Vocational education and training (VET)

In 2020, the vocational education and training statistics recorded almost 70 207 successfully-completed diplomas. With 90%, the greatest proportion of diplomas were federal VET diplomas. The federal VET certificates represented almost 10% of qualifications.

Diplomas in vocational education and training by training type, change in numbers since 2000
Training type	2000	2005	2010	2015	2020
Total	60 164	59 774	68 154	69 668	70 207
Male	32 128	33 151	37 620	37 835	39 241
Female	28 036	26 623	30 534	31 833	30 966
Federal VET diplomas	50 386	52 183	59 367	63 384	63 270
Male	28 973	29 869	33 180	34 341	35 113
Female	21 413	22 314	26 187	29 043	28 157
Federal VET diplomas trade schools	2 241	2 826	2 897	2	.
Male	913	1 221	1 450	.	.
Female	1 328	1 605	1 447	2	.
Federal VET certificates	.	94	3 689	5 917	6 890
Male	.	81	1 882	3 243	4 109
Female	.	13	1 807	2 674	2 781
Certificates of basic vocational education	2 081	2 526	1 175	270	.
Male	1 453	1 719	908	222	.
Female	628	807	267	48	.
Other VET diplomas	5 456	2 145	1 026	95	47
Male	789	261	200	29	19
Female	4 667	1 884	826	66	28

Source: FSO – Vocational education and training statistics (SBG-SFPI)
Data as of: April 2021

Vocational education and training (VET) mainly occurs according to the dual system which combines in-company training (practical part) and a vocational school (theoretical part and general education). It can also take place in full-time school in a small number of cases. VET is completed with the federal VET Certificate after two years or the federal VET Diploma after three to four years.

As recently as 2000, the share of VET diplomas was about 85%; the VET certificates had not been introduced yet. Between 2000 and 2020, the other categories decreased considerably. These changes can be explained by the fact that the Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act (VPETA) has been extended to include the fields of agriculture and healthcare. Furthermore, education at the upper-secondary level trade schools was henceforth completely integrated into the vocational education training, and since 2014 graduates leave with a VET Diploma. The decline in the certificates of basic vocational education is due to their gradual replacement by the federal VET Certificates.

Almost half of the qualifications in vocational education and training are awarded in the fields of Business and administration (commercial occupations), Wholesale and retail sales, Building and civil engineering, Nursing and midwifery as well as Social work and counselling. Although gender distribution is fairly even for the first two fields, Building is clearly male-dominated, whereas Nursing and Social work are female-dominated.