General education

In 2022, some 42 689 diplomas were awarded for general education courses at the upper secondary level, meaning an increase of almost 40% compared to the year 2005. This is for the most part due to the federal vocational Baccalaureate and to the specialised Baccalaureate.

Diplomas in general education by training type, change in numbers since 2005
Training type	2005	2010	2015	2020	2022
Total	30 266	36 364	39 747	42 663	42 689
Male	13 671	15 723	17 287	18 368	18 138
Female	16 595	20 641	22 460	24 295	24 551
Baccalaureates	16 411	18 759	18 566	19 088	19 175
Male	7 089	7 940	7 932	8 016	8 065
Female	9 322	10 819	10 634	11 072	11 110
Federal vocational baccalaureates	10 719	12 249	14 038	14 408	14 012
Male	6 005	6 612	7 522	7 704	7 248
Female	4 714	5 637	6 516	6 704	6 764
Specialised baccalaureates	.	1 357	2 525	3 165	3 337
Male	.	212	487	744	797
Female	.	1 145	2 038	2 421	2 540
Transition programme Vocational baccalaureate - University¹	148	487	773	1 017	1 114
Male	90	286	455	550	624
Female	58	201	318	467	490
Transition programme Specialised baccalaureate - University¹	.	.	.	261	344
Male	.	.	.	92	98
Female	.	.	.	169	246
Specialised school certificates	2 617	3 357	3 845	4 724	4 707
Male	421	636	891	1 262	1 306
Female	2 196	2 721	2 954	3 462	3 401
Other programmes of general education	371	155	.	.	.
Male	66	37	.	.	.
Female	305	118	.	.	.

1 Certificates of university aptitude test Source: FSO – Statistics on certificates (SBA)
Data as of: May 2023

General education covers the three types of baccalaureate as well as courses in one of the upper secondary specialised schools. The Baccalaureate is awarded, depending on the canton, after three or four years, the federal vocational Baccalaureate is awarded either during or after initial vocational education and the specialised Baccalaureate is awarded one year after the specialised diploma.

Between 2005 and 2022, the number of baccalaureates has increased sharply (+35%). All three types of baccalaureates have contributed to this progression: the academic Baccalaureate, with an increase in diplomas of 15%; the specialised Baccalaureate, which was first introduced in 2006; and especially the federal vocational Baccalaureate (+30%). The share of baccalaureates awarded to women has risen from just over 50% in 2005 to almost 55% in 2022. The percentage of women has grown especially in the vocational Baccalaureate (almost +5%).