Vocational education and training (VET) - Apprenticeships

In 2022 the vocational education and training statistics recorded some 209 035 apprenticeships. The majority of these (around 95%) were vocational training with the federal VET Diploma. Vocational training with the federal VET Certificate accounted for a little more than 5%.

Apprenticeships in vocational education and training by training type, change in numbers since 2005
Training type	2005	2010	2015	2020	2022
Total	200 166	225 541	221 453	212 158	209 035
Male	119 970	131 086	128 929	125 795	123 608
Female	80 196	94 455	92 524	86 363	85 427
Vocational education and training (diploma)	178 333	200 162	208 176	197 521	195 452
Male	109 978	117 278	121 485	116 482	115 089
Female	68 355	82 884	86 691	81 039	80 363
Upper secondary trade and IT schools	10 068	12 622	.	.	.
Male	4 904	6 692	.	.	.
Female	5 164	5 930	.	.	.
Vocational education and training (certificate)	1 604	8 457	12 947	14 636	13 583
Male	619	4 651	7 213	9 312	8 519
Female	985	3 806	5 734	5 324	5 064
Basic vocational education	4 686	2 020	234	.	.
Male	3 293	1 557	217	.	.
Female	1 393	463	17	.	.
Vocational education and training not governed by the VPETA¹	5 475	2 280	96	1	.
Male	1 176	908	14	1	.
Female	4 299	1 372	82	.	.

1 VPETA: vocational and professional education and training act 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 federal VET Diplomas was around 90% and that of federal VET Certificate around 1%. Between 2005 and 2022, the other categories decreased considerably. This trend 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, following the 2010 revision, education at the upper-secondary level trade schools is now completely integrated into the vocational education and training. Since 2014, these students also graduate with a federal VET Diploma. The decline in basic vocational education is due to the fact that this has gradually been replaced by the vocational training with federal VET Certificate. In 2022 the percentage of women in vocational education and training is 41%, a figure that overall has not changed since 2005.

The fields of education in which most new apprentices undertake their vocational training are Business and Administration, Wholesale and retail sales as well as Building and Civil engineering. The new training type "Vocational education and training with VET Certificate” introduced in 2001 accounted for approximately 10% of all admissions to vocational education and training in 2022. The federal VET Certificate training type is not evenly distributed across the different fields of education. The highest percentage is found in the field of Domestic services (nearly 20% of all apprentices).