SVETS Concept Draft_v2

SVETS
Swiss
Vocational
Education
and
Training
Systems
Deckblatt wird noch optisch „aufgehübscht“ wenn Gestaltungskonzept
für die Folgeseiten feststeht
Evtl. Inhaltsverzeichnis ??

Agenda 2030 - Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Vision & Mission
In 2015, the member countries oft he United Nations adopted seventeen
SDGs to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as
part of a new sustainable development agenda. Each goal has specific
targets to be achieved until the year 2030.
For the goals to be reached, everyone needs to take action:
governments, the private sector, civil society and people like you.
Do you want to contribute to a sustainable future?
We would like to encourage you to support our ambitous program, the
Swiss Vocational Education and Training Systems - SVETS in order to
reach goal no. 4:
Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people’s
lives and sustainable development. Major progress has been made
towards increasing access to education at all levels and increasing
enrolment rates in schools particularly for women and girls. Basic literacy
skills have improved tremendously, yet bolder efforts are needed to
make even greater strides for achieving vocational education and
training goals.
Ensure inclusive
and equitable
quality education
and promote
lifelong learning
opportunities
for all

Accredited Qualification Framework in Switzerland
Switzerland is a nation that produces comparatively few university
graduates. In an era marked by increasing competition, automation,
and globalization,
The Swiss Dual-Track Approach of Apprenticeship
Vocational education and Training (VET) constitutes the predominant
form of upper secondary education in Switzerland. VET is structured as a
private sector driven public-private partnership (PPP) model, and widely
recognized as the source of Switzerland’s competitiveness and economy
success. About 70% of all young people enroll in a VET program
(according to a new report from researchers at the Center on
International Education Benchmarking, 2015). Most VET courses are
structured along the so-called company based “dual-track” system
because there are two places of learning – a vocational school for
general education and a company where the practical training takes
place (joint mission of the public and the private sector). The tasks are
shared among the Swiss Confederation, which functions as the overall
regulatory body in charge of quality assurance, the professional sector
organizations that determine the training content, the cantons (the 26
Swiss states) that supervise implementation, and the host companies that
hire apprentices within the framework of special training contracts.
In Switzerland, specific VET programs exist in around 230 occupations in
all fields of industry, including commerce, hospitality and agriculture. VET
programs can either be two years or three to four years in duration.
Secret to
Switzerland’s
success:
The Swiss dual-track
VET system
Valuable to other
countrie as it displays
competitive, efficient
and above all,
marketoriented
solutions to face
economic
challenges.

Gold Standard: SVETS
SVETS seamlessly connects young people with careers in white-collar and
blue-collar jobs through a robust apprenticeship system, keeping youth
unemployment rates low. The system produces highly skilled, ready-towork
new employees for Swiss businesses, serving as a real and important
economic incentive for businesses to participate.
Reasons to choose SVET
• Responsibility
It immediately puts young people in a setting with
adults, where they are treated differently than in
school and given more responsibility, coupled with
ample coaching and support.
• Hands-on Learning: SVET earning is much more
hands-on, contextualized, and applied academic
concepts are made real.
• Compensation: SVET students are paid while they
are learning, and this for three to four days of work
a week at the most.
• Opportunity: At the end of the apprenticeship
they have a nationally recognized qualification
that is portable, and the opportunity to move
directly into full-time employment or to continue
on into higher education at a university of applied
sciences. Because of this, employees have a real
chance to one day move up the corporate ladder
by pursuing further education and advanced
qualifications.

Privat Public Partnership (PPP)
Program goal:
Non-governmental business partners improve their own working practices
and effectiveness by ‘testing’, adopting/adapting the Swiss Vocational
Education and Training System SVETS. As a result, the lessons learned and
perhaps the entire concept/model could be carried over to the national
skills development system and replicated in a much larger scale.
Program interventions:
Initiating and managing technical and vocational education and training
projects that lead unskilled, unemployed, (young) people into skilled
employment, keep people employed, and developing (young)
entrepreneurs and their businesses. Possible interventions options are as
follows:
• Skills and competencies training services: It is the mainstay of the
project to address the critical problem of youth unemployment
o In-classroom technical and vocational education and
training
o Non-formal apprenticeship/Workplace training (e.g. internships,
on-the-job training schemes)
o Life/ soft skills training (in classroom and at the workplace
and training provider)
o Access to certification/accreditation (e.g. SWISSMEM-
Diploma)
o Expert workshops (Train-the-Trainer)
o Entry-level-Training (4 months up to 3 years)
o Upgrade-Training (up to 4 months)
• Entrepreneurship promotion:
o Start-up training for aspiring young entrepreneurs
o Provision of business development services to individual
enterprises
o Mentoring
• Employment/Enterprise-development services:
o Promotion of new industries, markets or supply chains
o Conduction of applied research into specific questions
• Providing policy and programmatic support to the national
department of higher education and training, and related
governmental agencies
• Skill and Job Consulting in the fields of
o Labour market access/needs/barriers/failures
o Inadequate technical, methodical, soft/life skills
o Lack of labour market information
o Discrimination (of disabled, ethnic groups, migrants, gender,
demographic aspects etc.)
o Job counselling and job placement
• Quantitative and qualitative Analysis of the results:
o Cost-Benefit Analysis/net result
o Impact in the labour market
o Independent evaluations
o Quality control and continuous improvements
Definition PPP
There is no
internationally
agreed definition
of partnering with
the private
sector, nor even
clear agreement
on the term itself.
For the Swiss
State Secretariat
for Economic
Affairs SECO,
partnering with
the private sector
is a collaborative
agreement
between publicsector
and
private sector
actors, with a
common
objective and
shared costs or
risks. The private
sector is
understood to
mean private
companies or
business
associations.

