Swiss to US experts: Vocational training can boost economy
Swiss to US experts: Vocational training can boost economy
Switzerland has been named the world’s most competitive country (World Economic Forum) and Europe’s most innovative economy (European Commission) in 2010. Much of this success is owed to the country’s approach to workforce development and job creation—crucial components of economic prosperity. This approach is rooted largely in skills training, which one finds in the Swiss VET (vocational education and training) system.
Such a system is worthy of emulation by other countries. So an audience of renowned DC education community members took the opportunity to gain insight into the Swiss education system at an expert briefing on April 12, 2011.
Hosted by the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington DC, the discussion addressed the importance of vocational education and training. US perspectives on workforce training were given by Martha Kanter, Under Secretary of Education, and Robert Schwartz, Academic Dean and Professor of Practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who recently published a study on the topic titled “Pathways to Prosperity”.
Stefan Wolter, Head of the Research Unit on the Economics of Education at the University of Berne, noted that Switzerland has closely aligned the needs of the labor market with its education goals. It has also nationally recognized the standards and certificates across all sectors. As a result, the VET system has enabled young people to enter the labor market with the skills needed to thrive in a fast-changing, 21st-century economy.
Most vocational education and training (VET) programs in Switzerland consist of part-time studies at a VET school combined with part-time apprenticeship at a host company. Read more about it here:
