General education

In 2023, some 45 370 diplomas were awarded for general education courses at the upper secondary level. For the most part these were academic Baccalaureates (around 45% of all general education qualifications) and federal vocational Baccalaureates (around 30%).

Diplomas in general education by training type, change in numbers since 2005
Training type	2005	2010	2015	2020	2023
Total	30 266	36 364	39 719	42 666	45 370
Male	13 671	15 723	17 274	18 367	19 348
Female	16 595	20 641	22 445	24 299	26 022
Baccalaureates	16 411	18 759	18 557	19 088	19 576
Male	7 089	7 940	7 927	8 016	8 192
Female	9 322	10 819	10 630	11 072	11 384
Federal vocational baccalaureates	10 719	12 249	14 021	14 412	13 369
Male	6 005	6 612	7 516	7 703	6 978
Female	4 714	5 637	6 505	6 709	6 391
Specialised baccalaureates	.	1 357	2 525	3 164	3 561
Male	.	212	487	744	871
Female	.	1 145	2 038	2 420	2 690
Specialised school certificates	2 617	3 357	3 843	4 724	4 839
Male	421	636	889	1 262	1 300
Female	2 196	2 721	2 954	3 462	3 539
Transition programme Vocational baccalaureate - University¹	148	487	773	1 017	1 109
Male	90	286	455	550	614
Female	58	201	318	467	495
Transition programme Specialised baccalaureate - University¹	.	.	.	261	351
Male	.	.	.	92	104
Female	.	.	.	169	247
Certificates of a foreign programme of general education²	.	.	.	.	2 565
Male	.	.	.	.	1 289
Female	.	.	.	.	1 276
Other programmes of general education	371	155	.	.	.
Male	66	37	.	.	.
Female	305	118	.	.	.

1 Certificates of university aptitude test
2 Not collected before 2023

Source: FSO – Statistics on certificates (SBA)
Data as of: June 2024

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 2023, the number of baccalaureates has increased sharply. All three types of baccalaureates have contributed to this progression: the academic Baccalaureate, with an increase of almost 20%, the federal vocational Baccalaureate with an increase of almost 25% and the specialised Baccalaureate, which was first introduced in 2006. The share of baccalaureates awarded to women has risen from around 50% in 2005 to close to 55% in 2023. The percentage of women has grown especially in the vocational Baccalaureate (nearly +5 percentage points).