Tertiary level - Professional education

In the academic year of 2019/20, almost 61 600 students were recorded in professional education. The majority (57%) were at colleges of higher education, 37% were preparing for a federal or an advanced professional examination and 6% were following a training course not governed by the VEPTA.

Students in professional education, change since 2000/01

	2000/01	2005/06	2010/11	2015/16	2019/20
Total	38 674	38 151	51 280	56 626	61 566
Female (%)	43.1	43.6	44.4	43.6	44.8
Foreign (%)	9.4	10.2	14.5	11.8	12.3
Teaching professions	4 663	934	.	.	.
Female (%)	72.3	68.2	.	.	.
Foreign (%)	5.3	8.8	.	.	.
Professional colleges (forerunner of UAS)	2 222	795	.	.	.
Female (%)	52.9	65.9	.	.	.
Foreign (%)	6.3	3.3	.	.	.
Colleges of higher education	9 213	10 173	21 867	29 748	35 074
Female (%)	26.6	28.7	45.5	46.7	47.7
Foreign (%)	10.7	10.9	11.7	12.1	13.1
Preparation for the federal professional diploma examination1	9 037	11 829	16 421	18 900	18 939
Female (%)	38.5	40.2	38.7	36.9	37.3
Foreign (%)	9.2	7.6	9.1	10.5	10.5
Preparation for the advanced federal professional diploma examination1	5 427	4 355	4 271	3 615	3 631
Female (%)	25.3	36	32.5	25.5	34.4
Foreign (%)	8	6.9	8.5	10.6	9.3
Professional education not governed by the VPETA	8 112	10 065	8 721	4 363	3 922
Female (%)	59.5	61.9	58.3	66.1	63.9
Foreign (%)	12.5	14.6	34.7	16	16.9

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 2021

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 59% since 2000/01, despite the transfer of some training courses to higher education institutes following the creation of the universities of applied sciences.

During the academic year 2019/20, the most popular training sectors for students in professional education was Management and administration (16%). This was followed by the fields Nursing and Midwifery (13%) and Building and civil engineering (8%).

Related topics

Diploma - Advanced professional education and training (PET)

On this topic