Case Study

Swiss apprenticeship system

Two-thirds of Swiss teenagers choose apprenticeship over the university track.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, around two-thirds of young people enter a vocational education and training program after completing compulsory schooling at age fifteen or sixteen, combining on-the-job training at a host company with lessons at a vocational school.1 The system offers more than 230 recognized occupations, from catering to advanced manufacturing to information technology.

Apprenticeships last two to four years, depending on the profession. Apprentices are paid a learning wage that typically starts at the equivalent of 600 to 700 dollars per month and rises to 1,100 to 1,200 dollars by the third year.2 At the end, they receive a nationally recognized qualification that is portable across the country.

Switzerland's youth unemployment rate averaged 2.5% in 2021, one of the lowest in Europe.3 The country ranked first on the INSEAD Global Talent Competitiveness Index every year from 2013 through at least 2020.4

2.5%

Switzerland's average youth unemployment rate in 2021.

The system rests on a partnership between three parties. Companies provide workplace training and pay apprentice wages. Cantonal governments run vocational schools and oversee quality. Industry associations develop curricula and set professional standards. If any of the three is missing, Swiss leaders say, the system would not work.5

Research shows that most Swiss employers recoup their investment in apprentices during the apprenticeship itself. A 2019 Swiss government report found that firms may benefit annually by over 3,000 Swiss francs per apprentice.6 The system is not designed to lower youth unemployment or get students off the streets. Its stated goal is to build the next generation of professionals across every sector of the economy.7

Timeline

2004

Switzerland revamps its entire VET curriculum to a competence-based approach.

2013

Switzerland ranks first on the Global Talent Competitiveness Index.

2015

Harvard-backed study labels the Swiss VET system the 'gold standard.'

Endnotes

1 OECD, "Vocational Education and Training in Switzerland," Vocational Education and Training Systems in Nine Countries (Paris: OECD, 2024).

2 National Center on Education and the Economy, "Gold Standard: The Swiss Vocational Education and Training System" (2015).

3 SWI swissinfo.ch, "Why the World Should Take Note of the Swiss Apprenticeship Model," January 2024, citing SECO data.

4 INSEAD and Adecco Group, Global Talent Competitiveness Index, annual reports 2013-2020.

5 Valentin Vogt, cited in NCEE, "Gold Standard" (2015).

6 SWI swissinfo.ch, "Report: It Pays for Companies to Have Apprentices," November 2019.

7 Asia Society, "An Apprenticeship Model from Switzerland," 2018, quoting Curdin Duschletta of UBS.