Vocational education and training (VET)

In 2022, the vocational education and training statistics recorded 65 831 successfully completed diplomas. With almost 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 2005
Training type	2005	2010	2015	2020	2022
Total	59 774	68 154	69 653	70 193	65 831
Male	33 151	37 620	37 825	39 230	37 274
Female	26 623	30 534	31 828	30 963	28 557
Federal VET diplomas	52 183	59 367	63 371	63 256	58 696
Male	29 869	33 180	34 332	35 102	32 853
Female	22 314	26 187	29 039	28 154	25 843
Federal VET diplomas trade schools	2 826	2 897	2	.	.
Male	1 221	1 450	.	.	.
Female	1 605	1 447	2	.	.
Federal VET certificates	94	3 689	5 916	6 890	7 095
Male	81	1 882	3 242	4 109	4 408
Female	13	1 807	2 674	2 781	2 687
Certificates of basic vocational education	2 526	1 175	270	.	.
Male	1 719	908	222	.	.
Female	807	267	48	.	.
Other VET diplomas	2 145	1 026	94	47	40
Male	261	200	29	19	13
Female	1 884	826	65	28	27

Source: FSO – Vocational education and training statistics (SBG-SFPI)
Data as of: April 2023

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.

In 2005, the share of VET Diplomas was about 85% and that of VET Certificates less than 1%. Between 2005 and 2022, 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, Wholesale and retail sales, Social work and counselling, Building and civil engineering as well as Nursing and midwifery. Although gender distribution is fairly even for the first two fields, Building is clearly male-dominated, whereas Nursing and Social work are female-dominated.