A case study from India
Best practice
Entry-level trainees
in the appreticeshop
of a world
leader in the
supply of specialist
machines which
include food
processing and
production
machinery at the
plant in Bangalore
In 2008 the Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce (SICC) in partnership with
the Swiss Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET),
the Swiss Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Industries Association
(SWISSMEM) and the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and
Training (SFIVET) began the pilot project in India.
With a comparable structure to the one in Switzerland, the pilot project
required close cooperation between public and private actors, namely
the participating ITIs and companies. After a period of 18 months to define
all partners, conceptualize and develop course content, train the
necessary ITI (Industrial Training Institute) teachers, company instructors
and examiners by Swiss experts in pedagogic methods, a first batch of
apprentices started a two-year training as ‘Multi-Skilled Production
Technicians’. The ITI’s seconded teachers to instruct the apprentices in the
theory for one to two days a week. The companies, whose technical
needs and human resource requirements determined the skills that were
taught, hired apprentices and instructors, and established apprentice
workshops on their premises.
All apprentices successfully passed the final exam and received a
SWISSMEM diploma. At the end of the vocational course, the trainees had
the opportunity to work as employees in the company.
A further important element of the pilot project’s success was the
establishment of a dedicated team in India. Today, it constitutes the
nucleus of the organization in charge of expanding the initiative across
India and Sri Lanka, as well as to other professions. It manages all aspects
of the expansion in close cooperation with SWISSMEM and SFIVET. This
includes the development and upgrading of further course content,
ensuring proper training of the trainers and examiners, and managing the
rigorous examination process as well as develop and retain highly skilled
talents.

Partnerships
A joint project:
This project will be jointly initiated by SVETS, a government agency (e.g.
Swiss Government Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC) and
Swiss private sector companies operating in the addressed countries.
Private sector – industry sectors:
Chemicals, Pharmaceutical, Industrial Machinery, Engineering and
Construction/Manufacturers, Automotive, Transportation & Logistics,
Healthcare, ……
Business partners:
ABB, AfriSam, Bühler, Ciba, City Lodge Group, Clariant, Credit Suisse, Elea
Foundation, Hilti, Novartis, Schindler, SDC, Swiss International Airlines, Swiss
Re and UBS and Xstrata
Public Partners:
• National government departments (e.g. Ministry, Employment Office,
Presidency, etc)
• Development/Donor agencies (e.g. BMZ, DFID, Sida, DEZA)
• NGOs Non-governmental organization (including civil society organization
or Non-profit organization (including charitable organizations)
• Industry Associations: (e.g. Swiss Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Industries Association SWISSMEM)
• Chamber of Commerces (e.g. Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce SICC)
Sector Education and Training Authorities (e.g. Swiss Federal Office for
Professional Education and Technology OPET; Swiss Federal Institute for
Vocational Education and Training SFIVET)
• Further Education and Training colleges
• Universities and colleges
(wenn definiert, Vernetzung visualisiert darstellen)
evtl. auch die Interventionen nochmals knapp visualisieren

Outcome - win-win Situation
Recognition, enhanced trade and global competitiveness
More effective and efficient work processes and practices improve the
companies’ productivity and foster their international competitiveness.
The market access for goods and services in Switzerland and Europe will
be facilitated through sustainable and quality standards.
For the business partners, the project therefore has a meaningful influence
on the communities in which they operate. In particular, the results create
recognition and increase the scheme’s attractiveness to corporate
sponsors.
Legitimacy and joint solutions
The private and the public program partner can “test”, adopt and/or
adapt the SVET model according to their specific needs. Large-scale
global, regional or sectorial challenges may best be met by exchanging
information and knowledge by involving several actors. This allows the
solutions to gain greater legitimacy than a partnership limited to public
institutions or private companies.
More jobs and skilled employees
The initiative pioneers an approach adapted to the trainees needs by
providing occupational and business training as well as adding life skills
training and after-training-support to make sure the trainees remain in a
job when the project is over. This will continuously decrease the
unemployment rate in your country.
The resulting employment and individual entrepreneurship will lead to a
far-reaching positive impact. Employment creates stable living conditions,
brings the required skills on to the marketplace and generally contributes
to harmony and satisfaction in the community.
A sustainable future
All of these effects are vital ingredients for a stable and sustainable future.
Engaging on the sustainability agenda and investing some of the own
resources ill bring short or longer term benefits.
So join our SVETS program and contribute in reaching the Agenda 2030 !