffre

Barbara Montereale

Martina Mousson

Fitore Muharremi

Kathrin Mühlemann

Johannes Mure

Diego Nell

Heidrun Neukamm

Naima Njari

Sylvie Oeuvray

Monika Pätzmann

Marco Pecoraro

Dominik Petko

François Piccand

Serena Ragazzi

Anne Renaud

Tristan Robert

Laurent Schillinger

Ivo Schorn

Marco Scruzzi

Irena Sgier

Jean-Paul Simonet

Lara Sosio

Therese Steffen

Daniel Steiner

Maurizio Strazzeri

Pascal Strubi

Silvia Studinger

David Tesar

Philipp Theiler

Pierre Tulowitzki

Benjamin Volland

Emanuel von Erlach

Marlen Walthert

Marina Wälti

Martina Weiss

Alain Weiss

Camil Würgler

Philippe Wyss

Elena Zafarana

Samuel Zinniker

Maria Zumbühl

Swiss Education Repor t | 2023