Swiss education system tested by immigration and digitalisation
Swiss schools must keep up with digitalisation and ensure that migrant children don’t fall behind their peers, according to an annual education report.
But Switzerland is close to achieving its goal of ensuring 95% of the population over the age of 25 has completed the upper-secondary level – through an apprenticeship, senior high school (gymnasium) or vocational school.
The 2018 findings were presented on Tuesday by the education ministryand the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education.
About 94% of Swiss youth has finished the upper-secondary level. The rate of success is lower for Swiss-born foreign nationals and young adults who were born abroad – 86% and 73% respectively.
The report said the focus must be on improving the results of young people who did not complete all their schooling within Switzerland.
Meeting the economy’s needs
There is still not enough research available to make conclusions about the impact of digitalisation on education, according to the authors of the 300-page report. As such, predictions are difficult to make.
The authors, however, did stress that vocational education and training needs to step up to the challenge of digitalisation so that the Swiss economy is supplied with relevant expertise.
Currently, Swiss education meets national industry needs.
A nation of university graduates
With regards to further developing the education system, the report noted that the trend toward tertiary degrees at universities or universities of applied sciences would continue to grow.
Currently, 40% of the Swiss population has graduated from university, but this figure is expected to rise to 60% by the year 2045.
The growing number of people with higher education degrees has been absorbed by the labour market. The relative income of graduates has therefore remained constant over the past few years.
The 2018 report provides a summary of the state of the Swiss education system. The review has been published every four years since 2010.
More
More
Patchwork education could be the future
This content was published on
The classical working path is no more, experts say. What does this mean for the Swiss vocational education model?
This content was published on
Swiss public broadcasters RTS and SRF are drastically reducing their communications via the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Israel: president of Swiss universities rejects academic boycott
This content was published on
Luciana Vaccaro, president of Swissuniversities, the umbrella group of Swiss universities, is not in favour of an academic boycott of Israeli universities.
First large-scale alpine solar plant approved in Switzerland
This content was published on
The approval was met with satisfaction by the project's organisers, but it also brings with it a certain amount of pressure.
Medieval squirrels may have ‘helped spread leprosy’
This content was published on
An examination of squirrel remains in the United Kingdom has opened up interesting questions and possibilities in terms of the history of the disease.
Parents blamed for putting schoolchildren under pressure
This content was published on
A 2014 study by the World Health OrganisationExternal link (WHO) found that 27% of eleven-year-old children in Switzerland suffer from sleep problems, while 15% complain of constant depression. In addition, 12% regularly suffer from headaches, Swiss public television reports. However, Pro Juventute Foundation president Katja Wiesendanger, herself a primary school teacher for more than 30…
Immigrant students in Switzerland more motivated, less integrated
This content was published on
A new report shows that immigrant teens in Swiss schools perform well, are satisfied with life, and are more motivated than their native classmates.
PISA survey: young Swiss are the best at maths in Europe
This content was published on
Switzerland’s results for maths, science and reading were stable compared with previous years with only small changes, according to the 2015 “Programme for International Student Assessment” (PISA) External linkpublished on Tuesday by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In all, 6,600 Swiss 15-year-olds took part in the survey, out of a total…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.