SFIVET: a wonderful adventure it has been

Dear Reader,

Switzerland’s education system has two main pathways, both of which span upper-secondary and tertiary levels: vocational/professional, on the one hand, and general/higher education, on the other. Both of these pathways must be considered to be of equal value. This is what I set out to achieve in my seven years as Chairman of the SFIVET Board. During this time, we have begun to transform SFIVET from an administrative entity to a higher education institution. The path towards this objective was far from easy and there are still quite a few things left to be done. Nevertheless, we have indeed succeeded in our endeavour of making our institution creative, dynamic, forward-looking and proud to be the federal champion of Switzerland’s vocational education and training system.

As a case in point, five years ago, SFIVET established the Swiss Observatory for Vocational Education and Training to monitor future trends. Other key achievements include the continued inventiveness of our Ticino colleagues in the area of digitalisation, the new Bachelor of Science degree programme in vocational education and training, focussed specifically on digitalisation, the new SFIVET Act and SFIVET’s stronger international positioning as Switzerland’s calling card. Moreover, we have expanded our cooperation activities with both higher education institutions and professional organisations.

The SFIVET Board has been very proactive in ensuring that all of our staff work in an open and respectful environment that is conducive to dialogue and cooperation.

Now that SFIVET is about to become a higher education institution, vocational/professional education and training can no longer be regarded as the poor cousin of the Swiss education system. A dream is about to come true, and a new opportunity is opening up for Switzerland.

Dr Philippe Gnaegi,
SFIVET Board Chairman 2013–2019