Tertiary level - Professional education

In the academic year of 2022/23, almost 60 900 students were recorded in professional education. The majority (59%) were at colleges of higher education, 36% were preparing for a federal or an advanced professional examination and 5% were following a training course not governed by the VEPTA.

Students in professional education, change since 2005/06

	2005/06	2010/11	2015/16	2020/21	2022/23
Total	38 151	51 280	56 280	62 140	60 858
Female (%)	43.6	44.4	43.2	45.1	45.6
Foreign (%)	10.2	14.6	11.9	12.8	13.3
Teaching professions	934	.	.	.	.
Female (%)	68.2	.	.	.	.
Foreign (%)	8.8	.	.	.	.
Professional colleges (forerunner of UAS)	795	.	.	.	.
Female (%)	65.9	.	.	.	.
Foreign (%)	3.3	.	.	.	.
Colleges of higher education	10 173	21 867	29 747	35 962	35 948
Female (%)	28.7	45.5	46.7	47.7	48.8
Foreign (%)	10.9	11.8	12.3	13.8	14.4
Preparation for the federal professional diploma examination1	11 829	16 421	18 900	19 078	18 201
Female (%)	40.2	38.7	36.9	38.1	37.1
Foreign (%)	7.6	9.3	10.5	11.0	11.1
Preparation for the advanced federal professional diploma examination1	4 355	4 271	3 615	3 708	3 600
Female (%)	36	32.5	25.5	40.4	40.2
Foreign (%)	6.9	8.6	10.6	9.0	10.4
Professional education not governed by the VPETA	10 065	8 721	4 018	3 392	3 109
Female (%)	61.9	58.3	63.3	61.7	64.2
Foreign (%)	14.6	34.8	16.6	16.6	17.3

1 Students are not completely surveyed because the preparations to federal exams are not formally regulated. They often take place in modular trainings, which are only surveyed if the single module corresponds to at least half a school-year (full time equivalent).
Source: FSO – Statistics on pupils and students (SDL)
Data as of: February 2024

Professional education allows people who have completed upper secondary education to deepen or widen their knowledge. Professional education consists of several study paths: colleges of higher education, preparation for federal or advanced federal professional examinations governed by the Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act (VPETA) and professional education courses not regulated by this act.
Numbers attending professional education have risen by 60% since 2005/06.

During the academic year 2022/23, the most popular training sectors for students in professional education was Management and administration (16%). This was followed by the fields Nursing and Midwifery (14%) and Building and civil engineering (8%).

Related topics

Diploma - Advanced professional education and training (PET)

On this topic