Tertiary education with high labour-market relevance – higher vocational and professional education in Switzerland

Switzerland’s higher vocational and professional education and training system emerged historically from its heterogeneous and barely regulated system of continuing vocational education and training, and today constitutes the non-academic segment of Swiss tertiary-level education. In the Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act of 2002 it was enshrined as Tertiary Level B alongside the university-track Tertiary Level A, a decision that distinctly boosted its value within education policy. This article looks back at the development of the vocational tertiary level and discusses how the different higher vocational and professional education and training courses have positioned themselves in the system. It also examines the dilemmas surrounding the reform efforts currently in progress.