2025
[There have been no reforms.]
2024
Increasing the attractiveness of professional education
Professional education, together with higher education institutions, forms the tertiary level of the education system. It comprises federally recognised courses at professional education institutions and examinations for (advanced) federal diploma of higher education. This gives Switzerland a unique instrument for further vocational training. To ensure that professional education remains an attractive option in the future, its visibility and social standing need to be improved. The Federal Council therefore submitted a Massnahmenpaket [package of measures] for consultation on 14 June 2024. The package provides for the legal establishment of a right to use the designation ‘professional education institution’ and thus protection of the name, as well as the introduction of the title suffixes ‘Professional Bachelor’ and ‘Professional Master’ for professional education diplomas. Other measures include the option of conducting federal examinations in English and making the continuing education programmes offered by professional education institutions more flexible.
Adapting the vocational baccalaureate to current challenges
The vocational baccalaureate contributes significantly to the permeability of the Swiss education system. It supplements basic vocational education and training with a broader general education and allows exam-free access to universities of applied sciences in the relevant subject area.
To ensure that the vocational baccalaureate remains an option for high-achieving young people and that the economy has access to skilled workers and managers with practical training, the 2009 Vocational Baccalaureate Ordinance and the 2012 framework curriculum are to be amended. English will now be explicitly defined as a third language and a compulsory subject, requirements for combining traditional learning and teaching methods with digital applications (blended learning) will be included in the framework curriculum, and the requirements for interdisciplinary project work will be supplemented. On 10 April 2024, the Federal Council opened the consultation process on the revision of the Vocational Baccalaureate Ordinance and the framework curriculum for the vocational baccalaureate.
2023
[There have been no reforms.]